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HOMER AWARDS: Nechita takes top honors at Homers

SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE

For luxury home builder Christopher Homes, 2002 has been a rewarding year of capturing one award after another in national and regional home-builder competitions.

The Las Vegas-based home builder recently added to its accolades by taking Home of the Year honors from the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, which recently held its 19th Annual Homer Awards banquet at the MGM Grand Conference Center. More than 400 local home-building industry executives turned out for the event.

Going into the event, Christopher Homes had won 18 housing-industry awards in 2002. The company added six more at the event, including its second straight claim to Home of the Year honors.

Last year, the builder won for its Da Vinci model at The Christopher Collection, which is located within Southern Highlands Golf Club in the southwestern valley.

This year's winning entry is the Nechita floor plan, a Tuscan-inspired, Santa Barbara-style luxury home offered at The Villas subdivision, which is also in Southern Highlands.

The judges, all of whom are home-building industry experts from out of state, praised the Nechita's creative floor plan, and its integration of interior and exterior space.

The 2,454-square-foot home, which can be expanded by 698 square feet with an optional second-floor game room, is designed so that all the main living areas open onto either an enclosed courtyard or backyard terrace. The goal, according to designers, is to expand the livable area of the home into the outdoors.

Other areas of the home include two bedrooms, two baths, a study, great room, kitchen, dining room and two one-car garages. The second floor is entirely optional, comprising the game room, a deck and covered patio/deck. The base price of the home is $409,900.

The judges' comments about the Nechita model included:

"It was the most creative floor plan we looked at," said Jane Gates, proprietor of Interior Settings of Lakewood, Colo.

"You kept discovering new and exciting parts as you walked through the home. It delighted you as you moved from room to room and discovered new things," said Craig Morrison, president of Cimarron Homes of Durham, N.C.

"A very salable and memorable product," said Karen R. Kassik, president and partner in Lucia Custom Home Designers Inc. of Winter Park, Fla.

"The home provided a good mix of the indoor and outdoor living with a secure environment. There were many `memory points' in every room. Also, there was a good streetscape, in combine with a sense of community," said Robert Bass, owner/broker of John L. Scott BOI of Boise, Idaho.

Other top honors that the company has won this year include Best Detached Community in the Nation for Christopher Collection from the National Association of Home Builders, and Best Custom Home in the Nation for its Bellacere neighborhood in Summerlin, one of the Best in American Living Awards, which are sponsored by NAHB and Professional Builder magazine.

"It's been quite a year. We are honored to receive the 2002 Home of the Year award from the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association and I credit our great team at Christopher Homes for this achievement," company President Steve Hackney said.

Hackney said those deserving credit are Chris Stuhmer, company founder and CEO; Erica Geiser, vice president of marketing; Mark Scheurer of Scheurer Architects; Chris Johnson of Design Tec interior design firm; and Bob Stone, principal of Nuvis Landscaping.

The company's other Homer Awards included: Best Single Family Detached Home, 3,000-4,000 square feet, $426,000-$475,000, for the Nechita, which qualified for consideration as Home of the Year; and Best Builder Web Site, a new Homer Award category for 2002.

Another new category for 2002 was Best Apartment Community, which was won by Pacific Properties for its Chateau Calais apartment development in the Seven Hills community.

Other companies receiving awards were: Astoria Homes, Celebrate Homes, Del Webb Corp., The Howard Hughes Corp., R/S Development, Signature Homes, Sunrise Colony Co., Toll Bros. and Westmark Homes.

SNHBA received 89 entries in 18 categories. A four-judge panel reviewed the entries for three days. The judges toured finalists' models in the homes categories to make their determinations.

"It gives me great pleasure to congratulate this year's winners of the Homer Awards competition and in particular our Home of the Year winner, Christopher Homes. The Homer Awards are the Oscars for the thousands of professionals in our industry. On behalf of the board of directors of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, thanks to all of you for the outstanding housing you are producing in our community," association President Mark Tomlinson said. "It's a celebration of the creativity, innovation and quality in our industry."

The local awards program was created 19 years ago to honor home builders who enhance the community through quality construction and responsible planning. The trade association has about 750 members involved in all facets of the industry. It is an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders, which has about 200,000 members employing more than 6 million workers.

2002 Homer Award winners

(By award category - name of winning company - name of winning model home - name of subdivision)

2002 Home of the Year

Christopher Homes - Nechita - The Villas