Businessman buys new patio home in Amherst for $1.2 million
Patio home in Amherst sells for $1.2 million
Published: November 12, 2009, 12:30 am
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Businessman Mark E. Hamister has bought a $1.2 million newly built home in Greythorne, the first house in Amherst’s gated community to sell for more than $1 million.
Hamister acquired the 4,083- square-foot home, on Harbridge Manor in the Greythorne luxury patio home subdivision, from home builder Marrano/Marc Equity, according to county property records.
Homes selling for more than $1 million are still eye-catching deals in the Buffalo Niagara region, where the median sale price in September was $114,900, according to data from the Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors.
Hamister declined to comment on the purchase through a spokesman for his company.
Hamister is chairman and chief executive officer of the Hamister Group, a health care and hotel management company based in Amherst. He is a member of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s board of directors and a few years ago made an unsuccessful bid to buy the Buffalo Sabres.
His current residence, an 8,884- square-foot home in Spaulding Lake in Clarence, is listed for sale by RealtyUSA for $1.2 million.
Greythorne is located off Main Street across from Erie Community College’s North Campus and adjacent to Buffalo Country Club.
Plans for Greythorne call for a total of 117 lots, said John Manns, Marrano’s vice president of marketing and sales. Marrano has put in 54 lots so far, and half of them have been sold, he said.
“We’re pleased at what we’ve seen in a short amount of time,” Manns said, noting that a mod-el home in Greythorne opened about a year ago.
Another home in Greythorne sold last year for more than $930,000, and several other homes there have sold for $400,000 or more, according to county records.
Greythorne has proved popular with buyers such as business people who may live somewhere else during the winter and like the conveniences of a patio home lifestyle and the location next to the country club, Manns said.
In patio home developments, a homeowners association handles tasks such as cutting the grass and shoveling snow, and the homes are treated like condominiums for property tax purposes, adding to their appeal for buyers.
When Greythorne began development, some Amherst residents and town officials objected to its gated-community format, the first of its kind in the town. The development has also been included in a larger debate over whether patio homes should be taxed like single- family homes.
Greythorne’s next phase of 29 lots could be added next year, Manns said.
mglynn@buffnews.com
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