FAIRFIELD – Doug Bachar stood on the roof of a new triplex in North Campus Ridge, able to admire the quick progress he and his workers are making on Fairfield’s newest housing development.

North Campus Ridge is a joint venture between Bachar and Martin Brett of Vastu Partners LLC that is going up on the north edge of town, just west of their other housing development called North Campus Village. North Campus Ridge will accommodate 37 units when finished, including nine triplexes and two five-plexes.

Construction began earlier this year after Brett learned that a $900,000-plus grant he had sought from the Environmental Protection Agency had come through, allowing him to purchase Reiff Grain on North Highway 1 and demolish its buildings to make room for the new development.

The foundation of the first triplex in North Campus Ridge was poured in February, and in early March Bachar and his crew began construction. He said progress is ahead of schedule, and that he’s able to start on a new building about every six to eight weeks.

“We haven’t had any major hold ups,” Bachar said. “Material availability has been good, and contractors have been doing their part to keep everything on schedule.”

Bachar said building in 2024 is much easier than it was three or four years ago, when the pandemic interrupted supply chains.

“It was brutal,” Bachar said. “You couldn’t get anything. There’s still occasionally a time when I’ll go to order something and it’s out of stock, when you wouldn’t expect that. You just have to be on your toes when it comes to ordering.”

Bachar said the first triplex that was started in March is in good shape and that the interior is nearly done. As of late August, water and sewer lines are being laid to the new buildings, and he expects both the first and second triplexes to be move-in ready by October.

“I would imagine we’re going to push for having nine units done by the end of the year, and I think that’s doable,” he said. “The rest of this row [of homes] will be done late winter or early spring depending on the weather. We started laying foundations in February, which is kind of crazy. It was 78 degrees.”

Vastu Partners LLC purchased 16.8 acres from Reiff Grain, and that is being split into two halves. North Campus Ridge is being built on the eastern half of the property, while the western half is set aside for potential development at Maharishi International University. Brett said that representatives of MIU, which borders the property, have expressed a desire to expand north, possibly by building a dormitory at the former site of Reiff Grain. Tom Brooks, MIU’s vice president of administration, told The Union in 2023 that the university had no immediate plans for the land.

For the transition between Reiff Grain and North Campus Ridge, both the former owner and current owners are doing their best to be good stewards of the earth by recycling as much as possible. Dave Reiff found an Amish farmer and concrete contractor in Kalona named Melvin Bontrager who was willing to recycle the steel from the silos and storage buildings. As of Aug. 21, four buildings had been dismantled. The building’s concrete foundations will be ground up and used as a road base within North Campus Ridge.

An old well on the northeast edge of the property, which Reiff was using, will now be turned over to MIU’s Sustainable Living Department, which operates gardens and greenhouses to the north.

Brett said he and Bachar are taking good care of the soil, too. As a crew cleared the eastern edge of the property for the new townhomes, they sequestered the topsoil so it can be reapplied after construction. Brett said that helps prevent the good topsoil from getting mixed in with clay. Bachar said that’s a common practice for a large development like North Campus Ridge.

“This required an extensive amount of dirt work,” Bachar said.

When Vastu Partners LLC began the housing development North Campus Village over two decades ago, two-story homes were the most sought-after commodity. Today, that has changed, and one-story homes are in high demand, and that’s why Brett is making all of these new 37 units in North Campus Ridge one story.

“It’s not that we will never again build two-story homes, it’s just that we only had room for [37 units] and these are the ones people wanted to get their down payment on,” Brett told The Union in March. “I still think there’s a market for two stories, but not as much as for one stories.”

The units in North Campus Ridge, just like those in North Campus Village, are intended for people with a connection to Maharishi International University. The university has contracted with Vastu Partners LLC to do all the purchasing, annexation, subdividing and utility installation necessary for a housing development.

Though North Campus Ridge will be just a stone’s throw from North Campus Village, the two housing developments will not be connected with a road. North Campus Ridge will only be accessible from North Highway 1.

If everything goes as planned, the development should be finished in the summer of 2026.