Branson Landing attracts condo community

River Bend Place, which will be a 122-unit, 15-building complex when finished, is under development by Charlie and Matt Engram, Branson residents since 1991. Charlie Engram’s company, Stone Ridge By the Lake Ltd. LLC, is the developer, and his son’s company, Calaveras Builders Inc., is the builder.

The condominiums, located at 1 Riverstone Drive, will range in size from 1,650 square feet for a two-bedroom, two-bath unit to 2,250 square feet for a three-bedroom, three-bath unit with a loft/study area. Prices will start at $248,000 and go up to about $475,000.

Workers are now framing the second floor of the first 16-unit building, and Charlie Engram expects the units to be ready for occupancy in May. Seven units already have been sold, said Engram, who purchased the nine acres overlooking Lake Taneycomo about 13 years ago for an undisclosed amount. The property is located just off the Highway 65 and Bee Creek Road interchange. “

It sits on a bluff right at the end of a residential area, he said, noting that River Bend Place isn’t a time-share or vacation-type place. Condo owners can lease their units out yearly if they’re not planning to relocate to Branson for a while, but the units can’t be rented out on a weekly or nightly basis.

That was part of the attraction for Terry and Kathy Dowling, who live in the St. Louis suburb of Festus but have spent about four months out of the year at their Branson condo for the last four years. The retirees plan to increase their time in Branson to six months out of the year when their new condo is available.

The Dowlings, who toured homes built by Matt Engram prior to purchasing their unit, felt confident buying a home that doesn’t yet exist.

“Initially in that situation, you’re buying the people and the location, and that’s what we bought,” Terry Dowling said. “We’re (in Branson) quite a bit, so we see the project as it’s being built. We feel the quality’s going to be superior to things that we’ve looked at, and, obviously, we have a lot of confidence in Charlie and what they’re selling. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gone that far out on a limb for something that was, at the time, basically a stick out of the ground. We bought when it was pretty much level rock.”

Lifelong Branson resident Edd Akers, senior partner of Akers & Arney Insurance Associates, plans to move into a two-bedroom condo in May. The location was one of the key selling points for Akers and his wife, Karen.

“With the view, it makes it so much more attractive than other locations because, in a sense, we’re looking down on the Branson Landing project,” Akers said.

The “river” in River Bend Place refers to White River, as Lake Taneycomo was created in 1913 when the White River was impounded by the completion of the Power Site Dam near Forsyth.

Amenities

While the construction is condo-style, the developers liken the units to single-family homes with all brick and stone façades, Andersen Windows and Kohler fixtures.

“We’re building them more like custom homes. They just happen to be in a cluster,” Charlie Engram said.

Three buildings will feature under-building parking with an elevator to reach the four floors of living space above

Residents can choose an option that would allow them to control lighting, heating and air conditioning of their units from a remote location. Matt Engram is working with Springfield Central Systems on the feature.

“That’s one of those things we’d have to hammer out as far as upgrades and options, but it has a control in it that’s similar to a remote control,” he said. “You can control it via a certain Web site that (owners) would have access to.”

Homeowners’ fees will be charged, although they haven’t been set. Charlie Engram estimates $200 per month to cover lawn care, ice and snow removal, and maintenance of the common grounds, pool, spa and use of the lodge.

At just under 5,000 square feet, River Bend Place’s lodge will house a full kitchen, large fireplace and a large common area for residents to use for gatherings. Four suites will be available for owners’ guests to use at no charge except for a cleaning fee that has not been set.

The Engrams also plan to have up to 10 pontoon boats available to homeowners at no additional charge.

Working with locals

The Engrams are relying on local professionals for the project, including architect Allen Johnson of General Design in Branson, Table Rock Asphalt and Sonny Waters Construction. Frank Zanaboni, coordinator of the landscape architecture studio at Springfield-based Butler, Rosenbury & Partners, is the project’s landscape architect.

The topography of the bluff presented a challenge for Zanaboni.

“It’s tough when you have such a steep site and such big buildings, with parking on it. It’s hard to preserve too much,” he said. “The fringes of the area will be preserved” during construction.

Zanaboni will create a waterfall system on the property.

“You kind of enter the site by dropping down a steep grade into a roundabout area,” he said. “From that point you can look out between the buildings and see the lake. The start of the water feature will be there. It will be like a bubbling artesian spring coming up out of the ground.”