Farm Haus

AHV Communities

San Antonio, TX

May 2023

Farm Haus, developed by AHV Communities is a build-to-rent community located in San Antonio, Texas. The developer was inspired by the history of the area for multiple parts of the community including its name which was inspired by the German heritage in the area. This paired home offering has 2-, 3-, and 4-bedroom homes ranging from 1,134 to 1,645 square feet, obtaining a net density of 16.74 per acre. The community opened in summer 2021 and has been well received. Monthly rents range from the low to high $2,000s as of May 2023.

Surrounded by the best dining and shopping San Antonio has to offer, Farm Haus is uniquely positioned just seconds from Loop 1604 and San Antonio's Medical Center. This prime location saves residents commute time and puts some of the great parts of Sant Antonio just a short drive away. It’s in a great school district, too. AHV had been looking at this prime site for a while but was having trouble making it pencil for single-family detached homes. The city had impervious cover and minimum tree coverage requirements that were making it a challenge. Instead of giving up on the site, the team got creative and played with density and ended up designing a collection of duplexes that turned into Farm Haus.

The gated entry sets the stage for a classic Texas Hillcountry look for the community with the multicolor stone, but the homes visible from the entrance tell a different story. Instead, the name of the community sets the stage for the farmhouse-inspired community design.

The amenity center at the heart of the community starts with a charming clubhouse that is around 3,800 square feet. Mature and newer trees surround the building which gives it a feel that it’s been around for a while. Part of the city requirements on the site was minimum tree coverage, so AHV tried to preserve as many of the mature trees as possible and planted the rest to meet the requirement.

The barn-inspired clubhouse embodies the charming farmhouse feel of the community complete with a mix of colorful batten and board siding as well as rustic columns around the front porch. The metal roof gives the space a more modern feel. That metal is continued as accent pieces on the homes.

Farm Haus has a small but mighty amenity package with the clubhouse complete with great room, catering kitchen, and conference room. The community also includes a resort-style pool with sundeck, a 24-hour fitness center, pet amenities, and professional, onsite management staff for hassle-free living.

The club room provides a place for residents to gather or even rent out for a private event.

The spacious catering kitchen in the club room

Cozy seating area in the club room

The clubhouse also includes a conference room, and all the common areas have free wi-fi.

The 24-hour fitness center features a mix of cardio and weight training equipment. Residents can easily access the space with a key fob, which also provides access to the clubhouse and pool during available hours.

The fitness center is beautifully designed with a high ceiling and plenty of windows. The space even includes two roll-up garage doors that connect the fitness center to the nearby open gathering area.

A covered porch provides a transition from the fitness center to the open seating area nearby. Mature trees are prevalent here and provide shade for the tables and chairs.

The fire pit and grills are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The nearby game court is setup for bocce ball but could also support other games like cornhole.

The around-1,500-square-foot, resort-style pool continues the high-quality amenities for the community. The pool is designed to support leisure or laps and has plenty of deck space as well as a Baja shelf for those hot days when you don’t want to leave the water.

All the amenities are available every day of the year, so residents don’t have to wait around for the pool to reopen after the winter.

Farm Haus is pet friendly and even has multiple amenities to support residents’ pets. The pet washing station located just off the fitness center provides a great solution when you need to wash your muddy dog. Far better than trying to wash them in your shower or tub.

The spacious yards and bark park are perfect if residents have dogs. The community allows for both dogs and cats but does have weight and breed restrictions.

AHV Communities worked with KTGY to design the collection. Instead of doing Hillcountry or Texas Traditional (as is more common in the market), AHV looked at the historic styles of the San Antonio area and found that the farmhouse style used to be more prevalent. With their focus on design and a desire to set themselves apart, the team decided to embrace that historic style and bring it into the 21st century, resulting in a beautifully articulated modern farmhouse community.

The tour starts with Plan 1, which is the home on the right side of the building. While Plan 1 originally had a model and it was photographed and will be included in this feature, the team has since rented the Plan 1 that was modeled due to the demand for 2-bedroom units.

Plan 1 is the smallest home in the community at 1,134 square feet. This two-story home has 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a 2-car garage. Prior to Farm Haus, AHV Communities had only built 3- and 4-bedroom homes. This was their first foray into building 2-bedroom homes. They made this choice to appeal to a single person, young couples, or even roommates potentially from the nearby college. This pivot to including a wider range of bedroom counts and only doing two-story homes with the primary bedroom up shifted their potential renters to younger life stages and families. Whereas other communities that included single-story homes or homes with a ground floor primary bedroom appealed to older demographics.

The team rolled out a new smart home technology package with this community that includes smart thermostats, smart garage door openers, and smart locks. All these devices connect to a hub that is accessible to the resident and the community staff, so maintenance can easily gain access to units as needed.

