Most of the new residential construction in north suburban Lake County is “in-fill” housing, opined one builder at a recent roundtable discussion.
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While that is something of an exaggeration–there are several large new developments at the northern part of the county near the Wisconsin border–the builder’s point is still not far off the mark.
Lake County, once home to the weekend farms of old-line families and the lake cottages of city dwellers, has fewer and fewer open spots for new construction.
This is especially true in suburbs nearest Chicago, where the well-documented add-on and teardown phenomenon of leafy, established lakefront suburbs is working its way north and west across the Cook County line.
Fairview Estates, along Wieland Road just north of Lake-Cook Road at the eastern edge of Buffalo Grove, is one such in-fill development.
It is a 26-lot subdivision along a cul-de-sac with a small pond and walking path. The property formerly was occupied by a 1950s ranch house and a commercial storage facility, said Jeff Filip, sales manager for builder and developer Fidelity Wes, a 15-year-old firm based in Palatine.
The company’s bread and butter “has been the custom, high-end home around $1 million,” Filip said. But the firm, with two projects of high-end homes in Long Grove, is branching out into other types of housing. In addition to the Buffalo Grove subdivision, it is planning a townhouse development in Roselle.
There are three floor plans from 2,550 to 2,850 square feet in Buffalo Grove. The homes are base-priced from $639,000 to $689,000. Eight houses have been sold. The development has a model home that doubles as a sales office and two field models or speculative homes under construction.
The early buyers have been mostly young professionals, several with families drawn by the reputation of the Stevenson High School district, said sales associate Cathleen Abbott.
The builder offers a plan for a first-floor master bedroom suite, but only one couple has opted for that selection. They intend to use the two bedrooms and loft on the second floor for college-age children when they are home, Filip said.
Most lots are less than a quarter-acre. But the homes are sold landscaped with shrubs and sodded lawns; a monthly homeowner’s fee includes yard maintenance and snow removal.
The decision to include lawn maintenance as part of the package is partly because the homes are closer together than in other suburban developments and the professional landscaping assures some uniformity and standard of care.
“It’s for a fast lifestyle, more or less,” Filip says of the inclusion of yard care. “All the benefits of a single-family house, yet none of the traditional care.”
All three floor plans have front-load garages next to the front door of the house. And all the homes have a room just inside the front door dubbed a “parlor” on the floor plan. The builders keep the name of the room purposely ambiguous, according to Abbott, so that buyers might decide whether to use it as a study, music room, home office or a formal sitting room. Full basements are standard.
The two most popular plans are the Cypress, which Filip describes as a more contemporary, open plan, and the Birch, a more traditional home.
In the 2,675-square-foot Cypress, the traffic pattern of the first floor circulates past the powder room in the middle of the first floor. The front door opens to a small foyer where a diagonal hall passes the parlor, roughly 13 by 12 feet, to lead to the open living/dining/great room across the back of the house.
The living/dining area is about 22 by nearly 13 feet, with a volume ceiling in one part of the room. The higher ceiling differentiates the living room, which is open to the adjacent great room, about 15 by 13 feet.
The great room has a fireplace, sliding doors to the deck at the back of the house, and is open to a breakfast room and kitchen. A hall from the kitchen leads past the laundry/mudroom and is the access to the garage.
Upstairs, there are four bedrooms, including a master suite with a bedroom, 13 by 16 feet, a generous walk-in closet and a spacious master bath with tub, separate shower and a separate room for the toilet.
The traditional Birch model is the biggest at 2,850 square feet and feels roomier, partly because of the configuration of the layout.
Unlike the Cypress, the garage is almost flush with the front facade of the house and doesn’t overshadow the front door.
The entrance opens to a two-story foyer with the 14 1/2-by-10 1/2-foot parlor, used as the sales office, to the right. The hall from the foyer leads to a two-story living/dining area, nearly 24 by 13 feet, at the back of the house.
This room is open to the family room, 18 by 12 feet, with a fireplace and windows overlooking the small yard. The deck is at the back.
Like the Cypress, the Birch plan traffic flow circulates around a powder room in the middle of the first floor. To the left of the family room is the well-appointed 15 1/2-by-10-foot kitchen, adjacent to a breakfast room.
A hall from the kitchen leads back to the living/dining area. On one side of the hall is the powder room, shown with a lavish display of slate. Opposite the powder room is the laundry/mudroom, also shown with slate flooring, and the door to the garage.
There are four bedrooms on the second floor, the most spacious the 12-by-18-foot master bedroom at the back of the home. It comes with a very spacious master bath and two closets, including a very large walk-in closet.
Filip stresses that the same workers who lay the floors or install the tile for the million-dollar custom homes that the company builds work in these somewhat lower-priced models. As shown, the model is close to $785,000, with such upgrades as the kitchen cabinetry, granite countertops in the kitchen and master bath, slate flooring in the laundry and powder rooms and iron balusters along the stairs.
There is also a small bridge overlooking the foyer front and the living/dining area. The house has crown molding and slate surround around the family room fireplace and in the powder room.
Despite such details, some of which may be added with the builder’s fall promotion of $20,000 in upgrades, the homes essentially are living areas wrapped around the garage or mostly behind the garage.
That may make for public rooms that have plenty of square footage, but they tend to be long and narrow, which can be awkward to decorate.
For the exteriors, the importance of the garage detracts from the curb appeal as do busy rooflines. The Birch model is quieter and more welcoming, but the garage of the Cypress in particular juts toward the street to dominate the front facade.
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Fairview Estates, Buffalo Grove
Base-price range: $639,000 to $689,000
FACTS AND FIGURES
Three- and four-bedroom, two-story houses with 2 1/2 baths and two-car garage
Square feet: 2,550 to 2,850
Monthly assessment: $110
Developer: Fidelity Wes
Web site: www.fidelitywes.com
AMENITIES
Nine-foot first-floor ceiling, basement.
Hardwood floors in foyer, living and dining rooms and kitchen.
Oak railings; ceramic tile in laundry room, baths and showers.
Solid-surface countertops in kitchen and bath; GE kitchen appliances.
Central air conditioning; 10-by-12-foot deck.
Insulated, finished and painted garage.
Lawn landscaped and maintained with monthly assessment.
Community: 26-house development with pond, walking path and children’s play area.
GETTING THERE
Address: 420 Raymond Rd., Buffalo Grove
Phone: 847-229-9820
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