New Homes Folio

September 3, 2007

Nancy H. McKee - Special to Folio

POST-DISPATCH ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT 09/03/2007

Huneke Homes offers 11 custom home sites Nancy H. McKee - Special to Folio POST-DISPATCH ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT 09/03/2007 Wilderness Ridge by Huneke Homes in west St. Louis County Picture in paper by (Michael Marxer)

Ask either Tom or Julia Huneke, principals of Huneke Homes, a family-owned custom home-building company, what their favorite number is and the answer is bound to be “four.” Whether or not consciously incorporated into the design and building of their handsome custom homes, the number “four” crops up in many different features and characteristics of these homes. The exteriors feature four different materials – brick, stone, cement board and siding, and are highlighted by four different colors. Tom, a professional, licensed structural engineer, also notes that in designing his recent homes in Wildwood, he “moved the roof around four different ways to come up with varied, interesting elevations.” Four floor plans are offered at Wilderness Ridge, and several designs feature four types of family or great rooms. (Four’s not a bad number to focus on, by the way, as it has been viewed throughout the centuries by pagans, Christians and Jews as a sacred number, and by numerologists not only as one of the luckiest of lucky numbers, but also the “world” number symbolizing creation of material things.)

Huneke Homes’ forthcoming creation is an exciting community of custom homes at Wilderness Ridge, near the Wildwood Town Center in west St. Louis County. Judging from the builder’s completed luxury spec home on Valley Road in Wildwood, which currently also serves as a sales office and display of Huneke’s unique, open floor plans, quality workmanship, and fine attention to detail, this new community will be a real show-stopper. “We build our homes, believe it or not, fit for both our mothers to live in,” says Julia Huneke, with a grin. “By that I mean that they have a certain presence, character and charm which both our mothers would love.”

Wilderness Ridge, currently in the grading stage of land development, will offer 11 home sites, all treed, with one- to three-acre walkout lots. “This is truly a ridge, across the road from Rockwoods Reservation and near Hidden Valley Ski Resort,” says Tom, “with an elevation of 240 feet above Woods Road, which is sometimes blocked out by low-flying clouds.” The beautiful site contains 83 acres of trees, boasting a true wilderness setting with urban amenities close by. In fact, the Town Center in Wildwood, with its many restaurants, medical facilities, retail stores, groceries, and more, is actually within walking distance of the development, which also is located in the prestigious Rockwood School District.

Buyers may choose from four different plans, which Julie says are “just starters,” as most of their prospective customers already have plans in mind when they call, which Huneke Homes is happy to accommodate. All are base-priced at $695,000. The 3,658-square-foot Magnolia ranch offers a large open foyer, formal dining room, vaulted great room, large angled kitchen with a roomy breakfast area, large master bedroom suite that include a private sitting room, two auxiliary bedrooms, laundry room, and two and one-half baths on the main level. The 1,057-square-foot finished lower level offers another great room, breakfast and full kitchen area, plus a fourth bedroom and full bath. The 3,500-square-foot Aspen ranch features a vaulted great room/dining room/breakfast area, with an adjacent angled kitchen and an almost-square master bedroom. The good-sized, 1,016-square-foot finished lower level offers a fourth bedroom and bath, a great/family room, an office, kitchen, and space for a future exercise room.

Two different story-and-a-half models, popular with growing families, offer many features compatible with today’s lifestyles. In the 1,998-square-foot Hickory, an impressive central foyer with optional oval cove ceiling opens to a large study to the left and a comparable-sized formal dining room to the right. A long gallery leads to a gracious great room with fireplace and a huge master bedroom suite with luxury bath and expansive walk-in closet. To the rear of the house is a generous-sized open kitchen/breakfast area. The second floor features a large loft/family room and three good-sized bedrooms, each with its own bath and walk-in closet. The 3,942-square-foot Buckeye plan offers an inviting study with angled bay windows and optional circular cove ceiling, a capacious master bedroom suite with luxury bath and separate “his” and “her” walk-in closets, a soaring two-story great room, and a combination kitchen/breakfast area with an adjacent private sitting room on the first floor. The upper level includes a roomy loft/family room plus three bedrooms and two full baths. “All of our plans and those that we modify are easy to live in,” says Tom Huneke.

Because of his engineering background, Huneke builds homes that are designed with practical features that appeal to homeowners. For example, all the kitchens have two ways to enter and exit, the refrigerators are near the kitchen table, the stove is near the sink -- you get the idea. Master bedrooms are at the rear of the homes for privacy, and stairways are also at the rear “so family members can stumble downstairs in their p.j.s to the kitchen without worrying about anyone seeing them,” adds Tom. Archways throughout the first floor are perfectly aligned, and coat closets are provided not only in the foyer but also in the back in the laundry/mud rooms off the two-car garages. Little touches like 12-inch-by-24-inch risers; extra-wide, sturdy, full oak banisters; and kick plates lend a feel of permanence to the staircases. Advertisement

Standard features include wood window sills with aprons, copper plumbing on all pressure lines, foundation drainage system with sump pit, upgraded GE appliances, oak wood three-inch plank flooring, spacious walk-in pantries and energy-efficient HVAC systems, among many others.

To find out more about Wilderness Ridge, contact the Hunekes at 636-447-7707 to set up an appointment to meet at the display home at 2605 Valley Road in Wildwood. To reach the display home, take Clayton Road one block west of Clarkson to right on Valley Road to the display on your left.

To visit the building site at Wilderness Ridge, take Clarkson to west on Manchester four miles to Dierberg’s Town Center, then left on Taylor to Circle. Enter the Village of Cherry Hill (not the Enclave of Cherry Hill), go five blocks to the right on Willow Glen to the entrance of the development.