Hunt Companies Inc

By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times
El Paso Times

An El Paso developer Friday announced it has begun creating an 850-acre, master-planned community on the West Side to be built over the next seven years with 1,800 homes and a large commercial center.
The development, named Cimarron, will have townhouses, condominiums and single-family homes at prices that will probably range from $200,000 to $1 million, and will include bike trails, parks and 225 acres of open space around arroyos, said Gary Sapp, CEO of Hunt Communities. It's part of Hunt Building Corp., which for years has focused mostly on building large housing developments on military installations.

The project will be built north of Resler Drive and east of Trans Mountain Road, bordering the Northwest Corporate Center.

The project's first 280 single-family lots are to be ready for sale to home builders this summer, Sapp said.

Hunt also plans to announce details for a 20,000-home, master-planned community on the far East Side in about two months, Sapp said.

The projects are aimed at bringing development concepts used in other areas of the nation to El Paso, which historically has seen "sprawled growth" without focusing on how a project would look when an entire area is built out, Sapp said.

Mike Santamaria, president of the El Paso Association of Builders and vice president of Mountain Vista Builders, said, "I think it sounds great. I go to Tucson, Scottsdale (Ariz.), and see master-planned communities and I think they are beautiful, and ask why doesn't El Paso have that?

"If it's a good value, good concept, they shouldn't have a problem selling lots. ... We'll be interested in building there," Santamaria said.

Sapp expects that 20 to 30 home builders will build homes in Cimarron.

Hunt's projects are not the only large, master-planned communities in the works for this area. Another El Paso company, Verde Realty, is working on plans for a master-planned community on about 21,000 acres in Santa Teresa, on the edge of El Paso's West Side.

And the El Paso Public Service Board is in the process of qualifying developers to bid on 3,900 acres of PSB land for a master-planned community in Northeast El Paso. Hunt is vying with nine other companies to be a developer for the PSB land.

El Paso Mayor John Cook, who also is a member of the Public Service Board, said Hunt's development will "complement" the PSB plan.

"I like to see these developments. It raises the bar for everyone," Cook said. And it brings something to El Paso that can help attract companies here, he said.

Even though Cimarron's first lots are already being developed, the entire project still has to be approved by the city, Sapp said.

Cook said he didn't anticipate problems with the project being approved. However, it may require some modification of city subdivision rules because the Hunt development calls for narrower than normal streets, Cook said.

Sonja Van Nortwick, president of the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors and broker-owner of ERA Sellers, Buyers & Associates, said the El Paso area is ready for this type of development, "as long as it's a true master plan, with schools, parks, stores" and other amenities designated.

Master-planned communities may help El Paso attract more people from elsewhere, she said.

"It might help us get some snowbirds" as does Phoenix, which has many master-planned communities, Van Nortwick said. "Snowbirds" are people living in colder climates who spend their winters in warmer locations.

Woody Hunt, chairman of Hunt Building Corp., said in a written statement that El Paso is in a "competitive disadvantage in attracting business and labor to this area" because other Southwestern cities are ahead of El Paso in development of master-planned communities.

Sapp said the project will incorporate "Smart Growth" principles, which aim to make a development "on a human scale, rather than overwhelmed by roads and cars."

Maria Trunk, president of Frontera Land Alliance, an El Paso land trust aimed at acquiring land with scenic or wildlife habitat values, said she likes Hunt's plan to integrate development with the "natural topography and make arroyos kind of an asset to that community."

A large commercial development featuring a "mixed-use town center" with a "new urban feel and Southwestern main street with cafes" and other features will be one of the last elements of the project, Sapp said. That will be developed along Resler and Paseo Del Norte, also known as Artcraft.

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