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"...I told both the tv reporters and the Post, projects like this (St. John Crossings) would not happen without people like you (NCI). I do appreciate your efforts and every community should get down on their knees and thank you for all your efforts to revive North County, you have done a great job."

- Mark Pearl, Vice President
Walpert Properties

NCI NEWS

Builders are rediscovering North County's Residential Attraction

by Eric Heisler
Published in St. Louis Post Dispatch
Saturday, February 21, 2004

Housing in North St. Louis County is booming

A housing boom quietly is gathering momentum in a once-forgotten corner of the region: north St. Louis County.

It's being driven by couples like Kent and Nita Curry, who began house hunting last year and, like so many of their peers, looked to St. Charles County.

Unimpressed, the couple opted for a new house in Hazelwood, where "you have all the advantages of St. Charles without the traffic," Kent Curry said.

The region's builders are convinced that the Currys aren't alone in their thinking. Driven by a growing demand for North County houses, companies like Taylor-Morley Homes have rediscovered a region they once cast aside, and they're poised to begin the biggest building binge there since the 1980s, market observers say.

"These are communities (in North County) that have been overlooked for years," said Joe Zanola of Zanola Co., a housing-market research firm in Rock Hill. "Now, you're seeing more developers dabbling there, and the homes they've built have sold out quickly. ... There is a boom happening there, and I don't think we've seen anything like this in years."

In far North County, where the boom might be most prevalent, 170 houses were built in 2002. Zanola expects that number at least to double in three years.

It's a trend that's changing the landscape of places like Behlmann Farms, where more than 500 houses are set to rise on land formerly used to grow tomatoes, apples and turnips.

There, on more than 100 acres of property off Highway 76 north of Black Jack, three companies are building houses that range in price from $110,000 to $450,000.

The charge is being led by firms like Taylor-Morley, a Chesterfield-based builder that last year sold its first house in North County in three decades, according to Gregory Echols, a sales manager for the company.

In recent years, Taylor-Morley and other builders focused heavily on St. Charles County. But the recent push into North County, along with a Metro East building boom, is a sign that the region's growth is being spread around more evenly.

"I think we really felt that we've pretty much gone as far west as we wanted to," Echols said. "So far, the sales (in North County) have been much more than we expected. It's already superseded our budget."

Though it's difficult to quantify the trend, North County - generally considered the large part of St. Louis County north of Interstate 70 - should see construction of at least 2,400 houses between 2002 and 2006, according to data from the St. Louis County Economic Council.

Quiet years

The expected boom comes after a decadelong period during which north St. Louis County was the site of - at best - a moderate amount of house construction.

Industry observers struggle to explain the trend, but they say a clear drop-off in North County house building began in the early 1990s when a recession turned the housing market sour.

When it picked up again years later, St. Charles County had hit its stride, and areas like North County were forced to play second fiddle. At the time, builders were drawn to St. Charles County because it offered cheap, easy-to-develop land.

The quiet years of housing are over for North St. Louis County

There, they began offering affordable houses to the middle class in the "Golden Triangle" within Interstate 70, Highway 40 and the Missouri River.

"St. Charles was readily available, and it was affordable," said Richard Ward, a senior principal with Development Strategies, a St. Louis-based consultant. "There's no question - a degree of it was white flight. ... St. Charles (County) appealed to the price-sensitive, middle-class, working families."

Now, there are signs that builders might be less narrowly focused on St. Charles, said Zanola, the market analyst. Since the mid-1990s, land prices there have risen, roads have become more congested and development has pushed farther away from the region's core.

New families are moving into North St. Louis County

That has opened the door for North County, he said. And it has helped to win over folks like the Currys, formerly of Bridgeton, who moved into a two-story house in northern Hazelwood in November.

"We looked across the river (in St. Charles County), but nothing clicked" said Kent Curry, 41, a communications director for Pentecostal Publishing House in Hazelwood. "We have lots of friends who live in St. Charles County, and it takes them 30 minutes to get to the grocery store. What's underrated about North County is the convenience."

Families like the Currys also are finding house prices in North County to their liking. The Hermitage, a two-story model built by McBride & Son Homes, sells for $212,900 in Hazelwood, compared with $220,000 in O'Fallon. The same house sells for $370,000 in Des Peres.

In addition, attitudes about race have changed somewhat, Ward said. "I think the fear of racial change is not as great as it used to be," he said. "And I think some of the people who are buying new homes there are middle-class black people moving in."

Other factors influencing the growing demand for North County houses include improved roads, increasing respect for the Hazelwood School District and a recent flurry of commercial building, said Patrick Owens, a North County sector specialist for the St. Louis Economic Council.

In fact, North County became the site of the St. Louis region's first new mall in 16 years when St. Louis Mills opened in Hazelwood last year.

"I think a lot of this ground was overlooked for so long in favor of St. Charles County," Owens said. "Now, the remaining ground in St. Charles County is becoming significantly farther form the urban core, and North County is becoming preferable to people who work in more central areas."

Lasting boom

Since he began selling houses in North County in 1959, Larry Lamb has seen rises and falls in new construction.

But this boom, he believes, will last for a while.

Why? Because on Sundays, Lamb, a salesman for McBride & Son Homes, watches more than 100 prospective buyers walk in and out of the sales office at Behlmann Farms, the company's new development just south of Highway 67 in unincorporated North County.

Comparably, in St. Charles County, 30 potential buyers at a given subdivision on a Sunday is normal, the company says.

"Our sales have been so good (in North County) that we haven't been able to build up any inventory," Lamb said. "There's just a pent-up demand."

That might be why the number of new houses sold in far North County slipped in 2003 after posting a significant increase in 2002, Zanola said.

"Developers noticed North County as a growing market, but they were very conservative," he said. "The new homes sold more quickly than they could supply them."

Between November 2001 and November 2002, builders closed on 170 new houses in the area north of Interstate 270, the segment of North County where the most growth is expected. That was up from 107 the previous year.

But in 2003, closings dropped to 106 as builders ran out of land. Zanola, however, believes that closings will shoot up this year and then increase steadily, reaching 400 by 2006 or 2007.

McBride & Son will do its part, said John Eilerman, the company's president. This year, the company expects to build 215 houses in North County, its most active year since the late 1980s.

"Quite honestly, we could have sold more last year. We just didn't have the developments done," he said.

Reporter Eric Heisler
E-mail: eheisler@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8183

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