D.R. Horton celebrated the grand opening of the model home at Greenbriar in Warsaw Monday with a Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting.

Text and Photos
By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — D.R. Horton has built and sold homes in 43 of America’s 50 states.

Now the company, whose tagline is “America’s Builder,” has a presence in Warsaw.

Monday, March 11, the company celebrated the grand opening of its model home at Greenbriar — located at Airport Road and West CR 350N, Warsaw — with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce.

Hollie Gibson, sales manager for D.R. Horton, said, “Basically, we are brand new to Warsaw, so we’re excited to be here. This is our grand opening. Our model (home) just finished this week, so we’re ready to start getting everybody in here and get people in houses.”

Heather Rayka, operations manager for D.R. Horton, said there are 53 lots in the first section of the Greenbriar subdivision, with a total of about 173 single-family and duet homes to be completed.

A partial view of a full bathroom inside D.R. Horton’s model home at Greenbriar in Warsaw is shown.

Charlie Giese, D.R. Horton division president, said the model home was a four-bedroom ranch home with two full bathrooms. At 1,770 square feet, it’s D.R. Horton’s most popular plan across the United States. In the greater Fort Wayne area, he said they’ve probably sold 120 of them last year alone.

“That’s probably about half of our business, so it meets the needs of a lot of different demographics,” he stated.

D.R. Horton is in 120 markets across 43 states, Giese said, and is the “largest builder in the United States by far for 23 years running.”

As to what brought the company to the Warsaw market, he said, “I’ve been kicking around, trying to get over here for the last five years, and finally got the right piece of ground with the developer that’s doing some work with some of the people here in

Warsaw, and the right piece of ground came together, and we plan on this being a flag for us for years to come. This isn’t going to be a one-neighborhood kind of deal.”

Giese said he has friends from where he lives in southwest Fort Wayne that drive every day over to the orthopedic manufacturers in Warsaw.

“There’s a need, not only for people at the executive level, but at the floor level, the entry level housing here in Warsaw, and we want to provide that,” he said.

Along with the four-bedroom homes, D.R. Horton also offers three-bedroom homes. Some homes have two full baths, while others have more. The two-car garage homes can be one or two stories. .

“A little bit of everything to the right person, the right family,” he said.

A bedroom inside D.R. Horton’s model home at Greenbriar in Warsaw is shown

For more information, visit the website at www.drhorton.com, call (260) 341-0151 or go out to the site during agent hours and visit Donna or Eduardo.

Average home prices start at the high $200,000 to the low $300,000 range.

“We’re excited for the opportunity and everyone in Warsaw, from the planning department to other local builders, have been phenomenal in welcoming us to the community,” Rayka said.

“We hope we fill a need that’s here for the community,” Giese said.

Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rob Parker said, “We’re just so encouraged to see how many new homes are going up here. It’s just a great addition to our community. I can’t wait to see it get filled and how many people will be moving in here — living, working and playing in our community.”

He said the county needs more of these type of homes and more home inventory to attract and retain talent so the businesses can continue to grow

A living room space inside D.R. Horton’s model home at Greenbriar in Warsaw is shown.