11 minute read
FEATURED DEVELOPMENTS
FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
BY GARTH BISHOP
Evans is a Place on Earth
New Urbanism-focused community features multiple unique Parade homes
Aresident-organized Independence Day parade. A post office that doubles as a neighborhood hangout. Plans for a speakeasy behind the local ice cream parlor.
Taken individually, these items may not be immediately indicative of uniqueness. But collectively, these neighborhood elements – along with dozens of others, from an agricultural center to a fishing derby in regularly stocked ponds – help to illustrate a neighborhood propelled by a mission to thoroughly distinguish itself in central Ohio and beyond.
Evans Farm should be familiar to avid visitors to the BIA Parade of Homes: It was the site of the 2019 Parade. But anyone who visited the neighborhood in 2019 can expect a truly impressive evolution in 2021 as they check out the six homes on this year’s Parade.
The 1,250-acre community in southern Delaware County will encompass 2,200 single-family homes, as well as hundreds of apartments and townhomes, when complete. It will also feature retail businesses, restaurants, a bank, police and fire substations, a retirement community, a recreation center, a sports park and an elementary school.
It’s designed in the new urbanism style, which means a heavy focus on the principles of city design: walkable streets, accessible public spaces, nearby shopping and housing. All garages front on alleys rather than the main streets, adding to the community’s walkable character, says Evans Farm developer Dan Griffin.
Griffin draws particular attention to the small lots and closer proximity to neighborhood amenities, not to mention neighbors themselves. He speaks with deep reverence of frequent conversations with neighbors, evenings outside the post office that has become a gathering spot, business owners and real estate agents deciding to move to Evans Farm after first discovering it through work. One resident even bought a second house and rents it to people who are building their own homes in the neighborhood, he says.
“It’s incredible to see the atmosphere,” says Griffin.
Residents have organized a number of community events, including a tribute to local first responders, a flag-raising ceremony featuring a team of bagpipers and – mere days before the Parade kicks off – a classic car show. Griffin expects to continue to see residents playing an active role in the community’s evolution.
Cua Builders
Lewis Center isn’t particularly close to any widely renowned beaches, so Cua Builders’ contribution to the 2021 Parade brings the beach to it. The house has a soft nautical theme and a Southern living vibe, says company President Tom Cua.
“The house actually was in a movie with Jennifer Garner called Miracles from Heaven,” Cua says.
The house’s most noticeable feature may be its colossal porch. Evans Farm places an emphasis on outdoor living spaces and connections among neighbors, and the Cua home’s porch certainly fits the bill. It’s a wraparound porch, going from the front of the home to the rear, with four different doors having access to the screened back portion.
Other highlights of Cua’s 2021 Parade contribution include: • A breezeway connecting the garage to the house • A three-car garage with an electric car charging station, as well as varied roofing (gable roofing over two stalls and a pitch roof over the third) • Sixteen-foot cathedral ceilings on the second floor, thanks to stick-framed roofing • A kitchen, wet bar and wine cellar in the basement, including an expertly angled wine cellar designed to keep the wine corks wet while allowing the homeowner to easily read the labels • Copious floating shelves and window seats • Master suites in the basement and first floor, and as many as three bedrooms on the second floor • Four bathrooms and two half-baths • House-wide speakers cleverly disguised as artwork
Bob Webb Homes
Bob Webb Homes is an experienced Parade builder, and its 2021 entry in Evans Farm has a lengthy list of points of interest. But as is often the case with Bob Webb projects, the “messy kitchen” takes center stage.
The messy kitchen, a signature of homes built by Bob Webb, is a secondary kitchen space designated for the less glamorous aspects of a kitchen – think food preparation remnants, dirty dishes, empty pizza boxes, etc. – that allows the main kitchen to be used as a gathering area, as so many modern kitchens are.
Other highlights of Bob Webb’s 2021 Evans Farm Parade home include: • A modern style designed specifically for Evans Farm • 3,650 square feet of space • Four bedrooms, including one in the basement • A wraparound porch great for beginning or ending the day • A three-car garage • Detailed tiling in the master suite and laundry room
3 Pillar Homes
The Evans Farm home that 3 Pillar Homes will showcase in the Parade is custom designed around its pool, and it’s easy enough to see why.
The heated pool is loaded with features, including fountains, a mechanized cover and a padded bottom. It’s situated between the house and the three-car garage, with a mirrored door on the middle garage port leading to an area that can be used for entertaining as well as storage.
“The garage is convertible, so if the pool party or the birthday party gets rained out, you can continue the party in the garage,” says Brian Smith, sales consultant for 3 Pillar.
Among the other key points of the 3 Pillar Parade home are: • Approximately 3,400 square feet of space • Four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms • A galley kitchen with floor-to-ceiling subway tile • Solid hardwood floors on the first and second stories • A large outdoor fireplace • A sizable basement with a polished concrete floor and black-painted exposed rafter ceiling • Eleven-foot ceilings on the first floor
GreenTech Construction
Though it has plenty of visually impressive elements to grab the eye, the most eye-catching aspect of GreenTech Construction’s Parade home may be the utility bill.
GreenTech President Dan Troth estimates that the monthly utility payment for the house’s eventual owner will be about $50. Yes, that’s $50. For all the utilities.
