Quad patio-home community in Southern Butler County
Liberty Pointe, a brand-new patio home development located in Jefferson Township, is the latest project coming from Pitell Homes, a Ross Township-based, semi-custom builder.
The 35-year-old company builds single-family homes and patio homes, primarily in the northern Allegheny County or southern Butler County regions. “We are a semi-custom construction firm. A customer will build with our floor plan, but we have a menu of options, and we entertain other custom options. For example, a customer can select any type of flooring or fully design their kitchen,” said Shaun Seydor, president of Pitell Homes. A couple of times per year, Pitell will also build on a customer’s lot if it is located within the company’s geographic range and if it has public utilities.
Some of the firm’s other established communities are Meadow Ridge in Evans City and Harmony Reserve in McCandless; in fact, Liberty Pointe is the second such development in and around the Saxonburg area, with the first one called Plantation at Saxonburg, completed in 2023. “It was very successful; we built 20 patio homes there. We got to know the community of Saxonburg, liked the area, and looked for land in close proximity,” said Seydor.
A quad patio home community, Liberty Pointe is only a mile away from Plantation at Saxonburg and fulfills the company’s desire to building a walkable community with close proximity to downtown Saxonburg. It is rare to find new construction in an established area like Saxonburg Borough, particularly patio homes, so it is very much a welcome addition to the area and a good option for people who are seeking low maintenance living. Seydor predicts that the primary buyer will be empty nesters or those who will be moving down from a large, single-family home, to one with a smaller footprint.
Liberty Pointe
Pitell’s newest project, Liberty Pointe, is located on a former parcel of farm land in Cabot, Pa, adjacent to Saxonburg Borough, which is part of the wider Jefferson Township region in Butler County; the area is part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. Unlike some other parts of Jefferson Township, which uses wells and a septic system, Liberty Pointe has the infrastructure for public sewer and water.
Patio homes, Pitell Homes’ specialty, will be built in a quad configuration; each building includes four units, back-to-back. The homes are situated as a condo, allowing for HOA maintenance of the exterior, including lawn, landscaping, and snow removal services provided.
Set on 45 acres, Liberty Pointe will feature 108 patio homes, representing 27 separate buildings.
The development itself will include three aptly named streets: Constitution Avenue, Independence Drive, and Freedom Court. Phase 1 is paved and under construction, with 9 buildings, or 36 homes, plus a fully decorated model home is available for viewing. At the time of publication, four buildings, or 16 units, are either under construction, or residents have moved in, and twelve homes have already been sold in Phase 1.
Pitell will move onto Phase 2 in Fall 2025, adding 18 more buildings, which will complete the development.
The site is surrounded on three sides by a wooded landscape, affording privacy. “The bulk of the main property sits significantly far back off the main road, Constitution Avenue. It sits across the creek and is a true country setting. We like that appeal. It is close enough that you can walk to downtown Saxonburg if you wanted to, but within a rural setting, giving it a quiet, quaint country feel,” said Seydor.
“This will be a sidewalk community. There will be a paved walking trail around a field and stormwater detention ponds, and it will connect back to the sidewalks,” added Seydor. To give it even more of a community feel, Liberty Pointe will feature a clubhouse that will have both indoor and outdoor gathering spaces.
Buyers have options to choose from one of two configurations. The base plan consists of two bedrooms and two bathrooms, all on one level. However, there is an option to add a third bedroom on a second level in a loft space, as well as a third full bathroom. “There’s also an ability for a bonus or extra room, or finished or unfinished storage. It’s like a traditional home flipped upside down,” said Seydor, noting that no matter what configuration a buyer chooses, an owners’ suite will always be on the first floor.
Second floor spaces can appeal to those who have adult children that visit, a place for the grandchildren, or just those people who are used to larger homes and want that extra space for an office or exercise room.
Depending on the layouts chosen by the customer, the homes will range between 1,485-2,360 square feet. Prices for each unit start in the upper $300,000s, with two-bathroom, two-bedroom units selling at $374,900, and the three-bathroom, three-bedroom homes going for $397,900.
Home Features
Liberty Pointe will feature what Pitell calls its Hampton Floor Plan, which is the layout for their quad patio homes, as it provides flexibility in design, allowing buyers to customize several aspects of the open-concept home.
“The homes are single-level living and maintenance free. All of the homes’ amenities are located on the first floor,” said Seydor. These include an owners’ suite, a large kitchen, dining room, 15-foot vaulted ceilings, laundry room, and secondary bedroom and bathroom. “It also includes a solarium with an adjoining outdoor patio.” Each unit also will have a large, two-car attached garage.
The owners’ suite will include a standard bay window, an attached bathroom, and walk-in closet.
Standard features included in the Hampton model patio homes at Liberty Pointe are numerous. Inside the home, in addition to an open layout, the first floor will feature a 15- foot vaulted ceiling in the Great Room, as well as a 12-foot ceiling in the solarium. The kitchen includes high-end, stainless-steel appliances, and a choice of granite or quartz countertops, along with upgraded cabinetry. A ceramic tiled shower and cultured marble countertops are standard in the bathrooms, and plumbing fixtures are in brushed nickel.
