20% of the new Downs housing in Scarborough reserved in 24 hours

Courtesy / Crossroad Holdings LLC Seen here is a rendering of Phase II of residential development at the Downs in Scarborough.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Twenty-four hours after Monday's listing of new single-family homes at the mixed-use Downs development in Scarborough, one-fifth of them were already reserved.

The listing was part of the Phase II residential portion of the project, which is expected to comprise the 23 single-family homes that came online this week, along with 24 condominiums and 58 apartments available later this summer or early fall, according to a news release.

The home prices will be in the mid-$400,000 range, and the condos will offered at prices around $250,000.

Construction of the homes is expected to start this month, with closings to come in early 2021.

The brisk pace mirrors Phase I development in early 2019, when 23 of 30 planned single-family houses went under contract in a matter of days and all 126 residential units were built and sold in 15 months.

Phase I gave Phase II something of a head start, Rocco (Roccy) Risbara III told Mainebiz.

“We had a list of about 500 inquiries that didn’t get met by Phase 1,” he said.

Risbara and his brothers, William and Marc, own Risbara Bros., a Scarborough-based construction company, and are partners in Crossroad Holdings LLC, which is developing the 510-acre project at the former Scarborough Downs.

Risbara is a 2020 Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year.

Although the condos and apartments are still winding their way through the town’s planning board approval process, about 10 condos have also been “spoken for” despite not being marketed yet, he said.

“There’s s not a lot of inventory in the residential market right now,” he added. “We’re meeting part of that demand. We had a pretty good idea the demand was there. And it is, despite the pandemic.”

Buyers in Phase I and now in Phase II appear to be primarily Maine residents. However, he said, although it hasn’t been tabulated, his sense is that more inquiries are coming from outside of Maine during the Phase II round.

“I’m pretty confident that’s true,” he said. “It makes sense. People have found they can work from home. If you can work from home, whey wouldn’t you have want to work from home in Scarborough, Maine?"

The sales include pre-permitted lots and a selection of house styles, he explained.

The Downs aims to create a “live-work-play” community with residential, commercial and recreational features, including 10 miles of new recreational trails.