Getting your player ready...
On Bridle Hill ten minutes east of Old Town Fort Collins – highest buildable site in Weld County – G.J. Gardner Homes’ Bill Stenberg can show you some half-acre sites today where he can build you a nice-sized ranch with a daylight, walkout lower level, 3-car garage, and deck looking out on the entire Front Range, from under $500,000.
Better yet, he’s starting one now, with panoramic views from Pikes Peak 120 miles south to nearby Long’s Peak and Rocky Mountain National Park. It’s to be sized at a roomy 2,400 square feet PLUS a daylight garden-level basement, large covered deck, full hardwood floor package except for the bedroom/bath areas, and premium kitchen finishes including custom cabinetry. It’s tentatively priced at $650,000 – with time available for buyers to get involved and have the home highly personalized around their own needs. “I want people to think of me as delivering the quality and the attention to detail of a custom builder, at comparable prices to what people see from production builders,” Stenberg told me as we took in the view from those Bridle Hill sites. “I’ve never built the same home twice; I always sit down with my customers and make it theirs.” Those prices, Stenberg says, will look good to anybody shopping Northern Colorado for a luxury ranch (“You can’t find half acre sites in the city of Fort Collins,” he adds); and better still to buyers looking for this kind of product in Denver suburbs. As G.J. Gardner’s builder for Loveland, he builds from Longmont north to Wellington, and is an expert on these areas of Weld County just east of I-25, close to Fort Collins’ historic downtown. Bridle Hill, just north of the intersection of Mulberry/Hwy 257, has tree lined ponds that’ll be preserved as a trail corridor – not far from Windsong Event Center. The area has Windsor-Severance schools. Stenberg will be on site at Bridle Hill, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., to meet buyers, show a range of plans that’ll work on these half-acre sites with their views, and discuss buyers’ own plans and preferences. He has a model he can arrange to show further north in Wellington, and numbers of attractive ranches in the Harmony Club, four miles south in Timnath, that show off the possibilities. “I talk with plenty of buyers who are looking hard at production home neighborhoods, who may end up saying ‘I can live with that,’ rather than getting what they really want,” he notes. “We fill in the gaps for those people.” Stenberg is in a red Ram pickup. Mulberry/Hwy 14 is tied up with construction; rather, take either Prospect or Harmony east from I-25 five miles to 257, turn north past Hwy 14 a quarter-mile to Roper Trail; or call 970-669-0822 or 970-567-3438. If you have land, all G.J. Gardner builders along the Front Range specialize in building on your lot: in Denver/Highlands, 303-327-6211; Adams County, 303-658-0146; Cheyenne, 307-638-2030; Douglas/Elbert, 303-660-4467; Grand Junction, 970-245-7542; Lakewood/Golden, 303-271-1020; Falcon, 719-495-7664; and Fort Collins, 970-663-4428. WHERE: G.J. Gardner Homes in Loveland/Northern Colorado, custom ranches for Bridle Hill, hilltop site 5 min. from Fort Collins; half-acre lots, 3-car garage standard, tour sites today, 10-2: from I-25 east of Fort Collins, take either Prospect Rd. or Harmony Rd. east, 5 miles to Hwy 257 and turn north to Hwy 14, past intersection, ¼-mile to right on Roper Trial (avoids temporary construction on Mulberry/Hwy 14) PRICE: From high $400s to $600s