Each home comes with luxury vinyl plank flooring in the main living areas, including the entry, kitchen, dining room, and laundry room, with ceramic tile flooring in all bathrooms. Other areas of the home are carpeted. Pitell also offers a new, upgraded trim package, which includes 2 panel doors, black upgraded hardware, and 1x trim for base and casing.
There is as much care put into the exterior as with the interior. Owners can choose from siding, stone or brick, with a choice of nine different front elevations. Each home contains an upgraded insulation package; 96% high efficiency gas forced air heating and central air conditioning; and 30-year architectural roof shingles.
Still, homebuyers will have an opportunity to customize their choices even further. “They can do a full design, a full custom kitchen appliance package, any flooring (carpet, tile or LVP), they can select structural options like a two-story stone fireplace, bonus rooms, or unfinished storage options. They can also choose paint colors, faucet selection, lighting fixture selection, interior finishes, and more,” he added.
Homeowners also receive a landscaping package with each patio home. One unique aspect of Liberty Pointe is that there are different options for where the homes will be facing upon construction.
One major advantage is that homeowners will experience lower utility bills due to the energy-efficient construction, HVAC system, and appliances.
The Appeal of Patio Homes/Liberty Pointe
In addition to being adjacent to Saxonburg’s many amenities, one other bonus of living in Liberty Pointe is it being part of an HOA—a homeowners’ association—as it is maintenance-free. “The HOA services the lawn, grass cutting, landscaping, snow removal including shoveling and exterior maintenance of the building, roof shingle, and siding. It truly can be maintenance-free and can be a good way to live, which is one appeal of the product,” said Seydor.
Besides maintenance-free living, many people prefer the convenience and accessibility of single-level living. Plus, Liberty Pointe has a modern, open-concept design, with spacious layouts, high ceilings, large windows, and flowing living areas, ideal for entertaining.
Saxonburg: A Hidden Gem
Jefferson Township is home to over 5,200 residents; the region encompasses Saxonburg Borough and Cabot. The area, which also includes Penn and Winfield Townships, is served by the Knoch School District, previously known as the Southern Butler School District. With a primary, elementary, middle and high school, the Knoch School District serves over 2,000 students per year.
Saxonburg Borough can best be described as quaint and rural, said Jefferson Township Manager, Leo Rosenbauer III. He added that Saxonburg’s demographic consists of all ages, from young families to older retirees and many age groups in between.
For residents and visitors, Saxonburg Borough also can be described as a hidden gem. Saxonburg Borough is a historic town founded in 1832 by two German immigrants, the Roebling brothers; if that name sounds familiar, it is because John Roebling invented the wire rope and then went on to build the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as several other suspension bridges in Pittsburgh. In fact, Roebling Park has a replica of the Brooklyn Bridge on site and is adjacent to the Saxonburg Museum. With homes dating back to the 1830s and other historic buildings still standing, visitors can picture Saxonburg as it looked two hundred years ago.
Residents of Liberty Pointe will be within an easy walking distance to Saxonburg’s Main Street, replete with such charming one-of-a-kind shops and businesses such as Saxonburg Tea Room, Mainstreet Bake Shop, along with salons, banks, churches, restaurants, a wine cellar, and the South Butler Community Library.
“We love downtown Saxonburg,” said Seydor. “It has quaint little shops, a few restaurants, a cool grocery store called Sprankles that has a hot food counter and sushi bar, and they are opening up a brewery. You have close amenities, a ton of restaurants within 10-15 minutes, but it still has that rural, country feel; that is what we really like about the property.”
Marilyn Stahl, real estate agent and partner of the Hutterer & Stahl team of Berkshire Hathaway, who facilitated the sale of the Liberty Pointe property to Pitell Homes, added that the borough has numerous events that bring people in the town together, such as Mingle on Main, a weekly warm-weather event in which Main Street is closed to car traffic, and people can wander in and out of shops. Mingle on Main provides other vendors, food trucks, and live entertainment. Stahl said that other annual events are a pet parade, a fireman’s carnival, and seasonal festivals. “For a little town, there is always something going on,” she said. Both Stahl and Rosenbauer emphasized that the borough has had no issues with safety, another selling point for newcomers who are considering moving to the area.
Living in Saxonburg Borough gives residents the best of both worlds: a quiet, safe, rural community surrounded by an historic shopping district, schools, Roebling Park, a community pool, and athletic fields but with convenience to the larger areas of Cranberry and Pittsburgh. “It is in a very good location for access to Pittsburgh,” said Rosenbauer, as it is convenient to State Routes 356, 28 and 8.
And you can’t beat the cost of living. “One major appeal is that Liberty Pointe is in Jefferson Township, which has the lowest tax base in all of Butler County,” said Seydor. Rosenbauer agreed, adding that the municipal millage rate is 1.000.
“Liberty Pointe is the only new construction in town, and it is beautiful,” said Stahl.
“It’s a highly sought after area and the people are ‘home-town.’ Just about everyone knows everyone. It has a low key, hometown feeling,” added Rosenbauer. NH