A few weeks ago, during a forecasting session on housing in 2002, several suburban home builders described Montgomery as one of the hot spots in northern Illinois.
“Sizzling” is more like it.
Montgomery, a village with a population of nearly 5,500, is about 50 miles and a world away from downtown Chicago, southwest of Aurora and spread out on both sides of the Fox River.
At the moment, there are five separate housing developments under construction in Montgomery on the west side of the river, north and south of U.S. Highway 30.
And these budding communities aren’t going to be tiny ones. The developers are heavy hitters who build homes in their subdivisions by the hundreds, not by the dozens. Builders include Lakewood, Concord, Cambridge and Kennedy Homes and Wyndham Deerpoint.
Concord, for example, will have more than 500 single-family homes at its Montgomery Crossings subdivision.
Amy Furfori, the village’s director of community development, expects Montgomery’s population to more than double to around 13,000 in the next six years or so.
Her projection seems feasible because there are other developers waiting in the wings to have their proposals OKd by the village board after a comprehensive growth plan is completed and approved in February or March.
For example, Sterling Development of Mishawaka, Ind., hopes to begin an infill “luxury” complex, Quail Ridge, in Montgomery.
Neumann Homes is “anxious to start building on its land north of Route 30,” says Furfori, but also has to wait out results of the village’s growth plan.
What is it that Montgomery is doing to lure the builders and potential home buyers out to this land which can seem like halfway to Iowa when traffic on the Eisenhower is at a standstill?
For buyers, “It’s open space, better value in housing,” replies Furfori. That means you can’t find houses this size and at these prices and with yards in Chicago or the near-in suburbs.
The village official practically laughs at the very idea of trying to lure builders to the area. Instead, she replied, “Development pays its own way.”
But where are these 5,000-plus future residents of Montgomery coming from? Surprisingly, many young couples–with or without small children–are moving from Chicago even though one or both continue to work in the city, according to village administrators as well as sales representatives, such as Lori Arias at Concord Homes’ Montgomery Crossings.
Arias, who works in the sales center for attached homes, says most Concord buyers are first-time homeowners: either the couples from Chicago or “singles, downsizers, couples” who have been renting in Aurora or other nearby towns.
Prompted by mortgage “rates that were right,” Glenna Smith, one such first-time buyer who’s been renting in Aurora, said “I never thought I’d be in a new home but there’s no comparison–every existing house I saw had too much work to do.” Smith’s new dream home is the smallest of the two-story attached homes, but it has everything she wants: “openness, great flow from living to dining to kitchen”; two bedrooms with walk-in closets, a big bathroom and powder room.
The ranch is open, compact with a great room, big kitchen with plenty of eat-in space and large adjacent laundry room, a small and a large bedroom (with huge walk-in closet), bathroom–everything a couple or single could want.
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I’d skip over plan No. 622–too choppy.
But No. 623 offers a lot of house for the money (base-priced at $139,990 for 1,700 square feet), but especially so as shown in the model with two bathrooms rather than one.
On the first floor, a foyer leads to the stairway at the far left of room; living room blends into dining room with powder room off to the side; very large kitchen/breakfast room overlooks 16-by-14-foot family room with lots of windows.
Upstairs: Two OK-though-smallish bedrooms with full bath in between; closet with washer/dryer; master bedroom with long, narrow walk-in closet and master bath.
Only caution: Throughout the model, check out all the options (especially bay windows) and upgrades. They can add up.
Montgomery Crossings also has two single-family free-standing furnished models. The more creative plan (more expensive, more space at 2,691 square feet, base priced at $216,490) is No. 323: Central foyer, small formal living room to one side, den diagonally on the other side and behind it, a nice, big formal but open dining room.
A totally open plan
The entire back of the house has a wonderful kitchen and breakfast area to one side totally open to a big family room and windows galore.
Upstairs: Three ordinary size bedrooms share one bathroom (Boo! There’s space to rectify that mistake.) plus huge master bed, walk-in and bathroom. There’s also a basement and 2-car garage and a major option not to be overlooked: a “bonus room” can be built over the garage, adding 250 square feet.
Montgomery Crossings
Address: 2500 Galena Rd., Montgomery
Developer: Concord Homes, Palatine (630) 906-2022 (attached homes); (630) 906-2020 (detached)
Description: A master-planned neo-traditional community to have 264 attached and 254 detached single-family homes on 220 acres with 104 acres set aside for open space, four man-made lakes and Blackberry Creek.
Amenities: Vinyl exteriors; fully sodded home sites; separate laundry rooms; stove and dishwasher, vinyl kitchen flooring; cultured marble bathroom counters.
Prices: Attached ranch and two-story homes (two units joined by a central garage wall) base-priced from $125,490 to $139,990 for two to three bedroom, 1 to 1 1/2 bathroom units with 1,074 to 1,700 square feet of living space. Detached (free-standing) homes base-priced $186,490 to $218,990 for four to five bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms with 1,941 to 2,691square feet of living space (not including basements). All with 2-car garages. Yearly association fee, $175 (attached homes) and $235 (detached homes). Prices as of Jan. 7.
Neighborhood: Southwest of Aurora, west of the Fox River, east of Illinois Highway 47. Near golf courses and forest preserves, Fox Valley shopping center.