Meritage Homes Corporation, a singlefamily home-builder based in Scottsdale,Ariz.
and Dallas, Texas, is throwing its hat into the Reno residential ring, with a planned community in Sparks already in the works and a few more closely following.
The company will be looking at buying large pieces of land in the outlying areas, says Bob McLaughlin,Meritage regional president of California and Northern Nevada.
But closer in, they'll be building as part of masterplanned communities.
The Verdi area west of Somersett is one swath of soon-to-be-developed land that has caught the eye of Meritage, says McLaughlin.
"That is clearly where the development is going," he adds,"for that part of town."
But otherwise, look for Meritage to show interest in the suburban southeast, and down the road in affordable developments in Fernley and Dayton, as well as the North Valleys areas.
Meritage is on a fast-growth plan, having entered five new markets in the past five quarters, with Reno bringing its number of markets up to 14.
The company has aggressive plans for the Reno area, too, says Bruce Craig, president of Pacific Marcom,Meritage's advertising agency.
For now, Meritage is operating its new Reno operation from its California offices in Sacramento and Roseville.
That made more sense than coordinating from its Las Vegas offices, says McLaughlin, because of the connection with northern California relocations, as well as the back-and-forth traffic over the summit.
Though the company hasn't opened offices in Reno yet that's 60 to 90 days off "we're already there," says McLaughlin.When officially opened, the Meritage branch will be gearing up to about 24 staff by year-end, including front office sales and back office support and crews.
Under way already is a project at Wingfield Springs, in Sparks.
"We recently closed on our first land acquisition in the master-planned community of the foothills at Wingfield, and plan to begin delivering homes there in mid-2006," said Steven J.
Hilton,Meritage co-chairman and chief executive officer.
He also announced plans to purchase two or three more parcels during 2005 with delivery of homes anticipated for mid-tolate 2006.
The publicly held company is already established in Las Vegas,with five communities currently listed,most of the houses in the $300,000 range.
Its core price range in the Reno-Sparks area will be $250,000 to
$450,000, says McLaughlin.
