By Howard Greninger, The Tribune-Star
howard.greninger@tribstar.com
TERRE HAUTE - Despite a plummeting housing market, Vigo County developer Richard K. Jenkins is optimistic that a turnaround for the better is on the horizon.
So much so, he is planning a 99-lot addition at Idle Creek Golf Community.
Jenkins on Wednesday received preliminary approval from the Vigo County Plan Commission for an addition of nearly 41 acres, southeast of the original section of the subdivision, which was built around an 18-hole golf course and started in 1993.
Before any homes are built, designs and approvals for drainage, sewer, water and roads must be developed and approved. Yet Jenkins hopes to start home construction within the next year to 14 months.
"We wanted a shovel-ready project so that we are ready to go and not have three to four months of lag time to get started once we feel it is time to get it moving," Jenkins said.
Vigo County was hit by a high number of mortgage foreclosures in 2008, accounting for 25 percent of homes sales, according to Brian Conley, president of Conley Real Estate Appraisals Inc.
Idle Creek, in Riley Township, was hit hard as many homes went up for sale after Pfizer Inc. cut 660 jobs early last year, shutting down its Vigo County plant that made the inhaled insulin Exubera. Yet, homes formerly owned by many of those workers are all nearly sold, Jenkins said, as Pfizer sold the homes at prices below their original value.
"With the Pfizer people leaving and houses that were on the market last year, most of those [have been bought] and we are back to a normal amount of homes on the market. We have 240 houses and 16 are for sale, so we are down to about 7 percent on the market," Jenkins said.
He said Idle Creek historically has a range of 6 to 7 percent of homes on the market.
An economic stimulus plan, now before the U.S. Congress, may soon help home builders, Jenkins said. The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to give home buyers a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing homes, up to $15,000. The House version limits that tax credit to $7,500 for first-time home buyers who buy before July 1.
Current law requires the credit be repaid over 15 years, but the stimulus package would repeal the repayment requirement.
The new 99 lots will hold lower-priced homes. Jenkins plans to build new homes in the $190,000 to $220,000 range. Existing homes in Idle Creek range from $300,000 to more than $750,000.
"The economy is going to change. When it will change nobody knows, but people are still buying homes," he said. Jenkins referred to school teachers and those in the medical profession as being in near recession-proof jobs. He said Terre Haute, with two hospitals, is a strong regional medical center. Those will be the type of buyers he hopes to target.
"You look at the inventory of lots in the county, especially on the south side, there are less lots for sale than in 2007," he said.
The idea is to get on the front side of a recovery wave in the housing market.
"We just look at it that if you are not positive about the community, you are never going to change and attitudes are a big factor," Jenkins said.
People are still working, even though there is a fear that jobs could be lost, Jenkins said. Once the economy begins an upturn, that fear will diminish. "People who are working now and have not been hurt will look at things better," he said.
Jenkins said he remains optimistic just from calls to his construction company, Richard Jenkins Construction Inc. "We had more phone calls in the last two weeks than in the last five months. People are making a phone call, maybe not doing anything yet, but you can't sell if you don't talk to people," he said.
In addition, Jenkins said "it is a good time to buy a house and build a house. Materials haven't started to go up much, even though there have been some increases," he said.
"There will always be houses built, unless we become a completely dying community," Jenkins said. "With people like Steve Witt [president of the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp.], that is not going to happen," he said.
Once started, Jenkins estimates it will take six years to completely build out the new addition. Jenkins has developed Richland Manor, Idle Creek, Old Erie, Hidden Court South, Dutch Acres, Ellen Woods, Fruitridge Park and North Point subdivisions.