Construction of new homes picking up at Port Huron's McNeil Creek subdivision
PORT HURON — A few years after the city first took steps to establish a new residential subdivision, builder Steve Smith said up to five homes could be taking shape this summer at McNeil Creek.
Port Huron officials first picked up the L-shaped lot off 10th Avenue and Garfield Street on the city’s north side more than four years ago with the aim to bolster single-family home options for future residents.
Previously owned by St. Clair County, the property was parceled off into 19 lots, as the city spent months preparing them for development with a new roadway, decorative lighting, and water and sewer access. Smith and his wife Jodi, through Steve Smith Builds LLC, stepped in a year and a half ago to manage construction along the subdivision street dubbed Gator Avenue — a nod to the nearby Garfield Elementary School, whose students picked the name — completing the first build last year.
By the start of 2024, the first home remained the only one on site.
However, Steve Smith said, “Ever since we sold the first model home at 1207 Gator, lucky seven, it seems like people saw what we were going to do here and kind of see the vision we had. So, since then, we have sold three more with possibly two more coming.”
The home next door at 1211 Gator Ave. was “all framed up” and almost ready for drywall, Smith said, while 1126 Gator across the street had its foundation and was expected to see framing next week. They were expected to start digging a new foundation at 1203 Gator on the corner by the model home on Friday.
The original plans called for home designs at 1,200 to 1,400 square feet, home prices at $249,000 to $289,000, and cost at $250 a square foot.
Now, Smith said they’re starting to make accommodations on square footage, maintaining builds roughly between $224 and $235 a square foot and the total cost below $300,000. The lots have buildable areas of roughly 40-by-61 feet, and Smith said some homes will have covered porches extending the home farther back.
“It’s a good value because it has a full basement,” he said. “Most of them have three bedrooms with two baths, and then, we do that future frame in the basement … (for) a bathroom down there. So, there’s (room for) expansion in the full house. These houses have been averaging between 1,250 and the one on the corner is going to be 1,550 (square feet).”
Port Huron City Manager James Freed said officials thought the project was going well, citing a location near a park, as well as the school, was proving “highly desirable” as they’d originally hoped, adding they’d heard of interest from transplant residents from elsewhere in the county.
“We’re feeling very good about it,” he said. “… It just shows the market was there.”
Smith said they’re also seeing interest from out of county and potential buyers of a diverse age range.
There was the couple downsizing from a lakefront home, he said, an older man with a caretaker moving up, a couple from Canada interested in a house with a room in an upstairs — the basic design doesn’t have a second story — and a younger couple moving in.
“It offers a lot for any age,” Smith said of the area. “The nice thing is we’re only a couple blocks from the lake, and people can walk or ride. The city of Port Huron poured sidewalk down there by Palmer Park now, so it’s a continuous sidewalk from McNeil Creek all the way to Lighthouse Beach.”
Those interested could contact Steve Smith at (810) 841-0941 or Jodi Smith at (810) 334-0213.
Contact reporter Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Construction of new homes picking up at Port Huron's McNeil Creek subdivision
