MARCH 26, 2007

Sales Open in Renaissance Homes’ 2nd Prune Hill Neighborhood

Renaissance Homes has opened sales at its $23.25 million, 30-home Hunter Ridge, a gated community with views east up the Columbia Gorge toward Mt. Hood on Astor Street in Camas.

With a sale and several reservations under his belt, Renaissance President Randy Sebastian was predicting brisk sales “because this is a prime view location on Prune Hill, one of the most popular Camas areas, where we have large lots and many opportunities for daylight basement homes.”
Homes at Hunter Ridge will range from a 2,872-square-foot three-bedroom, 2.5 bath plan with master bedroom on main floor to 4,457-square-foot four-bedroom, three bath daylight basement plan. All have three car garages. A model home will be completed this fall.

Base prices range from $699,900 to $844,900 plus lot premiums of $1,000 to $80,000, depending on lot size and view. Lots are 8,300 square feet to 13,784 square feet.

In a departure from normal practice, Hunter Ridge buyers can choose from different home sizes and plans on several home sites because “the size of the lots and topography give us an unusual amount of flexibility,” Sebastian said.
A surge in sales at the firm’s nearby Renaissance Summit has brought that 21-home neighborhood within three sales of being completely sold and Renaissance Broker Sharlene Castle expects sales at Hunter Ridge to get substantial traction after the close out of that neighborhood.

Castle said both neighborhoods are attracting Vancouver area residents looking to move up and “by empty nesters coming from out of state–a lot of Oregonians coming here because of the tax advantages and even someone from Texas, who came to this side of the river for the same reason.”

Hunter Ridge is surrounded by green space and the Woodland Trail, being developed to run from one side of Prune hill to the other, skirts its edge. “Being a gated community also is really important to our buyers,” Castle said.

Until the Hunter Ridge model home is completed, sales will be handled from the Renaissance Summit sales office at 2564 NW 72nd Circle. Sales hours are noon to 6p.m.daily and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday. The office is closed Wednesday and Thursday.

More information on Hunter Ridge is available from Castle at 503-572-7314, Katrin Crum, 360-518-2600.
All homes will be built to Renaissance’ “Living Green” standards, a group of environmentally sound building techniques which save money on energy and exceed the Earth Advantage specification, on which it is based.

Living Green requires use of kiln dried lumber and special paints which eliminate the usual “off gassing” from those products as well as air filtration. Systems also have been developed to seal duct work and circulate fresh air throughout the home every 90 minutes when people are home.

The firm’s crews actually have moisture testing equipment to make sure lumber meets the required dryness specifications.
“Keeping paint and other vapors out of the air may not sound like much to many people, but anyone suffering from allergies or asthma will immediately recognize the benefit from this part of the program,” said Castle.

Living green also calls for use of such composite materials as fiber cement siding, “engineered” wood and composition roofing to reduce demand on Northwest forests. Renaissance’ homes go farther than traditional “green” building programs with an exterior package called Rain Screen.

Developed in Vancouver BC, Rain Screen is an exterior wall system that firs out the siding by a half inch to allow a channel of air circulation between the siding and the house wrap. This circulates air throughout the exterior of the house so it can “breathe” better. Any moisture which invades the space also runs through rather than seeping behind house wrap or plywood and causing dry rot and mold.

Renaissance Homes is one of metropolitan area’s largest residential builders and the first major builder committed to 100 percent green building. Hunter Ridge is the firm’s sixth Clark County neighborhood. Besides Vancouver and Camas, the firm has neighborhoods underway in Sherwood, West Linn, Happy Valley, Wilsonville, Beaverton, southwest Portland, on the Oregon Golf Association golf course at Tukwila and in Bend.



Renaissance Homes

16771 Boones Ferry Road
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
Voice: 503-636-5600
Fax: 503-635-8400
Emergency Service: 503-496-0711 or 866-567-6225