Lakeside town homes on tap for Lewisville

Dallas-based Ganter Development is planning to build 60 town homes on Lewisville Lake, with construction scheduled to start in December.

The town homes will be built on five acres Ganter Development has under contract for $1.5 million northeast of Interstate 35E and F.M. 407/Justin Road in Lewisville, said Chris Ganter, who owns the company with his twin brother, Ben Ganter.

The units will range in size from 1,300 to 3,200 square feet and sell for $208,000 to $405,000. All 60 are scheduled for completion by June.

The two- and three-story town homes in the not-yet named development will have Austin-stone exteriors, two-car garages and a French-country feel, Chris Ganter said. Homeowner association fees will run about $100 a month and include exterior landscaping and maintenance, he said.

"In today's marketplace, especially in Dallas-Fort Worth, people don't want to maintain anything," Chris Ganter said. "They don't want to mow their grass or waste time on maintenance when they could be enjoying the lake."

Twenty-two of the town homes are presold, Ganter said. Ganter Development has built about 200 town homes in Allen, Grand Prairie and Cedar Creek since the development company launched two years ago. The company's strategy is to develop town homes on smaller tracts in the Metroplex that other developers have passed over, Ganter said. The company especially looks for waterfront property that's easily accessible by major roads, he said.
In the 12 months ending March 31, builders started work on 190 town homes in Lewisville, including 59 starts since Jan. 1, said Cassie Gibson, vice president of research for homebuilder consultant Residential Strategies Inc. Citywide, , 88 town homes are under construction now, and 54 town homes are finished but vacant, Dallas-based RSI's statistics showed.

Higher price point
Much of the town home construction in Lewisville lies along State Highway 121 and almost all is priced between $110,000 and $250,000, skewing lower than the Ganter town homes, Gibson said.

"With lake frontage, you're looking at a different pool of buyers," she said. "They're going to be more geographically widespread. They're probably looking at this purchase as either a weekend recreational home, or they're empty nesters interested in a low-maintenance lifestyle."
Despite slumping new home sales, Ganter seems to have found a niche, said Mitchell Vexler, president of Lewisville-based Mockingbird Properties, which is developing town homes priced at $185,000 to $280,000 at Chase Oaks Village in Plano.

"They're (Ganter's development) next to the lake, and they're honing in on a specific demographic," he said. "It sounds like they've got a winner on their hands."

Interesting that they could make a profit on townhomes with views of the lake. Will probably be a hit at those prices.