Wendell Falls tests 26-foot lots as a path to housing affordability
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- Wendell Falls is rolling out 65 cottage‑style homes on 26‑foot lots.
- Prices for the new cottage collection will start in the high $300,000s in Wake County.
- The final phase includes 26‑foot‑lot homes from Brookfield, Garman and McNeill Burbank.
With new‑home prices across the Triangle drifting further out of reach for first‑time buyers, Wendell Falls is rolling out its version of “attainable ownership” — 65 “cottage‑style” homes built on streamlined 26‑foot lots.
That’s a little more than the width of a standard two-car garage.
The new collection — designed by Brookfield Residential and located in the 1,100-acre master-planned community’s final phase — is meant to serve buyers who have been priced out of traditional single‑family construction.
Prices will start in the high $300,000s, a threshold that has become increasingly rare in Wake County’s new‑home market.
The developer says the strategy is a direct response to the Triangle’s affordability crisis.
“We’re debuting new construction, single‑family homes with smart layouts that live larger than their footprints,” said Kama Pollick, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing. The goal, she said, is to maintain the builder’s standards while creating a price point that has largely vanished from the region’s new‑construction landscape.
The move also reflects a broader land‑use shift. By shrinking lot widths, Brookfield can fit more homes on the same land, improving the project’s economics as construction costs rise and developable acreage tightens across eastern Wake County.
Opened in 2015, Wendell Falls is just east of Raleigh, off I‑87, in one of Wake County’s fastest‑growing suburban corridors. It’s a joint venture partnership — North America Sekisui House and Brookfield Residential — and includes nearly 273 acres of preserved open space, 10 miles of trails, parks and playgrounds, pools and waterparks, outdoor fit pods, fitness center, The Farmhouse Café, and Treelight Square, a retail and dining venue.
More than 90% of its 4,000 planned homes are already built or occupied.
The firm is layering these cottages into a final phase that also includes 26‑foot‑lot offerings from Garman Homes and McNeill Burbank.
Brookfield is showcasing one of the three plans, the Aiden, at the Wendell Falls Model Park during a May 16-17 grand opening.
The home has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, and up to 1,610 square feet, plus an open main floor, a flex room and options for extra bedrooms or a dual‑primary layout.
Optional decks or screened porches extend the footprint.
Wendell Falls isn’t the only Triangle community shrinking lot sizes to lower costs.
Chatham Park’s cottages in Pittsboro offer compact homes on narrow lots as an attainable entry point into the 8,500‑acre development. And in Wake Forest’s Holding Village, Garman Homes and others have built cottage courts and small‑lot homes with shared green space — typically priced below the area’s larger new construction.
