Summerwood offers four furnished models, sought-after home selection

Looking for a new home in the award-winning Blue Valley School District? Want to see the most furnished homes on Spring Parade of Homes without driving all over?

If so, start at 161st Terrace and Quivira Road in Overland Park, where four sparkling new model homes await shoppers in Rodrock Homes’ family-friendly Summerwood and Summerwood Estates communities.

On Spring Parade for the first time, the models showcase the latest in new home designs and amenities.

Tour them yourself and you’ll understand why buyers bought more homes in Summerwood and Summerwood Estates in the last two months of 2013 than in any other Blue Valley School District community.

What makes Summerwood so special? On Parade and every day, here’s what you’ll see:

Situated conveniently in a four-model row, a special selection of both two-story and 11/2-story new homes greet Summerwood shoppers.

Finely crafted and specialized features like spiral iron staircases, box-beam ceilings, two-story stone fireplaces and extra large master suites with dual-head European showers come standard on many models.

Realtor Amy Williams said her clients fell in love touring Rodrock Homes’ Chesapeake model’s sweeping floor plan and main-level second kitchen.

“They kept coming back to it,” explained the Keller Williams agent, whose clients are now building a Chesapeake of their own.

In addition to Rodrock Homes’ Chesapeake, Hepton, Shelby EX and Lancaster EX models, Providence Homes’ reverse 11/2-story Annabelle is also furnished and open for touring.

At just over 3,800 square feet, the extra-spacious Annabelle, complete with graceful curving stonework and a walkout covered deck and fireplace, makes entertaining easy.

Summerwood also offers rare custom floor plans you won’t find anywhere else.

Rodrock Homes’ new Raphael 11/2 story, now being built and sold in Summerwood Estates, was designed by renowned architect Scott Bickford, owner of Kansas City’s Bickford and Company.

Bickford and his team fashioned the estate-style home to incorporate the latest in easy-living amenities.

“People’s lifestyles and priorities are forever changing, and that means we change our home designs right along with them,” explained the architect.

As a result, the home created by Bickford’s team reflects a new focus on indoor/outdoor living, informal open spaces for entertaining and extra-efficient storage.

Rodrock’s three-decade legacy of development in Johnson County make partnerships with architects like Bickford a natural fit.

“I’ve known the Rodrock family for years,” Bickford said, “so getting the chance to work with Brian [Rodrock] is something I’ve been looking forward to for awhile.”

The strength and reputation of Rodrock Homes also means buyers enjoy another thing they won’t find everywhere else: homes ready for a wide variety of move-in dates.

Amy Williams’ clients, for example, were in a hurry.

“They had to be in fairly quickly,” explained the Realtor, whose homeowners were able to purchase their Summerwood Chesapeake already in a drywall stage.

And by using Rodrock Homes’ in-house design center and free one-on-one design services, Williams’ clients quickly customized the Chesapeake to suit their individual tastes.

“The process has been very smooth,” Williams said.

“Currently we have a selection of homes for sale to fit almost any time-frame,” confirms Summerwood community co-manager Angela Fitzgerald.

And if you’re not in a hurry, Summerwood’s selection of new home sites is at its best.

Because many of those sites are extra large, on cul-de-sacs and backing to water views or green space, Blue Valley shoppers are clamoring to Summerwood.

Measuring a half-acre, Summerwood Estate’s even larger sites are rare in the award-winning school district, where sites big enough to accommodate luxurious homes with sweeping exteriors and side-entry garages are dwindling quickly.

Making homes and sites in Summerwood even more valuable is something else: a brand new amenity park.

Unlike many area neighborhoods, a paved exercise trail and nature park runs continuously throughout the community. The trail circles a stocked pond where families fish; it also runs by sport courts where kids play.

But no tour of Summerwood and the Estates is complete without a stop at its stunning new clubhouse.

Opened just last year, its sophisticated design plays host to community parties and private gatherings. It also looks out on Summerwood’s extra-large pool deck, where private cabanas, a zero-depth entry lagoon style pool with waterslide, and a soothing waterfall greet homeowners.

This story was originally published May 4, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Summerwood offers four furnished models, sought-after home selection."