Designing and constructing any amenity is costly. Unfortunately, with most amenities, developers do not have the luxury of building the amenity in stages over time to stagger up-front expenses. You can’t build only three holes of a golf course at one time, or build half of a swimming pool – it’s all or nothing.

But for developers tapping into an exploding market such as horseback riding, where demand is continually increasing and sometimes hard to gauge, staging construction of the amenity is usually a viable and wise option. Staging an equestrian amenity allows the developer not only to spread the construction costs over time, but it also ensures that the amenity is not overbuilt (a waste of money) or underbuilt (a sales buster).

Although trails need to be built early in the development process due to their impact on the site design, equestrian recreation areas such as arenas, cross county courses, round pens and rings can easily be staged throughout the development process as sales occur and income is generated. Likewise, an experienced equestrian planner and designer can design the barn or barns in such a way that the construction of stalls is staged to meet demand. This ensures that a developer is not stuck with expensive stalls which sit empty, but more importantly, it enables the developer to remain agile in the sales process by continually meeting the demand of equestrian buyers. We have seen seasoned developers have to turn away qualified equestrian buyers because the developer did not plan for enough stalls to satisfy market demand.

This is just one of the many advantages of an equestrian amenity, but it is a benefit that must be carefully planned for and executed. When done right, a staged equestrian amenity has a very positive impact on a project’s return on investment.

Posted by jenniferd at 1:02 PM | Link | 0 comments