"Builder buys long-idled development"

By Freda R. Savana, Intelligencer, January 9, 2011:

A new builder plans to take over the massive Carriage Hill project from C&M Home Builders.

The sprawling Carriage Hill development that's been on the drawing board in Plumstead for more than five years is about to be sold.


Bill Reiser of Reiser Land and Development plans to sign an agreement of sale for the nearly 195-acre tract by the end of the month, said his attorney, John VanLuvanee of Doylestown.

Reiser, a former Philadelphia-area builder, now semi-retired in Florida, intends to largely follow the plans of the project's original owner, C&M Builders of Warrington, said Plumstead officials. Reiser did not return requests for comment.

NVHomes, a division of NVR Inc., based in Reston, Va., plans to build 86 single family homes and 114 townhouses on the site, which stretches between Route 313 and Ferry and Easton roads.

Another 263 smaller, "courtyard" townhouses will be built by another, as yet unknown, firm, officials said.

Carriage Hill shares a neighborhood design similar to the Lantern Hill development in Doylestown.

Plumstead manager Carolyn McCreary said there are few differences between NVHomes' plans and C&M's. However, NVHomes plans call for attached garages to allow for more off-street parking.

The extensive development, which includes several community athletic fields and a clubhouse, will come in phases, said McCreary. She did not know when work might begin.

In the midst of the last year's deep recession, state lawmakers granted developers across Pennsylvania who had active permits or approvals at the beginning of 2009 until July 2, 2013 to either complete their project or apply for an extension.

Ben Ciliberto, a principal with C&M, said his company is still responsible for getting the needed permits for the development, although it will be selling its rights to the property. The builder blamed a protracted battle over sewer connections for his company's walking away from Carriage Hill, a project he and his brother John had been working on since 2002.

"That was tied up for years," said Ciliberto. "The sewer battle took long enough to get into the Great Depression here. It's just one of those things, timing."

C&M is also struggling with a Milford development, Milford Pointe, off Milford Square Pike. Three homes out of 100 have been built and public improvements were supposed to be completed by January 2008.

Township supervisors voted last month to draw down the company's letter of credit for $894,645 to pay for the improvements, which include storm water management basins, sidewalks, road widening and cluster mailboxes.

In Plumstead, Supervisor Stacey Mulholland said she's resigned to the long-awaited development moving forward.

"It seems like they're picking up where C&M left off + the athletic fields are the silver lining."