Developer takes aim at millennial homebuyers
Windsor’s millennials will be the targeted market for smaller, more affordable townhouses in a 70-unit subdivision proposal city council is being asked to approve.
The developer said he was originally going after snowbird retirees but is now eyeing a much younger set of Windsor homebuyers.
The city’s planning, heritage and economic development committee is recommending council approve plans for 96 new homes and townhouses in three subdivisions.
The largest of the three is a 70unit development proposed for a six-acre plot of land located between Guy Street to the north and Empress Street to the south, east of Norman Road.
The development by former Deerbrook Realty owner Sam Zlotnik and a silent partner is to be known as Cierra Meadows and was originally envisioned as being a development for snowbirds. It will feature 70 units on 18 lots, with each ranch-style building having three or four units beginning at 1,000 square feet that are projected to sell in the $250,000 range.
“What I’m finding out, we kind of thought it was geared to snowbirds more so, because they tend to want to get away from taking care of their property, everybody would just want to get away and close their doors and leave, they don’t want to shovel snow, they don’t want to cut grass,” said Zlotnik.
“It’s overflowing, what’s happening is the new millennials, the
younger people, they’re not interested in cutting grass and shovelling snow any more. It seems they don’t care about being outside, they want their lifestyle, they want to put their car in the garage and get in the house and do what they do.”
Zlotnik said he wanted to offer something more affordable to people who don’t want a condominium.
“It’s overwhelming the amount of people that want to buy townhouses, these dwellings, I think we’ve got a unique product, because when I recognized what was happening out there, it’s really nice that they’re buying these $300,000 $400,000 $500,000 townhomes, but what about these people that can’t afford that price range?,” said Zlotnik.
“I wanted to develop a product that people could afford. They’re not as big as those $500,000 ones, the entry level is 1,000 square feet, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a one-car garage, full basement...”
There is a website for the development: cierrameadows.com.
Realtor Mario DeMarco of Deerbrook Realty said there should be high demand for the units.
“It’s pretty exciting for that area because that has been vacant land forever,” said DeMarco.
The second development is for 20 lots on land owned by the City of Windsor south of the Ganatchio Trail in the 9700 block of Riverside Drive. The land was previously home to the Town of Tecumseh water treatment plant.
The lots will be the second phase of Peche Island Shores, the first phase having been developed more than a decade ago on what is Mountbatten Crescent, and the new lots will complete the crescent.
The city will construct the infrastructure including storm and sanitary sewers, curbing and sidewalks. The city will then subdivide the land and sell it to individual developers, just as they did in the first phase of the development.
The third development is for six townhomes on the southeast corner of Prairie Court and Ora Street south of Cabana Road West.
The development by the Fanelli Group will connect Prairie and Ora, which are separated.