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Bonnie and Sam Pusateri learn from Teresa Hall, left, about the amenities of a home in Autumn Corners. The Pusateries are looking for a home that requires less maintenance than their Kimberling City house.
Bonnie and Sam Pusateri learn from Teresa Hall, left, about the amenities of a home in Autumn Corners. The Pusateries are looking for a home that requires less maintenance than their Kimberling City house.

Housing development aims for mature demographic

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Harold and Georgia Reed love spending time with their family.

They love their children and their grandchildren and are eagerly anticipating the births of their second and third great-grandchildren in the coming months.

But the Reeds, like many in their early 60s, also enjoy time to themselves and time with people their own age.

The couple searched for a 55-plus community in southwest Missouri for some time before finding Autumn Corners 55+ at Copper Leaf in Nixa, a development that they say is on course to offer the best of both worlds.

Autumn Corners 55+ at Copper Leaf is being developed by Hall Investments LLC and will feature 76 maintenance-free condos situated around a lake equipped with lighted fountains and a walking path, among other amenities.

The Reeds have a winter home in a 55-plus community in Arizona, so when they found a similar development in the Ozarks, they sold their house on hole No. 6 at Pointe Royale in Branson, got rid of their lawnmower and are now counting the days until they can move into Autumn Corners.

“We would highly recommend it,” said Harold Reed. “In fact, we have. We have suggested this to a lot of our friends here in Branson that have been looking for this same scenario.”

Intergenerational living

Teresa Hall, owner of Hall Investments, hopes to have the first 23 condo units sold by the end of the year.

Eight of the units in Phase I, which also includes a main entrance, lake and clubhouse, already are reserved, and buyers will begin moving in next month. Phase II comprises 16 units, with construction set to begin in September.

Hall, also a Realtor with Century 21 Ace Realty, hopes to have the entire development finished in December 2007. She’s a veteran in the industry, with experience developing retirement housing including the Elfindale campus in Springfield and Autumn Corners in Springfield, a 14-unit development that was finished in September 2005 and is similar to the Nixa development.

The condos in Autumn Corners – priced at $159,000 to $205,000 – are available to adults aged 55 and older, while the remainder of the Copper Leaf area will comprise single-family homes with several builders offering houses with between 1,500 and 2,100 square feet and prices from $180,000 to $250,000.

Dick Short, owner and developer of the Copper Leaf development, said Copper Leaf is expected to be complete in about two years and will have 468 units. A clubhouse, swimming pool, baseball diamond, tennis court and lake will be available to all Copper Leaf and Autumn Corners residents, and Autumn Corners will have an additional clubhouse available for use only by its residents.

Short said he developed the master plan of the area knowing that intergenerational neighborhoods are a growing market.

“I just think there’s a great need for that right now as the baby boomers are going to retire earlier and there are more of them,” Short said. “In the next five to 15 years, I think that’s going to be a tremendous market.”

The details

Hall Investments has about $4.5 million invested in the first phase of Autumn Corners which will include condominiums of 1,050 to 1,645 square feet.

H Design Group of Springfield is the architect on the project and worked with Hall to create a housing community that is aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.

The interiors feature many extras such as jetted tubs, arched doorways, wood and tile floors, fireplaces, large closets and amenities such as wider doorways and electrical outlets at a higher level than normal, that make senior living easier.

Terry Letterman, owner of TC Builders, has worked with Hall for more than a decade on different projects.

Letterman’s company built the Springfield Autumn Corners condos and is the sole builder for condos in Hall’s Nixa development.

Letterman and Hall agree that the 55-and-older market is big right now, and they are trying to give people new options.

“I think people underestimate how big it is because 90 percent of people moving in here are baby boomers,” Letterman said. “They’re ready for things just to be taken care of, and that’s really the driving force of the whole project.”

Condo owners will pay $200 a month to cover all outdoor maintenance on the property. The fee will cover mowing, snow removal, a sprinkler system, roof upkeep and a security patrol service.

“I think we’re really going to capture some of that early baby boomer group that has dealt with their parents and seen the difficulties, seen the responsibility that owning property on your own has,” Hall said.

“They want to enjoy life and have fun doing other things, other than just maintaining a piece of property, and yet have a nice, beautiful home.” [[In-content Ad]]

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