What: Riverside City Council
When: Today; 6 p.m. work session, 7 p.m. business meeting
Where: Municipal Building, 1791 Harshman Road
Construction on new homes in the Brantwood residential housing project in Riverside is expected to begin this month, according to city and development officials.
The model home was completed last month and Phase I of the two-phase project consists of 53 lots, which is near the intersection of Brandt Pike and Haldeman Avenue. The land was at one time designed to be a business park.
Riverside City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on change orders to the project totaling $26,000 and to release the excess escrow funds to Brantwood Development, LLC. Brantwood Development deposited $1.4 million into an escrow account before the city entered into the infrastructure contract with Kinnison Excavating Inc.
About $60,000 will be returned to Brantwood Development because the project came in under budget, Riverside City Manager Bryan Chodkowski said. The city issued its first certificate of zoning compliance for new home construction last week, he said.
“It’s a definite sign that we’re growing,” Chodkowski said. “We’re repurposing the site for a use that’s in demand. There’s clearly a market for new homes in our community. It’s a shot in the arm for the community.”
Ryan Homes is building single-family homes with a price range in the upper $140,000s to the low $190,000s, with the square footage 1,400 to 2,200-plus, according to its website.
Six lots have been sold, and construction is expected to begin later this month, said Lance Oakes, project manager for Brantwood Development. The goal is to build 30 homes this year, he said.
Oakes said the development’s close proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and being in the Mad River school district will be attractive to homeowners.
“We feel like this development can be very successful,” Oakes said. “We love the area. It’s taking an area that was supposed to be for something else that never really got developed, and now there’s a viable use for it.”
In September 2012, Brantwood Development purchased an additional 19 acres at 3810 Old Troy Pike, which will connect into Phase I and result in another 33 lots for Phase II.
Phase II is “dependent on the sales in Phase I,” Oakes said. “I anticipate construction starting next year if things pan out like we think they will.”
In April 2012, City Council approved the Brantwood Tax Increment Financing and infrastructure development agreement between the city and Brantwood Development. The year-end tax revenues will be distributed to the Mad River Local School District, the Brandt Pike TIF District and the city of Riverside via income tax.
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