Page 82 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2021

welcome home | build

and potentially leaving their clients with nowhere to turn. And their Mahar Homes currently have five major development projects in the
second thought was for their crew. “I wanted to keep everybody work- works, with four of them supplying residential homes in the valley.
ing,” he remembers, “and we just didn’t know.”
SUMMERFIELD HOUSES & COTTAGES
In looking back, he says with a sense of gratitude, “We were able to. Summerfield is a mixed-use development in East Medford that includes
It was a few months of uncertainty, but we kept going, trusting things two sizes of homes.
would resolve, and we’re glad we did.” Mahar Homes was able to keep
its crews at work building the homes the valley needs. The standard Summerfield Houses range from 2000 to 4000 square
feet, with open floor plans in one- or two-story options, as well as “flex
It was interesting to see the way that the events of 2020 affected the space” for potential office, formal dining room or entertainment use.
demand on the housing market, says Mahar. “Many people wanted to The neighborhood also includes a community park on land donated by
move here already,” he points out. As many businesses have adapted to Mike Mahar, Sr. to offer the neighborhood families additional green
COVID realities and the capacity to work from home increased dra- space to enjoy the outdoors together.
matically, Mahar has seen a steady influx of people relocating to the
Rogue Valley, choosing to move away from larger urban areas. “They Summerfield Cottages, sometimes called “patio homes,” average 1,600
could because now they can work from home.” square feet and have strong curb appeal with all the amenities of a
larger home but in a more efficient and compact single-level floor plan.
The other impact was, of course, the Almeda Fire that destroyed so They also feature low-maintenance yards and some courtyard options
many homes and increased the need for immediate rentals and home as well for extra outdoor living.
purchases. “There’s been a housing supply crunch here for a while,”
says Mahar, and COVID closures had already made construction com- Together, this mixed-use development at Summerfield provides a
modities harder and more expensive to obtain. The devastating fires strong sense of cohesive community in its layout and the variety of its
only added to that burden, and that will take some time to resolve. “It’s homes. It also allows for flexibility and some creativity in providing
going to stress an already stressed system,” Mahar says. But as they have homes to families as more restrictions on density and community use
looked ahead, he knows his team will do its best to continue providing come into play, adds Mahar.
quality homes to the Rogue Valley, backed by their 40 years’ experi-
ence here in Southern Oregon.

80 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2021