Community center marks milestone in Erie master-planned project

The developer of Westerly, an 800-acre master-planned community under construction in Erie, announced Thursday the opening of an amenity center that will serve residents of the neighborhood that will ultimately include 3,000 homes.

Southern Land Company, the Nashville, Tennessee-based developer, marked the milestone in the neighborhood’s development Thursday with an official ribbon cutting and tours of The Waypoint, as the amenity center has been dubbed. The center features more than 6,100 square feet of indoor space with a fitness studio, remote workspaces and community room, along with a resort-style pool, 17-seat hot tub and fire pits outside.

“We plan and design our communities to promote active, engaging lifestyles for homeowners and residents,” said Tim Downey, founder and CEO of Southern Land Company. “The Waypoint is the realization of those efforts and will serve as a central community hub where our founding and future homeowners can enrich their daily lives with health, wellness and social programming, and neighbors can interact with each other, creating lasting friendships and a true sense of community. The Waypoint’s convenient location within Westerly makes it ideal for homeowners to come together for fitness classes, book clubs, and more, fostering a vibrant and connected neighborhood.”

Construction of The Waypoint started in fall 2023, with Waner Construction serving as the general contractor. Its completion marks a milestone in the ongoing development of Westerly, where home sales began in March 2023 and the first homeowners moved in in April 2023. More than 150 new homes sales expected by the end of the year.

Upon completion, Westerly will consist of more than 3,000 homes within a traditional neighborhood design, built by Brightland Homes, McStain Neighborhoods, and SLC Homes, SLC’s in-house homebuilding group. The neighborhood will comprise 800 acres—double the original size of the community when it broke ground in 2021, thanks to SLC’s purchase of 400 acres of land north of Erie Parkway from the Colorado State Land Board in 2023.

Nearly half of the community will be devoted to pocket parks, open spaces and trails. Along with The Waypoint, the community will include a second, larger amenity center on the north side of Erie Parkway.

SLC said in a statement it has plans to improve County Road 5 and Erie Parkway and to fund improvements to County Road 7. Additionally, SLC said it will provide 10 acres and $3 million to the Town of Erie for the creation of a new neighborhood park and will donate 12.5 acres within Westerly to St. Vrain Valley School District for a planned middle school.