New subdivision features 56 townhouses

Larry Combs, of Portales, is undertaking his biggest project as a developer with the Foxtrail Estates which received final plat approval by city officials this week. The development plans for 56 luxury rental townhouses.

Foxtrail Estates is located in the south part of Portales near Golden Acres Retirement Apartments and the Yucca Subdivision.

Combs said he plans to build the townhouses, on 28 lots, in phases. The subdivision will have one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. The townhouses will be constructed in pairs, next to each other on each lot.

“We’re going to do luxury townhouses,” Combs said. “My plans are not to have a gated-community, but to have a walled-off community. This is going to be a $4.3 million project.”

Combs said the wall will be built around the subdivision. Each townhouse will have a one-car garage with a parking spot at an angle next to the garage driveway. The townhouses will have a bathroom, great room, fireplace, bedroom and some of the townhouses will have a hot tub. Combs said Combs Properties, the real estate agency which he owns, will be the property manager for the townhouses and the price range for the one- and two-bedroom units will be $700 to $850. The price range for the three-bedroom unit will be $800 to $950.

“We welcome retirees, college students and young professionals (to rent),” Combs said. “I’ve found that people don’t mind paying a little extra to get something safe and nice.”

The Foxtrail Estates will have walking areas with sidewalks and benches with shading. Combs said there will also be light poles, like the newly-placed light poles in the downtown area, every 150-feet so people can walk in well-lit areas.

Combs said Combs Properties has been in the real estate business since 1987, but he didn’t start developing housing projects until 2002.

“Basically we saw a need, in talking with Stephen Doerr (president of the Eastern Foundation),” Combs said. “There was a need for housing in the community with the economic development and the university (Eastern New Mexico University) expanding.”

Combs said Doerr, through his work on the foundation, has come to believe quality housing in the community is a big key to growth at ENMU.

In gaining final plat approval Tuesday, Foxtrail Estates subdivision sailed through the process with few concerns expressed by city council or the planning commission.

“We (planning commission) voted in favor with two conditions,” Sammy Standefer, Portales planning director, said during Tuesday’s city council meeting. “The first one is that each lot’s drainage retention plan must be shown and the developer (Combs) must pay for half of the cost of developing 22nd Street”

Standefer said the chip-sealed street will need curb and gutter improvements and widening of the street.

Combs said he wants to have four lots with eight townhouses constructed by June and ready for tenants. Combs said the plan is to finish lots in each phase and complete the entire development in two years.