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Surge Homes released its design of the single-family homes it plans to build on an empty lot in the Heights. What makes the designs unusual, the developers say, is that the final floor plans and renderings were created based on feedback on its website.
Surge Homes is owned by the principals of Canada-based Group LSR and Inner Loop condos, which bought a roughly 1.4-acre parcel at East 5th and Frasier in 2004. Instead of the densely packed 84-unit complex it originally envisioned, the developer says it will build seven single-family homes on the site.
Potential buyers who visited the developer’s website requested floor plans and weighed in on the exterior and interior of the building. Surge Homes is working on 9 other developments in Inner Loop neighborhoods in the Heights, Midtown, downtown, the Museum District, Upper Kirby and Spring Branch. The company will design those sites using the data gathered from its website where buyers can submit feedback. Those sites will offer condominiums, townhomes, and single-family detached homes priced from $150 000 to $1.5 million.
On SurgeHomes.com, buyers browsed each of the development sites to learn more about the neighborhoods, amenities and types of homes proposed for construction. Visitors then provide feedback on what they’d like, such as home size, price range and type, and comment on the interior and exterior of the designs. Louis Conrad, partner of Surge Homes, said that in the first 23 days the site was up, there had been 48,000 online visitors and 3,000 people signed up for more information.
“The process allows us to tailor the 450 or so houses and condominiums that we will build according to the design preferences and budget of future residents. Normally, in volume production, buyers cannot be given that chance— especially not in the hot inner Loop market” said Ben Lemieux, Surge Homes partner, in a statement. “We believe that giving prospective buyers and neighbors the opportunity to share their vision of how the community should be built is the future.”
