The construction of a housing development on the corner of Abbott Road and Sewalls Falls Road remains on hold while developers work to redesign their plans following the request for more single-level homes.
Construction of the 16 homes was expected to begin in July but as word of the new housing development spread, developer Scott DeSantis received several inquiries from potential homeowners for single-level homes.
“There were a number of people requesting one-level homes and we weren’t offering them,” DeSantis said. “We are looking to see about offering single family, single levels instead of all two stories and we have to get the plans for that to change gears.”
DeSantis will not need further approval from the city to build single-level homes since the designs will meet the guidelines that the city already approved.
In the meantime, DeSantis is working to finish projects in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts before starting construction on Abbott Road in October, he said.
Starting with the construction of two-story homes, DeSantis plans to then build one-story homes, despite their increased costs. At this time, he doesn’t know how many of the 16 homes will be one level.
“We want to set this up so that we have a plan up front of what we will build on each lot instead of whatever someone picks out of a book,” he continued. “We would much rather have the home up before we have a sales agreement on it.”
The two-story homes are slated to be between 1,800 and 2,100 square feet with a two-car garage. The single-level homes will be scaled back, but will still include the garage. Because it costs more to build a single-story home, the projected value of the homes, which were initially between $499,000 and $550,000, are subject to change.
“We want to make them big enough so that it works for people but they aren’t too expensive. We need to find a happy medium,” DeSantis said. “If they’re too big, they’re too expensive. If they’re too small, it won’t work for everyone.”
Once construction begins, DeSantis plans to have the site completed by the end of 2023, he said.
The plot of land is more than 8 acres and was sold to DeSantis in April for $905,000 for development. When it was bought, there was a house and a barn on the property. The house has since been demolished and the barn will be relocated to northern Massachusetts, DeSantis said.
The barn is an iconic structure on the property that was first built in Maine in the 1800s before it was moved to Abbott Road in 2022.
“We wanted to keep it in its entirety. We didn’t want to tear it down,” he continued.