January 31st, 2010 by Michael Oliver

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One Of The Floorplans Meritage Is Now Building In Sky Ranch

Meritage Homes is now pre-selling their new homes at Sky Ranch just off Thornydale and south of Tangerine. These homes start in the high $180’s with a 1652sf home. From there the homes range in size all the way up to a 3118sf 2 story floor plan named the Cathedral Rock. Between these two smallest and largest homes in the neighborhood Meritage builds six other plans. Plans range in both 1 and 2 story options as well as 3 to 5 bedrooms with additional options for more beds and baths combos as well as 3 car garages and other upgrades.

Sky Ranch was originally scheduled for some mid luxury $400k-$750k homes to be built by Pathway Developments during the real estate frenzy. Since that time many homes had been completed in the mid price range but the market has not been very strong for this product. This leads to Tucson (and national) builder Meritage to basically buy out the existing lots and build a higher value proposition for buyers in today’s market.

Meritage’s Sky Ranch should be a solid selling neighborhood as this area attracts buyers looking for the location (just south of Dove Mountain) and new homes under $400k. Since Sky Ranch did have an initial “higher end” nameplate hopefully buyers will respond to these homes better as they can now purchase a brand new Sky Ranch Home(s) for under $200k. Before Meritage started pre-selling their new homes under $200k for Sky Ranch just wasn’t an option. The Thornydale corridor is a transitioning area what once was once the outskirts with horse property everywhere is now turning into a mid to upper end new developing section of Tucson and Marana. The growth and desire for people to want to live near Dove Mountain along with the access to I-10, Oro Valley and the Foothills along with the natural beauty the areas provides makes it idea for new home development. While Dove Mountain still offers new housing other builders such as Richmond American Homes with their Tangerine Terrace and the addition of Sky Ranch by Meritage make for two large new home developments to cater to the mid market of Tucson.

My thoughts are that in 10-15 years the Tangerine and Thornydale intersection should look like an upscale and busy intersection a lot like you see in the newer upper end neighborhoods of Phoenix. The demand for upper end housing is there as buyer profiles that are buying in the area are above average for the Tucson Valley with Dove Mountain bringing in many multi-million dollar home buyers along with several other high end housing developments in close proximity. As the area grows look for it to continue to push the boundaries for responsible and higher end residential developments and neighborhoods.

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