New homes coming to Hillsdale

Master-planned community of up to 500 houses designed with green space, wood lots and amenities for village near Barrie

When Kathy Di Silvestro made her first visit to the village of Hillsdale in Springwater Township, she was enchanted.

“I instantly loved the place,” she recalls of the village just north of Barrie and minutes from the junction of Hwys. 400 and 93. “It was a pretty cute place with a real sense of community, a kid-friendly environment and an outdoor lifestyle. It’s quite beautiful.”

Di Silvestro, president of Crystal Homes, believes strongly in the community’s potential and that’s where her company, along with Fernbrook Homes and Zancor Homes, have launched Hometown Hillsdale — a new master-planned community of detached homes on lots 50 to 100 feet wide. In early spring, the builders released 124 lots and sold 100; recently they released another 24 lots. Hillsdale hasn’t had new development for decades and Springwater Township’s Growth Management Strategy identifies the village as a major settlement area with a target of 5,000 new residents. Hometown Hillsdale, with 450 to 500 eventual homes, will help achieve that target.

Hillsdale is within a 20-minute drive of Barrie to the south, Midland to the north and Wasaga Beach to the west. Di Silvestro says a lot of Hometown residents will shop in nearby Midland. The village is also a short drive to Mount St. Louis Moonstone, Horseshoe Valley and the Copeland Forest, the Elmvale

Jungle Zoo , the Vetta Spa and Settler’s Ghost Golf Club.

Hometown Hillsdale will sit on 270 acres with more than half dedicated as green space with parks, woodlots and amenity spaces. Home sizes range from 2,036 to 5,415 square feet, starting from $1.5 million.

“The property is U-shaped and the subdivision will wrap around an elementary school,” says Di Silvestro. “People are working from home now and it’s great to be where you can enjoy lifestyle amenities. A short commute is no longer the objective. It’s multi-generational living and working from home.

“This community is very pedestrian-friendly, everyone is nice and it’s a good place to raise families.” Di Silvestro says “people don’t want to lose the stargazing,” and buyers are happy that the development has large lots and generous green space.

The builders will bring new infrastructure to the community, including a wastewater treatment plant and storm management pond. The new systems will service Hometown Hillsdale, future developments as well as some existing residents.

Geeta Mistry, a real estate broker and owner of Royale Realty Brokerage, sold pre-construction homes for Crystal Homes and Fernbrook Homes at their previous Eagle’s Rest Estates development 10 minutes from Hillsdale. That development of luxury homes sold out in 60 days and Mistry, who buys investment properties herself, says she “missed out” by not purchasing there. That’s why she purchased a four-bedroom, 2,800-sq.-ft. house at Hometown Hillsdale — the first detached home she has bought as an investment.

“There is lots of development happening around Horseshoe Valley and Mount Saint Louis,” she says. “It’s getting too expensive to live in the GTA. Since COVID, people want to live in a nice space and are working from home.” She points out that with major highways close by and the Barrie GO train line, Hillsdale is commutable to the GTA.

“The whole community is very beautiful,” says Mistry and she says the homes have high-quality architecture and finishes. Her home will be finished in 2025 and she’s still considering how to use it: as her main family home (she has two sons in their early 20s), a part-time weekend and vacation home that she rents out when her family isn’t using it, or as full-time rental. With the price increases she’s witnessed in the local area and at Eagle’s Rest and a lot of new development underway, she expects her house will have good price appreciation.

With new amenities such as schools, libraries and supermarkets planned for the area, she says buyers can enjoy not only their new homes but new shopping amenities and other facilities. Another advantage of Hometown Hillsdale, she says, is the sense of living in the countryside, yet having municipal services such as sewer and water.

Our goal was to enhance what was beautiful about Hillsdale. We want the people here to be proud to have this in their community

KATHY DISILVESTRO PRESIDENT, CRYSTAL HOMES

Di Silvestro, one of the few women in the new home industry to head up development of a masterplanned community, is looking forward to partnering with the two other builders. “I’ve done a lot of building together with Fernbrook, and Zancor and Fernbrook have built together, so it makes sense for the three us to do this together. There’s a lot of infrastructure that has to go in and it will be great for all of to do this.”

It was important to Di Silvestro and her partners that the new homes complement the existing architecture in Hillsdale, and there will be a variety of styles including modern farmhouse, contemporary and traditional.

“Our goal was to enhance what was beautiful about Hillsdale. We want the people here to be proud to have this in their community.”

Realizing the trend to multi-generational living, Di Silvestro says there will be secondary suite options on some plans either on the main floor or in the basement, depending on lot size. “We have flex plans with main-floor office potential and extra workshop space, with lots up to 100 feet wide and 120 to 200 feet (deep). You can’t find that in the city.”

Buyers have come from across the GTA including Oakville, Burlington and Brampton, as well as nearby Barrie, says Di Silvestro.

“We are getting people with slightly older kids and retirees. Even in Oakville, you can sell a small house and get a large house in Hillsdale. It’s smog-free, stressfree. Older teens ask where the ski hills are. It’s very much lifestyledriven and so close to Horseshoe and Mount St. Louis Moonstone.”

Di Silvestro says five years ago, buyers were preoccupied with commute times, but that’s changed since the pandemic with so many people working from home and seeking a different lifestyle.

“You drive there and wish you were raised there. People come and fall in love with it. You have skiing, you are surrounded by golf courses and you are near water. There is so much for people to do here.”

‘‘ You have skiing, you are surrounded by golf courses and you are near water. There is so much for people to do here.

KATHY DI SILVESTRO CRYSTAL HOMES