Davis Enterprise The Cannery’s open, and ready for buyers

The Cannery’s open, and ready for buyers
The Cannery’s open, and ready for buyers

By Jeff Hudson

First homes for sale at ‘farm-to-table’ community

After many months of construction, The Cannery — a 100-acre project that ultimately will include 547 homes on land that once was the site of a Hunt-Wesson tomato processing plant — will be open for visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The project is at Covell Boulevard and J Street in northeast Davis.

The open house will include tours of four clusters of model homes, which are being built by The New Home Company, the primary developer of The Cannery, and Shea Homes. Two more clusters of new homes, including some built by Standard Pacific Homes, will follow next year.

The event also will highlight The Cannery’s new 5,800-square-foot working barn and 7.4 acres of cultivated farmland — planted in sweet corn, tomatoes, sunflowers, fruit trees and sudangrass, a cover crop. The farm will be a partnership between The New Home Company, the city of Davis and the Center for Land-Based Learning, a Winters-based nonprofit that trains young farmers.

Ultimately, the farmland and barn will be deeded to the city and operated by the Center for Land-Based Learning under lease. The farm is expected to be used as an “agri-classroom” for beginning farmers. Produce grown there eventually will be sold to the public, likely through a weekly produce-box subscription plan.

The Cannery has been heavily promoted as a “farm-to-table” community that will “connect eaters directly to food.”

Visitors also may tour a 1,644-square-foot structure called The Farmhouse, with a wrap-around porch and a large central space with a high ceiling. Initially, The Farmhouse will be used as an information center during the marketing phase of The Cannery; later, the building will be donated to the city, and is expected to be used as a public meeting space.

The open house also will feature The Ranch House, a recreation center that will be open to Cannery residents and their guests. Features include a lap pool, outdoor spa, game room, barbecue area and meeting room for larger gatherings.

Davis being Davis, the project also includes several miles of walking paths, bicycle trails and park, as well as wildlife-oriented features like owl boxes and bat boxes in the cultivated areas.

Future plans include an outdoor amphitheater, a cluster of retail shops and mixed-use offices, a transit plaza and a yet-to-be-built underpass or overpass connecting with the city’s network of bike routes.

These amenities are part of the overall package, but many open house visitors will be focused on the first model homes — a mix of styles variously described as row homes, somewhat larger bungalows and cottages and more spacious park homes — some with covered outdoor porches and an outdoor fireplace — in The Cannery’s brochures.

The models range in size from 1,404 square feet to 3,702 square feet. There are some single-story homes, but many of the residences will be two-story structures, and some — like the Heirloom row houses — have three floors.

Certain models have the option of converting “stacked” closets (with knockout floors) into an elevator; other models have wide stairways that could be fitted with a lift for carrying a person between floors.

Home prices range from the mid-$400,000s into the low $1 million range. Buyers also will pay homeowner association fees and Community Facilities District fees.

Some models include an accessory dwelling unit with a separate entrance, a popular feature that is sometimes referred to as a casita or a granny flat. The unit could become the residence of an elderly family member or a college student.

The homes come equipped with a variety of energy-efficient features. Each garage has a bicycle storage alcove.

All told, The Cannery is the largest addition to the city’s housing stock since the Wildhorse development about a mile east, which was built in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The first residents of The Cannery are expected to move in sometime near the end of this year.

Depending on how quickly the homes sell, The Cannery could be built out within five years. The pace of construction, of course, will be influenced by market demand.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or 530-747-8055.

 

By the numbers

Four sets of model homes representing different neighborhoods at The Cannery will open this weekend:

Sage, 73 park homes on the northern edge of The Cannery, ranging from 1,973 to 3,702 square feet, with up to six bedrooms and five baths, and up to three-car garages. Priced from the high $700,000s to the low $1 million range

Heirloom, 72 row houses, ranging from 1,404 to 2,016 square feet, with up to five bedrooms and 5.5 baths, and a two-car garage. Most Heirloom homes have three stories. Priced from the mid-$400,000s to the mid-$500,000s

Tilton, 76 cottages, ranging from 1,706 to 3,024 square feet, with up to four bedrooms and three baths. Most include an attached two-car garage. Priced from the mid-$700,000s to the low $900,000s

* Persimmon, 44 bungalows, ranging from 2,189 to 2,892 square feet, with up to five bedrooms and 3.5 baths. Priced from the low $700,000s to the low $900,000s