Homes on the range

Greenville enjoys recent housing run

By Jeanne Wieland

The Greenridge Terrace subdivision is one of many areas around Greenville enjoying a boom in housing starts. Photo courtesy of Dana Gross, Andrew Homes Inc.

No one could have predicted what happened to Greenville's housing market in 2004.

For most of the 1990s, housing starts remained fairly steady, hovering around 80 new single-family homes per year with a few multifamily developments and duplexes thrown in as well. In 2004, the numbers exploded, with 203 housing starts and six duplexes on record.

Dale Waala, Greenville's building inspector, never saw anything quite like it.

"Last year was our biggest year ever," he said.

The town just outside of Appleton recorded 50 new housing starts in the first four months of 2005, and the pace isn't showing signs of slowing.

The population is feeling the heat, too. In 1990, 3,794 people lived in Greenville. That figure jumped to 7,634 by 2004.

People are coming for the country setting, and with a variety of developers and builders keeping things interesting, many are finding the kinds of lots and homes they want.

ana Gross, an employee of Andrew Homes Inc., Oshkosh, found the perfect lot in the Greenridge Terrace subdivision, developed by Hagens Realty, Appleton.

"I was looking for the right lot for three to four years," Gross said.

Dana Gross' 2,100-square-foot house features all the amenities he was hoping to find in a new home. Photos courtesy of Dana Gross, Andrew Homes Inc.

What Gross wanted was a lot with elevation changes that would allow him to have large windows in his basement. Greenridge Terrace was that rare find. It's a subdivision development with rolling terrain, larger lots and curb and gutter.

"I jumped on this because I knew it would fill up quickly," Gross said.

Now he and his family are living in their dream house, a 2,100-square-foot traditional home with four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, raised ceilings and a downstairs recreation room that boasts the large windows Gross wanted.

Developer Michael Hagens said Greenridge Terrace has a 40-foot drop in elevation from the top to the bottom, which makes it a unique property.

"The views are astonishing," he said. "There's nothing else like this in Greenville."

In addition to Greenridge Terrace, Hagens Realty is developing in Greenville the Glen Valley subdivision, which sold out its first phase and is on to the second.

"Glen Valley is against the woods and a high ridge with a country setting," Hagens said. "Of all the subdivisions in Greenville, Glen Valley was the first to sell out."

And although Greenville has only seen one year like 2004 so far, Waala said he wouldn't be surprised if the trend continues.

"It keeps me busy," he said. "It's wonderful."