Efficiency is the name of the game in a smaller home. Note how the design team managed to include an “L”-shaped great room as well as a powder room to support the ground floor and even a storage closet near the stairs.

This home features a galley-kitchen layout with appliances and cabinets running along one wall. The island augments the kitchen’s counter space, as well as storage opportunities. Plus, it includes space for informal dining along one side.

Each home is equipped with stainless steel kitchen appliances, luxurious vinyl plank flooring, quartz countertops, and designer cabinets. Through a partnership with Samsung, each home includes Samsung stainless steel, gas stoves.

Each home benefits from its own fenced backyard. Despite being attached, the homes feel very detached due to features like the spacious, private yards.

AHV Communities worked with Mary DeWalt Design Group to merchandise the models. The design team did a great job of helping potential residents see the opportunities in the homes.

The stairs are purely utilitarian and are tucked behind the closet and powder room to keep the great room open, which is a smart choice in a smaller home.

The home includes two similarly sized bedrooms, so would work well for roommates.

Each bedroom has an en-suite bath, but the bedroom that overlooks the backyard includes the larger bath and larger walk-in closet. The larger bath seen here includes dual sinks, a large shower, and a separate water closet. The other bath is a more typical secondary bathroom with a single sink and tub/shower combo.

The tour concludes with Plan 2, which includes the sales office in the garage. MP Studio did the landscaping for the community and maintains the front yards for residents. A monthly services fee covers trash, recycling, pest control, yard maintenance, smart home access, and community services.

Plan 2 ranges from 1,335 to 1,365 square feet and has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a 2-car garage.

The main living areas are grouped in an open great room with the dining and seating areas running along the back of the home with views of the backyard.

Another view of the great room

The kitchen benefits from the additional square footage and runs along two walls of the great room, which allows for additional counter and cabinet space.

This kitchen maximizes the space and takes advantage of that awkward corner of the kitchen, as well as the space under the stairs to offer a walk-in pantry.

The seating area

This home includes three bedrooms on the upper floor, but only the primary bedroom (seen here) is merchandised. It is spacious and larger than the other two bedrooms, which are located at the front of the home.

The primary bath features dual sinks, Kohler fixtures, a shower, and a separate water closet. The other two bedrooms share a bath that is accessed off the hallway.

Instead of calling out a walk-in closet on the floor plan, the team charmingly calls it “style.”

No stacked appliances here. The laundry room is large enough to accommodate a side-by-side washer and dryer. Residents can either bring their own or rent the appliances.

AHV Communities has a strong focus on architecture and design, so wanted to create four-sided architecture with a focus on articulation.

Even the back sides of the building have varied massing and material or color changes.

The team succeeded in creating a diverse street scene even though the community is a single architectural style, which can sometimes pose a challenge.

Note how the team used color and massing and even materials to add interest to the building. Each building feels like a single home versus two. The dual front doors and garage doors reveal that they are in fact paired homes.

The community includes two additional floor plans, a 3-bedroom, and a 4-bedroom. The 3-bedroom home is 1,415 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a 2-car garage. While like Plan 2, this home benefits from the additional square footage and the ground floor has an “L”-shaped great room that wraps around a patio, which connects the main living areas better to the outdoors with more windows. This home also includes volume over part of the seating area.

Plan 4 is the only 4-bedroom in the community. This two-story home is 1,645 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and a 2-car garage. This home has an “L”-shaped great room that wraps around the stairs and provides space for a generously sized kitchen. The upstairs has 4 spacious bedrooms (one of which is called out as a workspace on the floor plan to highlight the opportunity for other uses). To provide additional space in the secondary bedrooms, the team elected to have the three secondary bedrooms share a bathroom that is accessible from the hallways.

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Farm Haus

Photography by Chas Schreiber, Big Ideas Creations

Product type: Build-To-Rent Duplex

PROJECT STATS

Project Stats close

Price as of May 2023: $2,125/ starting at

Square footage (min): 1,134-1,645

Lot size: –/ square feet average

Density: 16.7

Sales start date: Summer 2021

Total homes: 142

Sales as of: –

HOA: –

Target market: Singles, Young Couples, and Families

Unique selling position: This build-to-rent community offers a low maintenance lifestyle, quality amenities, and thoughtfully designed homes that live large with open great rooms and private yards.

Consultants

Builders

AHV Communities

Architects

KTGY

Interior designers

Mary DeWalt Design Group

Landscape Architects

MP Studio Landscape Architecture

Developers

–

JBREC Consultant

djarvis

David Jarvis

Principal

Houston, TX

djarvis@jbrec.com

Location

8150 W Hausman Road

Phone number

Region Texas

State Texas

City San Antonio

Zip Code 78249