Getting your player ready...
Builders are scrambling now to bring new communities on line to meet the demand of all of the Colorado baby-boomers looking for ranch plans – but there’s one place in town where you can see that lifestyle right away: everything already in place – the ranch models, the golf course, the parks, trails, and tomorrow morning, the clubhouse.
Saturday and Sunday at Fairway Villas, Oakwood Homes is grand-opening its private residents’ clubhouse on the 16th fairway at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club. You can see the indoor-outdoor pools, the resort-style deck overlooking the lake and fairways, the fitness center and locker room; you can meet some of the 100 residents who have already purchased here, enjoy snacks, and talk with Fairway Villas’ activities director Lindsey Petersen.“This is not a community where the amenities are all on the drawing board,” says Oakwood Director of Sales Alisa Poncher. “You can see everything now and you could be using it all by year end.” More remarkable, Poncher adds, the amenity package including the alluring clubhouse are provided without a monthly HOA fee – everything wrapped into a metro district that’s covered in tax-deductible annual district tax fees, at a fraction of what comparable communities’ HOA fees run. “This is Colorado’s best active adult lifestyle, both in price and amenities,” she adds. At tomorrow’s grand opening, you’ll get an idea of the things you can see, but also the things you can’t. “Active Minds,” one of a flurry of neighborhood activities nurtured by Peterson and her team, holds a monthly get-together in the Clubhouse – a discussion on the history of NATO. That’s one item from a packed calendar of events: painting classes; stretching and water exercises, a regular Pancake Breakfast Club; a cooking class by a resident who was a French chef; and a knock-around golf group. Residents take advantage of reduced green fees and advance tee times on Green Valley Ranch Golf Club’s 18-hole championship course – and can play the par-3 course for free. Needless to say, you can take advantage of the grand opening to tour Oakwood’s three ranch models – one of them running now as a featured home in the Denver Metro Parade of Homes – all of them with exceptionally functional ranch design that includes an added ‘Smart Space’ for a guest suite or library/hobby space, or a home theater. Ask about Oakwood’s ‘smart garage’ with extra space for a variety of uses, and options for a full-wide 3-car garage. Prices for all of this start in the upper $200s – one of the lowest if not THE lowest price for new ranch designs in the whole metro area. The surroundings along Peña Boulevard on the way to DIA offer good access to metropolitan attractions, including via RTD Commuter Rail service into downtown Denver’s newly transformed Union Station (or to the airport), expected to open in 2016. All of this is drawing Front Range buyers, but also a surprising number from out of state, said Oakwood’s regional sales manager Vanise Fuqua, showing off the clubhouse you’ll see tomorrow. As if on cue, a couple walked in from Casa Grande, Arizona (they’re already living in a 55-and-older ranch community there), now on their fourth visit back to Fairway Villas, exploring a kind-of reverse-retirement move. Among the things they’ll see is something that’s a rarity now – a roomy ranch on track to deliver this fall. You can also see a new area of golf sites facing Fairways 15 and 16, where you could have Oakwood personalize one of these ranch plans around your own tastes. To visit the grand opening, take Peña (DIA freeway) north to E. 56th, then east 1.2 miles to Dunkirk and right to 54th Place. Head east, past the models, following 54th to Espana Street, and right to the Clubhouse.
@marksamuelson
