Equestrian Estates Go Modular

Central Ohio entrepreneur Bill Taylor was looking for a new investment opportunity. He settled on a 33-acre former dairy farm in Canal Winchester. He is in a partnership that plans to turn the farmland into Watkins Farms, a housing development with an equestrian center consisting of 176 single family home sites and 70 condominiums. It will have a 2-mile bridle path, an indoor riding area and a community center built around the old farmhouse where Taylor and his family live.

But amenities for horse lovers aren’t the only reason Watkins Farms is unusual. Taylor said the development will be built entirely with system-built homes. System-built homes are design, engineered and built in a controlled environment in conformity to the Ohio Revised Code and meet or exceed all local and state building code requirements. Taylor’s Domus Veram Builders is working with Phoenix Building Solutions. The homes will be built to the homebuyer’s specifications using the latest manufacturing technologies and construction techniques under sheltered conditions in Brookville, Ohio. The sections are moved by truck to the site, where a foundation has been poured. The sections are then bolted, screwed and nailed together in order to complete the home. Watkins Farms will offer a choice of six housing models and 15 floor plans.

Taylor said the construction method, as well as the deal he got on the land, allows his company to offer more home for the money. He said the houses will range from 2,800 to 3,900 square feet and be priced from $250,000 to $400,000. "We are not building million-dollar houses down here," he said. "It is a move-up development. But our price per square foot makes us competitive with developments that have larger houses and larger lots."

Such a large collection of system-built homes is unique to central Ohio, and that is what Taylor is counting on. Canal Winchester is backing the project, which is across Lithopolis Road from new elementary and middle schools. Domus Vera is still in the pre-annexation phase, there are no major roadblocks ahead, Mayor Jeff Miller said.

"I think it adds a bit of panache to our housing market down here," Miller said. It is raising the bar, creating a better housing market. It is just what Canal Winchester needs right now. Taylor, a father of nine and a former owner of Jericho Mortgage, thinks the homes will be popular with workers at the intermodal facility being developed at nearby Rickenbacker International Airport. He said Domus Veram already has one buyer. "I’m going to live here," Taylor said. "I want people to have the same thing we want: a nice place to live and stay."