On Loudoun's Horizon, a Taste of Opulence
Ritz-Affiliated Housing About to Rise in Western Portion of County

By Sandhya Somashekhar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Think cathedral ceilings, marble countertops and a back door that opens to a golf course represent the ultimate in luxury living?

How about a personal concierge who can pick up your kids from school and drop them off at band practice, organize a birthday party for your twins or have roast duck on the table by dinnertime?

That's the indulgent promise of Creighton Farms, a 180-house luxury gated community being developed in western Loudoun County, its upper-crusty reputation sealed by an affiliation with the swanky Ritz-Carlton hotel chain.

Residents will also have exclusive access to an equestrian center, trout-packed streams, a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, a restaurant headed by a Ritz-Carlton chef and a service called Ritz Kidz that offers its own summer camp and educational programs, among other perks.

Of course, such posh living comes with a cost. House prices will start at $2 million, and if a similar community in Jupiter, Fla., is any indication, mandatory homeowner's dues that include the concierge service and a golf club membership will exceed $30,000 a year.

But neither that, nor the sagging housing market, has kept people away. Fifty plots of between three and six acres have sold in the past four months without any advertising. Developers expect to have more interested buyers than they can accommodate by next fall, when residents will begin moving in.

"This will be a home for people who feel like they've made it, and they want a lifestyle where they know their children can have just about anything they want," said Jim Brown, president of Creighton Enterprises, a Loudoun-based luxury builder who conceived the project. "It's like God's little heaven."

Of the 180 houses in Creighton Farms, about 25 will be smaller single-family "villas" on one-acre lots. Prospective buyers will be able to select from among six luxury firms that will custom-build the houses, with the smallest at about 6,000 square feet. Construction on the property is expected to begin in a month.

Loudoun has long been a destination for affluent families looking for fresh air, pristine homes and a little more space -- allures that have edged it past Fairfax as the county with the nation's highest median income. The Ritz-Carlton community promises to up the ante even more.

Purchasers so far have been mostly company executives and business owners who want to extricate themselves from the drudgery of keeping house, dropping kids off at tennis lessons, finding babysitters and the like, said B.J. Purdum, executive director of member services for the community.

"It offers a lot of people the ability to reconnect with their families," she said. "People are always running here and there, wearing themselves thin, and this is an opportunity to enjoy and experience their family in one setting."

It also lumps Loudoun with prestigious company. The Ritz-Carlton has residential properties -- most of them condominiums -- in such major metropolitan areas as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as such resort areas as the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. Two Ritz-Carlton condominium-hotel complexes are in the District.

But Creighton Farms will be the first Ritz-Carlton community to offer single-family houses designed for everyday living.

Loudoun was a natural choice for such a community, said Michael Pascucci, a partner of Juno Enterprises, which is developing the property with Creighton Enterprises.

Pascucci cited Census Bureau figures that put Loudoun's median annual household income at more than $98,000 and pointed out that Creighton Farms will be in Virginia's vaunted hunt country, which has long been a playground for the rich.

"If you had to pick anywhere in the Northeast for something like this, the place you would pick is Loudoun County," Pascucci said. "Rolling hills, beautiful vistas, privacy, the availability of three-acre lots. It's enchanting. This is as good as it gets."

This and developments like it are not unwelcome in Loudoun, where longtime residents tend to focus most of their ire on more affordable cookie-cutter suburban homes and townhouses that provide a jarring contrast to the county's remaining rural areas.

Still, the staggering costs have elicited more than a few chuckles from folks who remember when Loudoun was an out-of-the-way rural community, said Tucker Withers, who owns about a dozen properties in the nearby town of Aldie.

"I tell you, it's a typical conversation here at the inn," said Withers, speaking from the Little River Inn, which he owns.

"Still, there aren't too many complaints. Like everyone else around here, I'd love to see all the farms everywhere, but this is better than what happened on the eastern part of the county."