Builder starts on Papaya Place

Community will feature 65 homes

Albuquerque-based homebuilder Stillbrooke Homes plans to bring 65 new residences onto the market in the Northeast Heights in the next 30 months.

Papaya Place, a 21-unit “paired home” community is coming out of the ground on 2.5 acres of land near Wyoming and Burlison NE. Scott Henry, Stillbrooke’s president, said the location is a good fit for the two-story residences, in which the buyers will own the land in a fee simple arrangement.

The paired homes, which are similar to townhomes but have windows on three sides and extensive sound buffering, will feature several floor plans, with prices starting around $260,000. A model home on the site is now available for the public to tour.

Vacant land is pricey and in short supply in the Northeast Heights, but homebuilders such as Stillbrooke, which has been in business since 1997, are finding ways to squeeze in pockets of new houses here and there.

Henry said Stillbrooke was fortunate to partner with Dragonfly Development, which acquired the land where the Papaya Place homes are going up.

Stillbrooke is also planning a 44-home community in Titan Development’s 60-acre Santa Monica Place project, on Santa Monica Ave. NE between Louisiana Boulevard and San Pedro Drive.

Henry said his company and another local homebuilder, Abrazo Homes, are sharing the build-out at Estates at Santa Monica community, which will result in 88 new, single-family homes over the course of nearly three years.

“These new homes will range from $290,000 to $450,000,” Henry said of the Stillbrooke product at the Estates.

“We are very proud to offer these new homes in this superior location, as well as our proven tried-and-true designs that we have been building in the Northeast Heights for many years.”