Residential construction activity in the big Riverstone urban village northwest of downtown Coeur d’Alene is back in stride with 50 luxury and custom homes valued at a total of more than $30 million now in some stage of development.

Most of the high-value homes are planned or under construction along the portion of Bellerive Lane lying midway between and parallel to the Spokane River and the North Idaho Centennial Trail in the southern part of Riverstone.

“I would argue this is one of the fastest-selling neighborhoods our area has seen in some time,” says Jeremy Voeller, general manager of Monogram Homes, of Post Falls.

Voeller says a development group that includes Monogram Homes bought and developed lots on both sides of Bellerive in the aftermath of the financial demise of former Riverstone land owner Black Rock Property Group, of Coeur d’Alene.

In addition to basic infrastructure, the lot improvements included extending a boardwalk along the Spokane River with boat slips for the waterfront lots.

Custom home builders and home buyers quickly snatched up the finished lots.

The boat slips are a strong selling point for the waterfront lots, Voeller says.

“That’s why they all sold out immediately upon going on the market,” he says. “Having waterfront in Coeur d’Alene is very rare anymore. This close to Riverstone and the downtown corridor, it’s a hot ticket.”

Monogram Homes retained two waterfront lots. The lots are among at least nine waterfront lots on which custom homes are planned or under construction. Monogram also bought 12 second-tier lots on the Centennial Trail side of Bellerive.

Coeur d’Alene architectural firm Eric Hedlund Design LLC has designed two homes envisioned on Monogram’s waterfront lots. One would be a rancher-style design with 2,500 square feet of main floor space, plus an upper-level bonus room, Voeller says. The other would be a 3,000-square-foot, two-story, contemporary-style home. They would be priced at upwards of $1.4 million and $1.5 million, respectively, he says.

On the second-tier lots, Monogram Homes also has constructed an Eric Hedlund-designed model home and has five other houses under construction.

The two-story, three-bedroom, second-tier homes will have 1,800 to 2,100 square feet of living space. Each second-tier home also will have detached garages that can have a second level with up to 600 square feet of living space.

“One client had us build a full kitchen and bath up there,” Voeller says

The asking prices for Monogram’s second-tier homes start at $530,000, he says.

The second-tier homes will be constructed with a mix of three design styles.

“We’ve laid out the streetscape to have an eclectic look,” Voeller says. “Some homes will have a craftsman design with a gable roof. Then we’re adding a Northwest design with a hip roof, and the third will be more contemporary with a shed roof.”

Most people looking a buying homes there are retired, semiretired, or buying second homes, he says.

ActiveWest Builders LLC, of Coeur d’Alene, plans to build on six second-tier lots adjacent to the Monogram lots, says Sharon Cunningham, ActiveWest’s sales director.

Active West specializes in semi-custom projects with high environmental sustainability ratings.

The planned single-family homes, most of which will have two stories, will range in size from 1,800 to 2,500 square feet of living space, she says. They will be built on narrow lots with private access to the Centennial Trail.

The homes will be priced in the mid-$400,000s, Cunningham says.

“We’ll be doing typical ActiveWest homes with radiant floor heat and universal design,” she says.

Like in other ActiveWest developments, the Bellerive homes will be built to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating program’s platinum rating, which is the highest industry standard for environmentally sustainable construction, Cunningham says.

Stewart Construction Co., a custom homebuilder that only takes on up to four projects a year, is building one of the larger homes on the Bellerive waterfront, a 6,000-square-foot Craftsman-style lodge home, says Gail Chamberlin, Stewart Construction co-owner.

The home is valued at more than $1.5 million, as are most all of the homes planned or under construction on the Bellerive waterfront, Chamberlin says.

That home is being built as a year-round residence for a local client, Chamberlin says.

“Our people bought here because of the proximity to services in town,” she says.

Chamberlin adds, however, that most of Stewart Construction’s clients and contacts come from California and Arizona.

Other builders planning or constructing custom homes on the waterfront side of Bellerive include Gunder Construction Inc., of Liberty Lake; M.B. Builders & Development LLC, of Hayden; Edwards-Smith Construction LLC, of Hayden; Monarch Development Inc., of Coeur d’Alene; and Kavco Builders, of Hayden Lake.

Farther west in Riverstone, ActiveWest is developing Riviera Walk, a 23-unit subdivision that would have one- and two-story homes ranging in size from 1,500 to 2,650 square feet of living space, Cunningham says. Prices for those homes start at $370,000, she says.

The homes would be designed in an urban Northwest style and would have universal design features, such as no-step entries, wide doorways and hallways, and other easy-access amenities.

“They will all be built to support maintenance-free living and active lifestyles,” Cunningham says.

The gated development will have private access to the Centennial Trail, and a common area within Riviera Walk will be dedicated to orchards and gardens, she says.

Although Riviera Walk wouldn’t be an age-restricted community, it’s being marketed to baby boomers, Cunningham says.

“I’m getting the sense that most buyers would be in the 55-plus category and not wanting to bother with maintenance anymore,” she says.

Dennis Cunningham, president of ActiveWest, says the first Riviera Walk model homes will be available for the public to tour this month.

That said, the units are already selling well, claims Cunningham, who is married to Sharon Cunningham.

“I think we’ve already sold 25 percent of Riviera Walk, and we don’t even have a model home open,” he says.

In regard to the overall Riverstone community, ActiveWest isn’t only interested in residential development, Cunningham says.

He says he has four commercial parcels in escrow, which Active West plans to develop into multifamily, condominium, retail, or office space.

One property is a 1.2-acre parcel west of the Red Robin restaurant, where Active West tentatively plans to construct a 10,000-square-foot commercial building.

“A Class A office tenant wants in there,” Cunningham says.

He says a couple of restaurants have shown interest in another 1.3-acre parcel currently in escrow.

“We’re bringing in a project foreman out of Seattle,” Cunningham says of ActiveWest’s commercial development plans at Riverstone.

Cunningham says RND Architects PLLC, of Coeur d’Alene, handles most residential designs for ActiveWest, and Modus Architecture Collaborative PLLC, of Boise, likely will handle commercial project designs.

Sharon Cunningham claims the condo market is back to good health, considering that it had all but received the last rites in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Less than five years ago, with more than a third of the 142 condominium units in Riverstone vacant, developers auctioned dozens of them off with bids starting in the low $100,000s, roughly a third of the original listing price.

Now, Riverstone condos have average listing prices of well over $300,000, various real estate agency websites show.

Cunningham, who also is a real estate agent with Windermere Coeur d’Alene Realty Inc., claims interest in those units also is heating up.

“We’re seeing Riverstone on fire right now,” she asserts. “I’m seeing people from markets like Seattle and Portland wanting a second home in Coeur d’Alene.”

The Riverstone condos are well suited for part-time residents, she says. “They are right in the hub of everything, but people can close up and go.”

Riverstone residential living isn’t only for jet-setters and well-feathered empty nesters.

Whitewater Creek Inc., of Hayden, a prominent affordable apartment developer, has bought 10 acres of land at the southeast corner of Seltice Way and Riverstone Drive on the north edge of Riverstone.

The developer plans to construct a rental complex tentatively named Riverstone Silver, according to an Idaho Housing and Finance Association report, which describes the project as including 80 senior-housing units, 71 of which are described as affordable units.

Whitewater Creek has earlier developed more than 200 apartment units in three affordable housing complexes in Riverstone’s northern quadrant.