A peregrine falcon, considered one of the fastest flying birds in the world, can dive up to 200 mph. A new housing project in northeast Kansas City, Kan., where the falcons once nested, has been named after the speedy bird. </p><p>Peregrine Falcon Estates, once a blighted area of town, had its grand opening one year ago. Today, the developer is hoping that once the economy bounces back, new home sales in the neighborhood north of Seventh Street and Quindaro Boulevard will soar. </p><p>&ldquo;What we&rsquo;re trying to do is get people to recognize that we&rsquo;re here,&rdquo; said Bob Hughes, president of Hughes Development Co., the developer and primary builder. &ldquo;A lot of people assume that because you&rsquo;re building in the urban core, you must be building affordable, low-income housing. That&rsquo;s not what we&rsquo;re trying to do. What we&rsquo;re trying to do is bring back mobile buyers. Mobile buyers are people who can buy anywhere.&rdquo; </p><p>The plan calls for 32 homes starting in the upper $100,000s to be built in the first phase. So far, five have been constructed. </p><p>&ldquo;The city is our partner,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;Under their TIF plan, they did the land acquisition and relocation. We&rsquo;ve come in to do the development piece.&rdquo; </p><p>The Unified Government of Wyandotte County created a tax-increment financing district out of the area and requested redevelopment proposals. Hughes Development submitted the lone proposal.</p><p>The styles of the homes were named after schools in the area. A Sumner is a two-story home with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. The Wyandotte is a four- bedroom home with three bathrooms and a Jacuzzi. </p><p>The city has stimulus dollars, and buyers can obtain up to $20,000 of the funding. For first-time home buyers, there&rsquo;s also an $8,000 federal tax credit available. </p><p>I toured a house for sale at 2607 N. Hallock St. that sells for $235,000 and another at 2603 N. Hallock St. that costs $189,000. </p><p>The public&rsquo;s perception of the economy truly affects home sales. </p><p>&ldquo;The market is down,&rdquo; Hughes said. &ldquo;But what happens to home prices when the economy bounces back? They start going up. Right now is a buyer&rsquo;s market.&rdquo;</p><p>Nathan Barnes, 1st District commissioner for the Unified Government, was first to build in Peregrine Falcon Estates. </p><p>&ldquo;I believed in it then as I do now,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s close to everything. It&rsquo;s well laid out. It&rsquo;s going to be the premier place to live in northeast. I feel in the coming years, we&rsquo;ll be just as successful on this end of town as we&rsquo;ve been successful out west.&rdquo; </p><p>W.D. Young saw a floor plan he preferred somewhere else. He used the design to create the home he built. </p><p>&ldquo;I grew up in this area,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;Instead of me running from this area, I came back. I paid half of what it would have cost me to build somewhere else. And I built the house of my dreams.&rdquo;