St. Louis-based McBride launches Southview Estates

To say new-home building in the Springfield metropolitan area has been slow might be an understatement.

According to statistics from David O’Dell, chief regulatory officer at Greene County Building Regulations, residential building permits for new homes in unincorporated areas of the county fell to 375 last year, a slight improvement from 265 in 2009, but still a far cry from 1,268 in 2005, a boom year.

Still, those numbers beg the question of what, exactly, attracted St. Louis-based McBride & Son Homes to develop Southview Estates, a new 50-home subdivision outside Springfield city limits near the intersection of Plainview and Weaver roads.

“One, we think it’s a fantastic market and great opportunity,” said McBride CEO John Eilermann. “We loved the economic stability of Springfield. There’s a lot of job growth. It’s a very vibrant city. We think it aligns perfectly with our product.”

The company, which has developments not only in St. Louis but also in Kansas City, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Louisville, Ky., was ranked by No. 27 by Builder magazine among all U.S. home builders and No. 12 among privately owned home builders.

Eilermann shows no concern about the fact that new-home building has been slow in recent years.  

“Permits absolutely have been down, but we look at that as an opportunity. There’s a thousand reasons why people need a new home,” he said, pointing to newlyweds, family expansion and new job opportunities.

“That’s what excites us about Springfield – there are jobs being created,” he said.

In early August, Bellvue, Wash.-based online travel company Expedia Inc. announced its plans to add 500 new jobs to its Springfield operations, and Springfield Business Journal reported in December that the Springfield-area unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a point to 8 percent for the month of October, the latest month for which data was available.

McBride & Son started in 1946 as a privately owned company and in 1988 became employee-owned. The company has grown to about 500 employees and dominates the St. Louis residential housing market, with a 56.9 percent market share, according to St. Louis Business Journal.

Last year, McBride & Son recorded about $300 million in revenues.

Despite declines in homebuilding in recent years, new competition is welcome in the area, said Matt Bailey, a builder with Bailey Co. and president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield.

“It doesn’t worry me,” Bailey said. “Right now, there’s so little going on, and what they are building … it’s a price range in Springfield that doesn’t seem to get many houses built that size or in that price range. Any activity is good activity right now.”

Southview Estates is targeting homes in the $130,000 to $230,000 price range.

Matt Morrow, chief executive officer of the local HBA, agreed on the pricing issue. “Meeting a price point in the market that is underserved is very positive,” he said. “I think any general builders you talk to would say the same thing. We’re kind of past the point of concerning ourselves too much with who’s building what.”

The Southview development is not McBride’s first in Springfield, Eilermann said, pointing to the Stanhope Terrace and Blackman Woods subdivisions the company built in the 1990s.
But where those were project-specific, Eilermann said, Southview Estates is part of McBride & Son’s plan to build a lasting Springfield presence.

“We’re talking to dozens of people about projects down there. That’s what’s exciting for us – there are so many opportunities,” Eilermann said.

While the company features 10 product lines, from condominiums to luxury homes, Eilermann said the company isn’t quite ready to introduce all lines to Springfield.

With Southview Estates, what McBride is bringing to market is a subdivision featuring a
selection of nine home plans varying from ranch-style to two-story homes.

The designs are the same as those McBride & Son offers in other markets and have been developed over a number of years, in concert with St. Louis-area architects. “It’s our tried-and-true plans. We build them in St. Louis. We build them in Kansas City,” he said.

So far, Eilermann is pleased with Springfield’s response to the Southview Estates development. A Jan. 8 open house attracted about 300 people.

“We wrote three contracts that day. We expect to write three more this week,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]