There is not a lot of flat, buildable land in Eureka Springs, which has led to sparse new home construction in recent years. One development focusing on small, affordable homes is located on a flat piece of land off Wall Street being developed by Realtor Glenn Crenshaw and Landon Van Zant, the general contractor. Crenshaw and Fatima Van Zant are the Realtors handling the project.
“Most terrain in Eureka Springs is not designed for affordable building,” Crenshaw said. “There has been no new construction of significance in Eureka in a long, long time. We have developed eleven lots on this six-acre piece of property. We’ve built six houses, and three of them have sold. Two more are complete and one is in the process of finishing.”
There aren’t a lot of small houses in town that aren’t older. Crenshaw said they felt like the market would support providing some new alternatives.
“We wanted to build a cluster of homes so it would be like a community in town,” Crenshaw said. “The idea was to have smaller houses for weekend homes or something that local residents could afford. We worked to build them so they were affordable, but quality houses so the owners would have minimal maintenance down the road.”
There are nine-foot ceilings for a spacious feeling, brick veneer on the foundations, and durable cement board siding. Two of the homes have standing seam metal roofs and four used architectural shingles, which are a higher-quality. The housese have granite countertops, wood floors, and come equipped with refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers. The first two didn’t have a washer and dryer, but the next four do.
Although the houses have been advertised as “tiny homes,” that usually refers to homes of 300 sq. ft. or less. These might better be defined as small, ranging from 760 to 1,000 sq. ft.
“These 300-square-foot houses are nice and sound fun,” Crenshaw said. “But after a few years, I have a feeling that house will be shrinking really fast.”
By using insulation, high efficiency heat pumps and insulated windows, the monthly energy usage is low. The average utility bill is about $100 a month for everything, water and electric. Another thing buyers have said they like is the central location.
The first three houses have the same floor plan, while the other three are all different.
“We are trying to get a gauge of what people want,” Crenshaw said. “We will build the others as a result of how these sales turn out.”
The property previously contained a home that had deteriorated beyond repair, and an old barn. The old barn was on city right-of-way, and was torn down in order to open up the street and put in infrastructure.
A common barrier to construction of new homes in Eureka Springs on undeveloped lots is the cost of infrastructure. Crenshaw said it cost them about $100,000 just for underground electrical utilities, a new water main, sewage line, paved streets and concrete parking pads.
“You have to tie up a lot in infrastructure costs that has to be divided by the number of homes,” he said. “It makes it hard.”
The homes have sold from between $125,000 and $175,000. Crenshaw said with the current low interest rates, that makes is possible for someone to own a home for less than $800 a month.
“You can spend that much easily on rent and utilities, and this is a long-term investment,” Crenshaw said. “If you rent for fifteen years, all you have at the end of fifteen years is a bunch of cancelled checks. If you are buying, you are working towards more financial stability.”
About a year ago Diane Murphy, who owns Century 21 Woodland Real Estate in Eureka Springs, sold a 620-sq. ft. house that she and her late husband, Ken McCoy, had developed on Alexander Street. Murphy said there is definitely a demand for new houses in the range of 500 to 1,000 sq. ft.
“Infill development is great for the town,” Murphy said. “But the infrastructure is challenging. Most people just want something that is ready to move into. They want to be walkable to downtown. They are still receptive to our historic cottages, but they want the home to be ready to go. I wish the people looking for homes of that size were permanent residents. But most people are looking at them as a second home.”
Eureka Springs lost nine percent of its population in the last census, which has been attributed to more housing being owned by people who are not residents. The population declined from 2,278 in 2000 to 2,073 in 2010.