Holden group plans to sell prefab homes

HOLDEN – A local partnership plans to sell manufactured houses that look like log homes out of the DeBeck Business Park located on busy U.S. Route 1A near the Brewer city line.

On Monday, town councilors here approved a $160,000 purchase and sales agreement with Whisper Hollow LLC of Holden, a local partnership, for lots 1 & 2 in the business park, which total about 3.5 acres.

Local resident Richard Norton, one partner of the group, said Tuesday that the plan is to bring retail sales for Canadian-based Whisper Creek Log Homes to the area. Whisper Creek constructs complete, factory-built manufactured homes using real wood logs as a facing.

“It looks like a log home on the outside,” Town Manager Larry Varisco said Tuesday.

Whisper Creek is based in Alberta but has a manufacturing facility in Arkansas and dealerships in more than 13 states. The company offers more than a dozen home models and numerous floor plans ranging from 725 square feet to more than 6,300 square feet that are quick and simple to construct, according to the company’s Web site.

Whisper Hollow plans to build an approximately 5,000-square-foot display model at DeBeck Park that also will serve as the Whisper Creek Log Home sales office. The group expects to open the home dealership in January.

“They said they could have the unit on site and put up in about 10 days,” once the planning board permits are in place, Varisco said.