The Concept
Homestead Preserve is comprised of 4000 acres assembled over a century ago by The Homestead and Ingalls Family. The original developer, Warm Springs Investment Company, purchased 14,000 acres in 2003 from Virginia Hot Springs Company, the parent of The Homestead Resort. 10,000 of these acres became The Nature Conservancy’s Warm Springs Mountain Preserve, forever insuring the undeveloped beauty of over 8 miles of this 4200’ mountain that defines out valley. The Nature Conservancy lands secure the entire eastern boundary of Homestead Preserve.
Homestead Preserve is made up of two sections: 2000 acres encircling The Homestead and Hot Springs, and another 2,000 acres surrounding the Old Dairy and Jefferson Pools in Warm Springs. The Hot Springs section is made up of the Sheep Meadow and Delafield Rise neighborhoods with sites along The Homestead’s golf course to elevated sites at 3000’ looking west over 5 ridges into West Virginia. The Warm Springs section is for farm like in appearance with high, rolling meadows, more privacy in larger lot sizes, and a similar view looking west for more than 50 miles.
Ownership in the Preserve offers membership to The Homestead Golf & Tennis Club with all of the resort’s amenities; golf, tennis, spa, indoor and outdoor pools, skiing, skating, shooting club, private trout stream, restaurants and shopping. The Preserve’s trail system connects you to all of the Homestead Trails and the entire 10,000-acre Nature Conservancy lands. The Old Dairy is a private amenity for Preserve owners with its own pools, spa, gym, meeting and event space.
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Ownership History
The development of Homestead Preserve was largely funded by the financial strength and experience of the Crosland Company. Changing economic realities after 2008 led to Wells Fargo Bank replacing Crosland’s financial role and ownership. The original developers of Homestead Preserve, Charles Adams and Don Killoren, partnered with an English property developer, Natural Retreats, and bought the remaining land from Wells Fargo to continue the Preserve as intended. Natural Retreats has invested considerable sums each year in support of the homeowners association and initiated new home construction in the Trailview section of Delafield Rise as well as 6 new cottages around the Jefferson Pools at the Warm Springs Village.
The most important action taken during Wells Fargo’s ownership was the validation and legal continuation of the original Preserve Community Charter. This recorded document sustains all of the important covenants, restrictions and guidelines of Homestead Preserve for the future. Ownership of the Preserve has changed, but all of the original designs remain in full force insuring the environmental, architectural design, and administrative guidelines for current and future owners in Homestead Preserve. Existing homes, lots and home/lot construction packages are available.
What’s new about Homestead Preserve today?
Over 35 homes have been built to date and six new homes are underway. There is no denying the fact that lot prices were negatively impacted after October of 2008. The good news is that buyers today have the opportunity to purchase incredible sites at one third of 2005 values. The land remains the same. It has always been some of the best land in the valley: that’s why The Homestead assembled it over a hundred years ago. All the infrastructure of utilities, roads and amenities are in place. The re-emergence of Homestead Preserve today is solely driven by the incredible beauty of the Warm Springs Valley and security of The Nature Conservancy’s 10,000 acre adjacency: the beauty of this land remains unchanged by time, ownership or economic change.
Village at Warm Springs Farm Historic Rehabilitation
The newest section of The Preserve is a replication of the spa cottages built around the Jefferson Pools when The Warm Springs Hotel dominated the valley from the late 1700s through its eventual fading in the earliest portion of the 20th century. One of the original cottages still exists and anchors the new cottages located next to the historic thermal pools.