OPEN DOORS
Fall parade shows off 38 homes for buyers, browsers
The fall Homes of Enchantment Parade offers the gamut of new and even one remodeled home for buyers who are ready to hit the market or just folks who are doing some longer term research.
The parade, sponsored by the Homes Builders Association of Central New Mexico and running two weekends of Oct. 13-15 and 20-22, features 38 houses built by 30 different contractors, with two topping out at $1.9 million, says Lana McClure, HBA vice president of operations.
The remodel marks the lower end of the price spectrum at $130,000 for the new work, while the affordable homes start at $257,957, McClure says.
National builder DR Horton has the most homes in the parade with three, she says.
The parade also includes several first-time entrants, including M-Art Building Co., owned by Martin Romero, with his partner Tony Rivera.
The company has a 2,400-squarefoot home snuggled into a secluded neighborhood of the near North Valley not far from Los Griegos Elementary School.
The three-bedroom, three-bath spec home that sells for $545,000 includes an extra guest wing that makes an excellent mother-in-law space, Rivera says.
Set off with a sliding barn-like door, “it can be made private from the rest of the house,” he says.
Otherwise, “it has the open floor plan that everybody wants these days,” Rivera says. “It has high ceilings and architecturally, the style is modern southwest.”
That’s evident right on the front of the home, where exposed, steel I-beams, painted in an earthy tone, offset the entry portal that’s accented by a wodden, tongue-and-groove ceiling and wooden corbels.
Romero took over the business from his grandfather about 15 years ago and five years ago, Rivera came on board with his architectural expertise and the union has worked well.
“When he and I started working together, my background of design brought in other aspects of doing design-build projects,” Rivera says.
And now they’re completely in sync, he says, so entering the parade makes a lot of sense.
“We thought it would be a good way to get some exposure,” Rivera says. “We’ve been at it for a few years as a partnering and we feel comfortable that we’ve honed our design product and we have the quality of our product. We had it honed-in enough to showcase it so we could get exposure so we can hopefully get some more custom home work.”
Unique build
Capturing the views from the bluffs lining the Rio Grande near St. Pius High School was an absolute must for Jon Hartenberger of Hartenberger Construction.
“Our client bought one of the last remaining lots in Oxbow (North) that’s a view lot,” he says. “So we designed it with that in place. It’s got a 300-degree view of the city, the mountains, the river valley and it looks right down onto the open space.”
It’s the type of home that Hartenberger says he loves to display in the parade because it highlights the type of features that are typical of his building style. But in his 35 years of building, he’s only been able to show a handful of projects.
“I just do one house at a time and I do a lot of the work,” Hartenberger says. “I’m very hands-on, very much involved. My client loves the parade. For her, it was easy. I’m glad to be in it. If I can, I’ll go in the parade. The last one was a spec home that I had in the parade about four years ago.”
At 4,700 square feet, the current home is listed at $1.9 million.
“It’s a unique build because there is nothing standard about it,” Hartenberger says. “The walls are built out of concrete and even some of the ceiling is built out of concrete.”
Curling, elliptical stairs wind down to the finished basement that’s set up with a media room “and a cool wine room with a hidden door in it,” he says.
The corner walls of the poolside cabana are pocket doors to turn it into an open-air workout space.
It has a modern set up, but the various rooms are separated from each other, although the dining room and living room are joined by an eight-foot, see-through fireplace. Incredible views
The vast vistas in Placitas are captured in Paul Kenderdine’s PWKI Parade entry.
“It’s the best view lots or one of the best view lots in Placitas,” he says. “It has truly incredible views, 360-degrees.”
Although Kenderdine usually does his own design work, noted Santa Fe architect Robert Zachery put this plan together.
“It’s a home that we typically like to build, modern with good lines, a lot of light,” Kenderdine says of the $1.9 million home. “It’s a great house. It’s 5,000 square feet and there’s hardly a spot in the house that doesn’t have a spectacular view.”
It’s all about the workmanship, he says.
“We pride ourselves on an extremely clean house,” Kenderdine says. “We are minimalist on detail and this house real exemplifies that. We believe that truly less is more. The house is really about blending into the natural landscape. The owners are adding color and furnishings and artwork. Our approach is minimal, which is extremely difficult to pull off.”
PWKI has been in the parade several times in the past and those projects have drawn plenty of interest, he says.
“We’ve had the privilege of doing some really interesting homes so they get a lot of attention in the parade,” Kenderdine says. “We use it primarily to showcase our product. This is the only home in parade that I haven’t designed myself, but we feel like we have a unique product. It’s our first house in Placitas and it has a high price tag, but it’s an interesting home. You’d be surprised at how many people are extremely thorough in doing their research and seeing the homes they want to see.”