Banning Lewis Ranch snags second national homebuilder
A second national company has joined the ranks of homebuilders at the Banning Lewis Ranch, giving the project’s developer more firepower as it tries to snag a bigger share of the single-family housing market.
Texas-based D.R. Horton has agreed to buy 55 lots in Banning Lewis, the sprawling, approximately 21,000-acre property southeast of Woodmen and Marksheffel roads that makes up most of Colorado Springs’ east side. Richmond-American Homes of Denver is Banning Lewis’ other national builder.
National builders can drive homebuyer traffic to an area because they have name recognition and the deep pockets to construct speculative homes — properties built for buyers who come along later, but who want to move fast when they decide to purchase, said John Cassiani, who oversees the local operation of California-based developer Banning Lewis Ranch Management Co.
Some local companies don’t have the cash flow to build spec homes, Cassiani said. D.R. Horton will construct one model and seven specs on eight lots it has purchased, Cassiani said; the builder will complete its purchase of additional lots on a quarterly basis. Richmond-American has 12 to 14 specs in Banning Lewis.
“When people have to be in a home in 45 days, they can come in, see a spec, touch and feel it, and go in,” Cassiani said.
Having well-known local and regional builders is important, too, Cassiani said. Classic Cos. and Todays Homes, both of Colorado Springs, and Oakwood Homes of Colorado are the ranch’s other builders.
When the single-family market began to nose-dive in 2007, several national builders left the Springs or reduced operations. D.R. Horton, which previously built in the Springs as Melody Homes, had nearly 7 percent of the local single-family home market in 2003, as measured by that year’s building permits. By 2007, its market share had declined by more than half.
A D.R. Horton spokesman didn’t return calls Thursday.
Because of its immense size, the Banning Lewis Ranch represents decades of residential and commercial growth in Colorado Springs. The property, which dates to 1897 was annexed by the city in 1988 and went through a couple of owners after that before it was acquired in 2001 by a California real estate company.
But home construction didn’t begin on the ranch until three years ago, and the developer now is competing with other large developments, such as the 1,600-acre Wolf Ranch in far northeast Colorado Springs.
Home sales in Banning Lewis are expected to total 90 to 100 this year, which would be a 40 percent gain over 2009, Cassiani said..
The ranch is being developed in stages; each of its neighborhoods — or “villages,” as the developer calls them — will have amenities such as a community center, parks and trails in place before homes are built.
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