Troth prefers to build houses to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home specifications, making them both comfortable and healthy – for occupants and for the planet.
Features that help GreenTech meet those standards for its Parade home include: • Precast structural insulated panels in the walls to keep temperatures regulated • An energy recovery ventilator, which brings fresh air into the home without wasting energy • Triple-paned windows to ensure walls don’t have cold spots • Two inches of foam below concrete slab to keep air from escaping • A tic-tac-toe grid system with perforated pipe to more effectively vent radon to the outside of the home • A Mitsubishi ducted mini-slit heating system to eliminate the need for a backup power source that uses fossil fuels • Solar panels • Zero-VOC paints and adhesives • A charging station for electric vehicles
Among the other highlights of the GreenTech house is a bedroom and flex room in the basement, which has 10-foot ceilings and panels for easy access to ductwork.
Griffin expects two more Evans Farm homes on the tour: one by the Steele Group, and Griffin’s own home, built by Stonecliff Homes, which he is selling. The highlight of the latter, Griffin says, is the garden: He worked with A Proper Garden to install an English garden with highly distinctive gates.
FEATURE DEVELOPMENT BIA Foundation Home
BY GARTH BISHOP
More than Just a Home
As with all its other projects, Franklinton Rising aims to improve the community with rebuilt house
When BIA Parade of Homes visitors make the trek to Franklinton this year, they won’t just be seeing a brand new home to tour for inspiration.
They’ll also be seeing a thoughtful addition to the Franklinton community, an opportunity for local residents to become homeowners and a career opportunity for people in low-income areas – all rolled into one.
The 2021 Foundation Home
The house presented by Franklinton Rising – which serves as the Foundation Home on this year’s tour – isn’t a new home, per se. The nonprofit organization acquired the house in 2019, roughly 100 years after it was built. But all that remains of the old structure are the studs, basement and load-bearing walls. Everything else was removed and replaced – and there was a lot to remove.
MUD ROOM
BENCH AND HOOKS
1/2 BATH
OPT. REF
KITCHEN
13'-5" x 12'-0"
EXISTING CHIMNEY
GREAT ROOM
19'-5" x 13'-4"
COAT CLOSET
FOYER
UP
FAMILY ROOM
13'-10" x 9'-6"
FRONT PORCH
FIRST FLOOR
“It took three dumpsters just to get it cleaned out,” says Tom Heffner, president of Franklinton Rising.
The organization’s trainees had to wear HAZMAT suits during some of the time they spent ripping out the drywall, ductwork, wiring, plumbing and more. It was a long process – most of Franklinton Rising’s workers are part-time, and they have multiple properties to consider at any one time – but the finished product is always worth it, Heffner says.
The home may not be entirely new, but it is entirely improved. The roof, siding, paint and windows are all new. There are two new porches and new closets in the bedrooms. A staircase was moved from one part of the house to another, and new appliances were installed, including a second-floor washer and dryer.
Even as they worked to rebuild the house, the Franklinton Rising team worked to ensure it would retain the architecture and integrity of the neighborhood. Affordability is a priority, too, so that residents of the neighborhood could conceivably purchase the houses the organization has rebuilt. That includes former Franklinton Rising trainees, Heffner says; if one of them has an interest, the organization will try to help them buy it.
“These houses should be very modern, attractive, efficient houses (that) are affordable for low (or) moderate income folks to rent and to purchase,” says Heffner.
The Mission of Franklinton Rising
The nature of Franklinton Rising’s work tends to make home projects time-consuming. The organization’s staff doesn’t consist of seasoned workers, after all; they have to be trained before they can start work.
Though homebuilding and renovation is the day-to-day work of Franklinton Rising, which began operation in 2015, the organization’s goal is to reduce poverty in the community. It pursues this goal by recruiting low-income young adults and providing them with the skills they need to be more employable over the course of six to 24 months.
Part of that, Heffner says, is giving them a positive worldview about work: that it’s rewarding, that it’s an expression of the individual, that it provides a sense of accomplishment and selfworth, that it helps participants to build relationships. They impress upon trainees the importance of personal responsibility – such as showing up on time and being respectful of coworkers – showing them that others on the team rely on them to take their work seriously. That is, of course, on top of the fundamentals of construction – measuring, cutting, sawing, use of hand and power tools, etc. – as well as Christian principles, on which the organization is founded.
Franklinton Rising commits to each trainee that it will help them obtain full-time employment with a good employer, which is part of the reason for its relationship with the BIA of Central Ohio. Heffner can point to a number of success stories who are now working full-time in commercial construction and earning salaries beyond anything their families had known before, while others are becoming the first members of their families to attend college.
That focus on maintaining neighborhood character is intended to have efforts that reach beyond the property lines of rehabbed homes. An area awash with rundown, vacant or boarded-up homes discourages residents from maintaining their own properties, Heffner says.
Heffner hopes having a house on the BIA Parade of Homes will help familiarize more people with the neighborhood.
“I’m hoping that people who come down, who don’t frequent Franklinton or other (urban) areas … will have a whole new perspective on an area of the city that’s being transformed,” he says.
Before-and-after images of two of Franklinton Rising’s most recent projects .
