Centra and the Resurrection of Riverwood National

How Twin Cities residential developer Centra Homes rescued a housing development that had been in limbo for over 15 years.

Centra Homes announced Friday that a purchase agreement was in place for the last of 14 new Centra-built homes on Riverwood National Golf Course in Otsego. The final sale completing the development phase of the subdivision and bringing to a close a project started by another builder over 15 years ago.

 “We are excited we were able to partner with the city of Otsego and existing residents to deliver 14 new homes, a revamped homeowner association and closure to Riverwood National… it has been a long time coming.”

—Dale Wills, Centra Homes Founder and President

The project site, near the 10th hole at Riverwood National, began back in 2004 when another homebuilder broke ground with an ambitious plan to build 17 homes. Financial pressures for the builder began to mount shortly thereafter, halting construction just a few months later. 

Ultimately these and other challenges landed the property in foreclosure.  

What was left behind were three completed homes, several half-finished roads, over a dozen empty lots and the barebones remnants of a homeowners association (HOA).

In subsequent years the land had several owners before finally landing in the hands of Coon Rapids-based Centra Homes, a developer with a knack for rescuing problem parcels. Centra began work in 2018 to revive development on the site.

Centra Homes President Dale Wills says that while every project is unique, Riverwood presented some unusual issues. The first of these that his team faced was developing housing plans that fit the look and feel of the existing three homes but still supporting the functional design concepts that are a trademark of the Centra Built home. 

Wills says that the second complication was completing work on infrastructure that had remained untouched, at various levels of completion for a decade and a half. Finally Wills and team needed to work with existing residents to update the homeowners association, scaling from three residents to 17.

“The issues we faced at Riverwood National were not insurmountable, but took time and effort to resolve and coordinate,” says Wills, “Luckily we have a strong team that was up to the task.”

That team included Godden Sudik Architecture, an experienced land team, Otsego city officials and the three existing residents at Riverwood. The planning and land development phase took several months which ran concurrently with work to stabilize the HOA. Construction of the homes began in late 2018 and finished this summer. 

Following construction homes were listed and sold quickly-- a testament to thoughtful design and a prime location in a thriving suburb. A speedy and efficient conclusion to a story that was nearly 15 years in the making.