Rising Tide of Development

By Stowe, Gene

For generations, the banks of the St. Joseph River and natural lakes in southern Michigan have mostly remained wilderness, rustic campgrounds or large estates. The tide is turning. More and more of the land is being divided into lots for upscale developments, capitalizing on the modern thirst for serene surroundings and the eastward push of the Chicago market.

“I just think anything on water is desirable right now,” said Ed Smith, vice president for development at Inovateus, a South Bend company that is developing a 60-lot subdivision, “Stillwater, a sustainable community,” on 40 acres off Niles-Buchanan Road west of the U.S. 31 by-pass.

“It keeps going up in value. There’s less of it. People want to sit there and look out at it, enjoy it. Almost everything we’re doing is based on being on water.”

Inovateus, which focuses on environmentally friendly construction, also has a $2.73 million house for sale at Harbor Shores overlooking Lake Michigan and a Jack Nicklaus golf course and some lots at Lilac Woods near the river in St. Joseph County.

Someone else started development of the riverfront land in Michigan 10 years ago under the name Wildflower, but the developer died and Inovateus has taken over the project–adopting the name Stillwater that is more attractive for modern homeowners.

Landlocked developers, aware of buyers’ preference for water, eagerly expand and landscape retention ponds to make their subdivisions more attractive. At least three such upscale projects in St Joseph County boast “Shores” in their names.

But for those who want to go with the flow, the St. Joseph River reaches deeper, from the redevelopment on the former Uniroyal site in Mishawaka, through the winding water’s channel in Michigan to Lake Michigan, where prices are out of reach for most people.

“With the river, it’s natural,” said Fred Dempsey, whose Winding River Estates is the latest riverside development in Niles Charter Township. “You don’t have to create it. It just sits there.

“We get a lot of people from Mishawaka and Granger. People are moving that way In Granger, it’s getting very crowded. You get an opportunity to be on the river, still very close to the freeway to get to South Bend or Mishawaka”

Tracy Vines, zoning administrator for Niles Charter Township, says local people with successful careers also are in the market for riverfront property.

“They went to college,” she says. “They’re attorneys. They’re local. They want to stay local. That’s where they want to be.

“We have a lot of vacant property along the river that is very attractive.”

Bertrand Township Supervisor John Mefford, who has lived the area since 1969, said he knows of only one large riverfront development in the works in the township, nearly 100 acres.

“In terms of the river, there’s still some open property,” he says. “It hasn’t changed to my knowledge since I’ve lived here.”

A group of local investors developing River Bend, 22 lots on 98 acres with thick woods and deep ravines north of Bertrand Road between Weaver Road and the river, hopes to make as little change as possible in the environment.

“It’s probably 95 percent wooded,” says Leroy Troyer, who is involved in the project. “We’re designing with nature. The woods will be left natural around the trees.”

Developers are also providing an easement for a future riverwalk along 1,700 feet of the river. Lots will be three to nearly nine acres.

“We expect to get the roads in this fall,” Troyer says. “We’re taking reservations now now for lots on the site.”

Soaring prices in New Buffalo and other points closer to Lake Michigan are driving Chicago buyers east.

“In the last three weeks, I spoke to four different people from Chicago in the works purchasing riverfront property,” Bill Myers, the Niles Charter Township supervisor, said recently.

“I remember when you could buy any-thing on Lake Michigan for $250,000,” said Dempsey, who grew up near the lake. “The Chicago market has moved so far into New Buffalo and Union Pier and those areas.

“Now the riverfront looks like a bar-gain. The river is becoming an alternative that is relatively reasonably priced.”

So are natural lakes in southern Michigan, says Megan Van Vlierbergen, who is on her second development on such property. Her market is almost all second-home buyers from Chicago.

“Not only is Lake Michigan so out of everyone’s mach affordability-wise, it’s not as user-friendly as the smaller lakes and the riverfront property,” she says, adding that Lake Michigan property ranges from $1.5 million to $5 million.

“I’m finding that the people in the $300,000 to $600,000 market are interested in actually using the water–swimming in it, fishing, boating. People would like to sit on their own porch or sit on their, deck and see the water.”

Van Vlierbergen’s Maple Beach in Buchanan was a trailer campground. Now the 60 acres on a lake has 22 homes ranging from $325,000 to $450,000.

Now she’s developing The Orchard on the Lake, 31 homes around Pine Lake in the $425,000 to $569,000 range on 132 acres that includes 2,400 apple trees and 40 acres of woods.

“Everybody loves to have the water as part of the artwork of their house. People are looking for a peaceful atmosphere, more so than the number of people who are looking for a busy lake. I think it’s the same with the St. Joseph River.”

Water lapping against a lot is worth its weight in gold. Town houses in Mishawaka’s Townes at Kamm Island Park start at $245,000 on the water, less than $200,000 off the water.

Riverfront lots at Dempsey’s Winding River Estates fetch $119,000, while lots with access, but not on the water, go for as little as $33,000.

“The water makes all the difference” Dempsey says. “That’s what people want If they can’t be on the water, they want to be near the water. You have the privacy, and it’s just beautiful.

“People in general, with the stress of the day, want to be near something soothing. It’s got woods, it’s got water–and plenty of it.”

The development has 33 lots on slightly more than 22 acres. Six are on the river, six on a channel to the river. Two homes are occupied, two for sale, and two recently under construction.

Dempsey, who has been in the real estate business for 25 years, says investment in such land is like money in the bank.

“Golf courses have been very popular in the past,” he says. “Water is always the best investment.”

Copyright South Bend Tribune Corporation Jul 16, 2007

(c) 2007 Tribune Business Weekly. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.