TechPractices: New Colony Village, Corridor 1 L.P., Jessup, MD

TechPractices are outstanding housing projects throughout the U.S. where innovative technologies are implemented. Builders and remodelers can use these examples as models for projects of their own.

Summary

How can a manufactured housing developer compete with custom two-story homes in an aesthetically-driven market? New Colony Village found a way to beat surrounding conventional subdivisions at their own game, installing two-story manufactured homes with site-built basements, porches and garages. The community contains manufactured (HUD-Code) homes, which are normally one-story units. An innovative chassis design allows the manufactured units to be stacked. New Colony Village is the first HUD-Code development in the Eastern U.S. with two-story homes. The project features additional breakthroughs in land development and financing options.

Details

New Colony Village, slated to contain 416 units averaging 1,300 square feet, is designed to compete with conventional subdivisions. The designs match the architectural style prevalent in the region -- two-story homes complete with basements, porches, and garages, features usually not present in manufactured-home developments. The two-story HUD-Code homes not only help create a more traditional-looking subdivision, but land is used much more efficiently, adding home square footage by building up instead of out.

The 52-acre site, located about 25 miles from Washington, D.C., and 17 miles from Baltimore, is covered with wooded wetland preserve areas. The developer needed to preserve the open feeling of the site. But with a density of approximately 10 homes per acre, a different approach is called for. To create a sense of openness in a densely built-up area, designers creatively developed the space by grouping homes in "pods", making narrower streets, and by leaving common areas throughout. A two-lane feeder boulevard flanked by sidewalks feeds into one-way loop streets. At the end of each "loop" is a common space area. Homes on the "outside" of the loop back up to wooded or wetland areas. The narrow streets also create a more open feel and are less expensive to build. The developer engineered dual sewer connections for each pair of homes. Instead of a separate line and connection to the sewer main for each house, a single line carries the combined waste of a pair of homes.

New Colony Village offers five floor plans: four two-story models and a one-story model marketed to the elderly or empty-nesters. Designers maximized all available space. For example, wasted-space areas under stairwells feature shelving or optional cabinetry. Homeowners can opt for in-wall media niches for TVs and stereo components that generally require space-consuming furniture. One model has an entry foyer that steps down to a Great Room, divided by a kneewall that features a mini-bookcase.

New Colony Village is the first manufactured housing community to offer such site-built elements as finished or unfinished basements, and garages and porches that not only add charm to the house, but have ample room for the homeowners to use them. Among the space configuration choices are roommate suites, ground floors with two-car garages or a one-car garage plus family room, a ground floor with two bedrooms, or one bedroom and a family room. A two-bedroom model has the option of a site-built third bedroom or family room above the garage.

For privacy, the garage side of every home has limited window space, similar to the designs used in zero-lot line homes. To create privacy without blocking out light, the builders used clerestory windows.

New Colony Village features many amenities normally not included in manufactured home developments, including a 24-hour staffed entry gate, jogging trails, and a large recreation center with a fireplace lounge area, a multi-sport court, and adult and children's pools.

Installation/Construction

Under the HUD Code, manufactured homes must have an attached, "permanent" chassis. This has thwarted builder efforts to stack them into multi-story units. Even if the mobile undercarriage could be removed, manufacturers use a steel I-beam chassis which would make the floors too thick. New Colony Village developers, in conjunction with housing consultants, devised a unique chassis system that is an integral part of the floor joist system. The 2 x 10 floor joists are doubled at the perimeter, eliminating the typical steel chassis. Hitches, axle, and wheel assemblies are removable. When the module arrives on site, a crane lifts the home and detaches the axle, wheels, and hitch, and the module is ready to stack. Each two-story home is comprised of four modules. For maximum curb appeal, care was taken to disguise mate lines connecting home modules by incorporating connections into architectural elements.

A substantial portion of the home is site-built, including basement, garage and porch. To free-up space in the main floors, the furnace is installed in the basement, a practice borrowed from modular home construction. A technique borrowed from shared wastewater treatment systems, dual sewer connections allow for less excavation, pipe installation, and potential stoppages. By creating a "T" connection between each pair of homes and the sewer main, each home could be separately metered while reducing construction time and costs.

Benefits/Costs

New Colony Village is a land-lease community with a twist. In land-lease communities, the homeowner owns the home but not the land, lowering the overall purchase price. However, land-lease buyers do not benefit from low-interest mortgages because they do not turn over the deed to the land. Thus, land-lease purchases are financed using chattel loans with interest rates several points higher than mortgage rates.

To help buyers to benefit from low interest rates, and to bring in more qualifying buyers, developer Wayne Newsome developed long-term 50-year land leases allowing Fannie Mae to offer New Colony Village buyers a conventional 30-year mortgage loan with as low as 5% down payment. Homebuyers then have a dual monthly payment -- mortgage plus a fee paid to New Colony Village that includes the land lease fee, infrastructure maintenance, and a host of site amenities. This arrangement also frees up more money for the downpayment as thousands of dollars in closing costs on conventional properties are from taxes and fees assessed on the land. The 30-year loan program is available to creditworthy customers. Loans with 10% down are available to credit risks.

In Howard County, Maryland, a typical 1,500-square foot, single-family detached home with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths averages around $190,000. Homes at New Colony Village are $109,000 to $132,000 -- prices more in line with area townhouses. Newsome tried to employ cost-cutting measures wherever possible. For example, the dual sewer connections not only reduce the amount of labor and material required, they also reduce the sewer main tap fee for each home. Total savings is approximately $400 per home.

Code/Regulatory

The area is zoned for a mobile home park. Manufactured housing is built under a pre-emptive national code administered by HUD. The HUD Code mandates that manufactured homes have an attached chassis. New Colony's removable undercarriage innovation allows for a two-story configuration. Because stairs are not covered by the HUD Code, they are built to the local code, as are the attached garages and other onsite work.

Feedback

Many items often offered as upgrades are standard features at New Colony Village. Developers held focus groups to determine what homeowners desired. As a result, such items as white cabinets, white-on-white appliances, garage door openers, and cabinet and vanity hardware are standard.

Contact(s)

Do you have a specific question? Try the contacts listed below:

Select Housing Associates
3300 Irvine Avenue, Suite 225
Newport Beach, CA 92660
714-261-2273

Corridor 1 L.P.
P.O. Box 39
Columbia, MD 21045

MarketWise
10319-B Tower Hill Ct.
Elicott City, MD 21042
410-750-7373