Around new schools, neighborhoods are set to boom

It will be a couple of years until this is back-to-school season for Travis and Megan Miller – but a walk through the neighborhood is all it takes for a preview of what’s ahead.

“The other night, I think it was a Friday night, and me and the girls were out for a walk, and you could hear the football game playing, so that was cool,” said Megan Miller, mom of 3- and 1-year-olds.

When the Millers moved in to Aspen Heights on the city’s northwest side six years ago – their first home – they could go on the back porch and see a cornfield in the distance.

“Growing up on a farm as a kid, it was the best view I could have had,” she said.

She can barely see it now.

“But it is still there. For now. I’m not holding my breath much longer.”

That’s what happens when your neighborhood is situated between two new schools.

Between Jefferson High School and McGovern Middle School, hundreds of homes are expected to be built in the next few years.

“I’m expecting to be able to keep builders busy out there for the next five to seven years by opening up lots of new dirt,” said Eric Harms, a real estate agent at The Harms Team of Hegg Realtors.

Jefferson Heights is where much of the initial building is occurring — a 190-acre development on the southwest corner of Marion Road and Maple Street.

Trademark Homes is developing it, and Harms is brokering the lots.

The property includes a creek that splits it in half and 50 acres of flood plain, so many homes can back up to the greenway.

“I’d been looking at that piece for a while and just kept coming back to it,” Trademark owner Erik Christensen said. “Because being so close to McGovern and Jefferson High School, it would be a thing people really gravitated toward. Who doesn’t want to live near a brand-new school?”

He appears to be right. Of about 140 lots at Jefferson Heights, about 60 were opened up this year, and 34 of those are under contract.

Any builder or resident could buy one, but “we did almost a draft to keep everyone happy,” Christensen said. “Some wanted lots on the greenway, and some didn’t. It’s going pretty quick. I don’t think it’s going to last.”

Lots start at about $70,000 and reach the $110,000s. There also are a mix of single-family and twin home lots, including some twin homes that back up to the greenway.

“We didn’t want to price them so high they got stagnant, and we wanted people to get out there and start building,” Christensen said.

Houses likely will start in the low-to-mid $400,000s up to around $850,000.

“Quite a few of the builders have pre-sold (homes) they’re getting ready to dig as soon as they’re able,” Harms said. “A lot will be spec homes (those built without a predetermined buyer) because the west side has been so underserved in that caliber of home.”

Lots will be ready for building by October, they said.

“Once news got out of what was going on, I’ve been contacted by several people from the adjacent neighborhoods or west-siders that are planning to send their kids to those schools who were looking for an opportunity to move up and get into something newer.”

Growing up

When the Millers moved to Aspen Heights, near Madison Street and Marion Road, there were no houses across the street.

“And now it’s fully developed, and it’s so fun to see people moving in,” said Miller, who works in health care compliance.

She also has a front-row digital seat to the growth, administering the Aspen Heights neighborhood Facebook group, which has more than 300 members.

“I think within the last six months we’ve grown like 150 people,” she said. “I feel like every day I’m accepting three or four people at a minimum, so it’s crazy to see that.”

If kids are out, “everybody comes and gathers at the end of the block,” she continued.

“And they always have a rummage sale the weekend of Father’s Day. It’s just a great little neighborhood. We’re still far enough from Sioux Falls but close enough that one of the first years we lived in the house, we sat on the roof and watched the fireworks from the fairgrounds on the Fourth of July. It’s just a fun location.”

And there will be more recreation coming to the area too.

Ultimately, the Jefferson Heights development will gift its green space back to the city, which plans to extend the bike trail through the neighborhood.

“And one of the things we’re excited about is the city plans to bridge that greenway, so kids on the west or east side could potentially still walk or ride their bikes to school,” Harms said.

While there’s not much commercial activity in the area yet, a Scooter’s Coffee is coming along Marion Road, there’s an apartment project planned in the area and only about an acre left for sale.

“That’s going to be a really attractive neighborhood,” said Ryan Tysdal of Van Buskirk Cos., who is brokering the commercial piece of it.

“And I’m even getting calls from people looking for residential lots, which makes me believe demand is going to be very strong out there.”

And Trademark Homes already is banking on more demand from residents. It plans to buy an additional 40 acres just south of McGovern as a second addition to Jefferson Heights, adding 60 home lots.

“Because of the location relative to the schools and some of the new employment centers with Amazon and CJ Foods, I’m expecting a pretty strong response from builders and individuals alike,” Harms said.