Westphalia Row is a 21.14-acre M-X-T Mixed Use development which was approved and permitted in 2010 for 169 Twenty-Foot-Wide Rear Loaded Townhouses, 31 Twenty-Four-Foot Wide Front Loaded Townhouses, 250 Multi Family Apartments in five story structures, 40,000 Square Feet of Combined Retail and Commercial Spaces, and a Five-Story Structured Parking Garage to serve the apartments and the commercial properties.

Stephen Gunn was responsible for the management and development of Westphalia Row through the entitlement process and rigorous engineering and planning. He directed the grading plan revisions, which eliminated 200,000 cubic yards of surplus soils, which would have been generated during the rough grading operations. This excess soil would have added $1.3 million to the development budgets but instead became a cost savings to the developer. Gunn directed the engineers of record to balance the cut and fill designs prior to other site engineering.

Gunn divided the master plan into six phases:

Infrastructure and storm water management facilities.
Phase 1A of 39 twenty-foot-wide townhouse units developed and sold to Richmond American Homes.
Phase 1B of 30 twenty-foot-wide townhouse units developed and constructed by Haverford Homes.
Phase 1C divided into two sections: 31 twenty-four-foot wide townhouse units developed and sold to Dan Ryan Builders, and 39 twenty-foot-wide townhouse units developed and constructed by Haverford Homes.
Phase 1D of 14 twenty-foot-wide townhouse units developed and constructed by Haverford Homes.
Phase 2 of 55 twenty-foot-wide townhouse units currently under development and planned for Haverford Homes.

His responsibilities included the following achievements:

Stephen prepared the financial analysis for development loan submissions.
He negotiated, authored, and closed on all of the development contracts.
He directed and supervised the daily site improvement activities while documenting the progress with large format digital photography.
He managed the successful development and delivery of the 39 townhouse Richmond American Homes section and the 31 townhouse Dan Ryan Builders section.
He was the developer’s regulatory representative with the sole responsibility to insure 100% environmental compliance with local, state, and federal governmental permitting and inspection agencies. Under his management, Westphalia Row was deemed to be an outstanding example of balancing dense development activities without environmental impacts.

The initial lack of market acceptance to the development caused delays in obtaining the necessary construction funding. This delayed the permits required to implement the master plan, which resulted in three of the phases being developed during the winter seasons. In spite of these issues, development costs were contained within the approved development loan amounts.

Obstacles and Cost savings:

Winter conditions necessitated the importing of 2,998 tandem truckloads of dry structural fill materials to continue with the Phase 2 grading operations.
Beginning June 2014 and continuing into November 2014, approximately 30,000 cubic yards of suitable fill materials were delivered to the development site and placed into a large stockpile at no cost to the developer. This generated a savings of $195,000 for Haverford Homes.
Stephen Gunn was responsible for the approved removal from original plans and specifications the county required under-drainage systems behind the curb and gutter in Phase 2 and Phase 1D. A review of prior soil boring logs with soil classification descriptions produced a revised geotechnical report that supported Stephen’s position. This generated an additional direct savings to Haverford Homes of $81,000.
Stephen Gunn befriended a competitor’s sales manager who had pre-sold 35 of their 39 townhouses in a matter of months after a lackluster performance from previous sales personnel. Stephen encouraged him to join Haverford Homes at Westphalia Row. This extraordinary salesman successfully sold 83 of Haverford’s 83 townhouses in Phase 1 plus multiple presales in Phase 2. This achievement saved Haverford Homes countless dollars in lost revenue.