Are concrete homes the next big Coast trend? New luxury development coming to the Pass
Million-dollar homes made of concrete are coming to Pass Christian and one is already on the market, a local Realtor confirmed to the Sun Herald.
Construction began two weeks on the first home for sale in Liberty Estates, a luxury development of raised insulated concrete form (ICF) homes. The structures are meant to withstand hurricanes and other severe weather events.
The homes will be built in the area between Everett Street and U.S. 90 near the beach and will be the first ICF development of it’s on the Coast, Realtor Jordan Ladner said.
The first home has been on the market since July 1 and is listed at $1.5 million and is listed on popular real estate website Zillow. It will serve as the model home for the project expected to consist of 11 houses built in two phases, Ladner, who is co-leading the project, told the Sun Herald.
Three homes will be built at the front of Liberty Estates and will be closer to the water, Ladner said, and eight smaller homes will be constructed further back.
All of the homes will sit between 8.5 to 13 feet off the ground, Ladner said.
The first home is expected to be completed in July 2022 and the whole project will take about two years to complete.
The project came about when Ladner said she was tasked with selling the land as individual lots to buyers who would build their own homes. Instead, she proposed the idea of a modern development that could withstand hurricanes to the developer, Liberty Estates LLC.
“In a business way, it just made sense,” she said. “I think the neighbors would appreciate a high-class development rather than just random parcels,” she said.
The homes, designed by architect Ed Wikoff of Bay St. Louis, will have modern and upscale amenities including quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, high ceilings and open concept floor plans. Each home will be about 1,900 to 2,600 square feet and the buyer will be able to customize the finishings and choose from three different floor plans.
Liberty Estate’s homes will also feature impact rated doors and windows, allowing the homes to hopefully receive the highest ICF grading from third party engineers, which will allow buyers to save money on insurance premiums.
“ICF is essentially hollowed out Lego blocks that are stacked and then core filled with concrete,” said Mike Ladner of Next Level Building, the builder of the Liberty Estates project. “The shell on Liberty Estates is ICF building blocks with a 6 inch core of concrete which rests on top of a 6 inch concrete slab and that is tied into the beams and columns, which are poured in place.”
Compared to the cost of a timber home, ICF homes are about 8% more expensive to build, Mike Ladner said. He is Jordan Ladner’s husband.
This type of concrete-style housing development is not new, but there has not yet been much exposure on the Coast, Mike Ladner said. Custom Conrete Homes, a subcontractor of the project, has built many ICF homes in Florida.
“The Realtor community is blown away, there’s nothing but excitement that something like this has come to the Coast,” Jordan Ladner said. “People want something different and exclusive and modern.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
