August 1, 2012

Pheasant Ridge set to go vertical

By Lauren Billing
Farmer Staff Writer

Covering 36 acres on the north side of Watford City, Pheasant Ridge, recently annexed into the city limits, will be the first new development to start building in the race to provide the growing area with desperately needed homes.
The joint partnership of Bob Bruckelmyer, president of Bay Front Builders, and Jeff Hausmann, owner of Traction Capital, LLC, has worked for a year to get Pheasant Ridge ready to go.
Working closely with landowners, Greg and Monica Simonson, Hausmann and Bruckelmyer hired DW Excavating and North Star to move dirt and set the needed infrastructure. And with sewer lines in and water soon to be in place, foundations are starting to go in and the first few homes could be completed in late October, according to Bruckelmyer.
“It’s very exciting,” says Hausmann. “In the next two to three weeks, there should be 15 to 20 homes under construction.”
Though there are no commercial lots within Pheasant Ridge, there is a total of 59 single-family lots, 16 multi-family and eight lots for apartment buildings. So while 15 to 20 might not sound like much, there will be many more to come.
The development recently closed on several lots. Brandon Morris, manager of Keystone Developments, bought four of those lots and Matt Burgess, owner of Missouri Land Company, purchased eight.
Morris and Keystone Developments will be using contractors from the company’s home base of Bozeman, Mont., as well as local contractors in western North Dakota. Keystone will offer three bedroom, two bath homes with over 1,300 square feet and an attached garage.
“We will break ground in the next three weeks on all four lots,” says Morris.
Burgess and Missouri Land Company will start by building on five of the eight lots purchased. Similar to Keystone, Missouri Land Company’s homes will be craftsman style between 1,300 and 1,450 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths.
“We have a long history of building efficient homes,” says Burgess. “It is important for us to provide a quality product at a good price.”
In addition to builders like Morris and Burgess, Pheasant Ridge has attracted major development companies like Oppidan and MetCom Construction. These companies are planning to build apartment buildings in the development.
All the building work going on in this new section of Watford City will do more than just add housing, it will also create hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for the city.
With an impact fee of $2,000 placed on every dwelling unit, Pheasant Ridge alone will bring in more than $700,000 in funding for emergency services, according to Hausmann.
“We are really enjoying working in Watford City, and it looks like we will be here for a number of years to come,” says Hausmann. “People like Curt Moen, Laura Anderson and others at City Hall have really risen to the challenge and are one of the reasons we are looking forward to more projects in Watford.”

WATFORD CITY WEATHER