One of the six floor plans that Richmond American plans to build at Harpers Mill. (Image courtesy Richmond American Homes)
A new-to-market homebuilder that sounds as if it was born in Richmond but actually hails from Colorado is making its entry into the area with two dozen home sites at Harpers Mill.
Richmond American Homes, based out of Denver, has purchased 24 home lots in the Chesterfield community’s Millwright neighborhood, northeast of the intersection of Otterdale and Beach roads at Harpers Mill’s southern end.
The 46-year-old company, a subsidiary of publicly traded M.D.C. Holdings, paid $4.32 million for the lots in a deal that closed in mid-July.
The lots were assessed by Chesterfield County at $47,000 each, or just under $1.13 million combined. Online property records do not specify sizes for the lots.
Harpers Mill developer Mark Sowers, whose Harpers Mill Development Corp. was the seller in the deal, said Richmond American was brought to him about a year ago by Ryan Fanelli with Commonwealth Commercial.
Mark Sowers (BizSense file photo)
“They’re a national builder, a stock-held corporation. They do nice products, so we thought it was a good fit,” Sowers said.
Richmond American plans to build six ranch and two-story floor plans and is aiming to deliver the first homes this fall, according to an announcement. The homes will range from three to seven bedrooms and from about 2,000 to 4,700 square feet in size. Prices for the homes were not released.
Richmond American builds in 16 states, including Virginia, where it has an outpost in Reston and does business as Richmond American Homes of Virginia. The company has been building in Northern Virginia for 30 years and says it has built 230,000 homes across its national footprint.
The announcement included a comment from division president Kevin Canary, who said the company plans to build in additional communities in metro Richmond. Attempts to reach Canary for further comment were unsuccessful.
Founded in 1977 as Richmond Homes Ltd., the company was launched as a single-family homebuilding arm of M.D.C., a development firm that dates to 1972.
It isn’t clear from the company’s website what the “Richmond” in its name refers to. Sowers said the name refers to a place associated with the company.
Richmond American follows the arrival last year of homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., which entered the market with its $25 million purchase of 210 acres at Harpers Mill that are planned for 600 homes. Sowers said Lennar has built out most of about 30 predeveloped lots and is actively building on the rest of the land it is developing.
An aerial view of the Harpers Mill development. (File image courtesy Harpers Mill)
Sowers said Harpers Mill is about three-quarters built-out, with nearly 1,500 of its planned 2,000 homes built so far and about 400 single-family lots left. The development also includes townhomes.
Sowers said 2023 is shaping up to be Harpers Mill’s second-highest sales year since development started about 15 years ago.
“It’s been a big year for us,” he said. “We’re past 150 sales already for the year, which is a lot. Things are doing well.”
Other builders that have been active in Harpers Mill include CraftMaster Homes, Eagle Construction of VA, Eastwood Homes, LifeStyle Home Builders, Main Street Homes, Ryan Homes and Youngblood Properties.
One of the six floor plans that Richmond American plans to build at Harpers Mill. (Image courtesy Richmond American Homes)
A new-to-market homebuilder that sounds as if it was born in Richmond but actually hails from Colorado is making its entry into the area with two dozen home sites at Harpers Mill.
Richmond American Homes, based out of Denver, has purchased 24 home lots in the Chesterfield community’s Millwright neighborhood, northeast of the intersection of Otterdale and Beach roads at Harpers Mill’s southern end.
The 46-year-old company, a subsidiary of publicly traded M.D.C. Holdings, paid $4.32 million for the lots in a deal that closed in mid-July.
The lots were assessed by Chesterfield County at $47,000 each, or just under $1.13 million combined. Online property records do not specify sizes for the lots.
Harpers Mill developer Mark Sowers, whose Harpers Mill Development Corp. was the seller in the deal, said Richmond American was brought to him about a year ago by Ryan Fanelli with Commonwealth Commercial.
Mark Sowers (BizSense file photo)
“They’re a national builder, a stock-held corporation. They do nice products, so we thought it was a good fit,” Sowers said.
Richmond American plans to build six ranch and two-story floor plans and is aiming to deliver the first homes this fall, according to an announcement. The homes will range from three to seven bedrooms and from about 2,000 to 4,700 square feet in size. Prices for the homes were not released.
Richmond American builds in 16 states, including Virginia, where it has an outpost in Reston and does business as Richmond American Homes of Virginia. The company has been building in Northern Virginia for 30 years and says it has built 230,000 homes across its national footprint.
The announcement included a comment from division president Kevin Canary, who said the company plans to build in additional communities in metro Richmond. Attempts to reach Canary for further comment were unsuccessful.
Founded in 1977 as Richmond Homes Ltd., the company was launched as a single-family homebuilding arm of M.D.C., a development firm that dates to 1972.
It isn’t clear from the company’s website what the “Richmond” in its name refers to. Sowers said the name refers to a place associated with the company.
Richmond American follows the arrival last year of homebuilding giant Lennar Corp., which entered the market with its $25 million purchase of 210 acres at Harpers Mill that are planned for 600 homes. Sowers said Lennar has built out most of about 30 predeveloped lots and is actively building on the rest of the land it is developing.
An aerial view of the Harpers Mill development. (File image courtesy Harpers Mill)
Sowers said Harpers Mill is about three-quarters built-out, with nearly 1,500 of its planned 2,000 homes built so far and about 400 single-family lots left. The development also includes townhomes.
Sowers said 2023 is shaping up to be Harpers Mill’s second-highest sales year since development started about 15 years ago.
“It’s been a big year for us,” he said. “We’re past 150 sales already for the year, which is a lot. Things are doing well.”
Other builders that have been active in Harpers Mill include CraftMaster Homes, Eagle Construction of VA, Eastwood Homes, LifeStyle Home Builders, Main Street Homes, Ryan Homes and Youngblood Properties.
Mark Sowers has been amazing resilient at Harpers Mill. There was a time back in 2009-11 when his own home building group was the only one building and selling homes in an attempt to keep his loans current. He really stepped out when he developed the infrastructure there and again when he built a world class recreation amenity at the development. They were both huge risks but they paid off. He deserves his success.
Thank you for always being willing to champion determination, smarts and success Bruce.
Along Beech Road is a section of railroad bed from the Narrow Gauge Tidewater and Western Railroad that was built in 1840 and scrapped in 1917. I had came across a old map showing that their was railroad bed that was next Beech Road which the developer could turn into a nature trail or mini park.
Also at this intersection were coal mines and a match factory.
Now why has someone downvoted THIS? It’s INTERESTING!!!