North Campus Ridge housing development will boast 52 units once it's finished in 2027, more than the 37 planned when it began in 2024. (Andy Hallman/The Union)

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FAIRFIELD – The new housing development north of Fairfield, North Campus Ridge, will grow even larger now that the builder and developer plan to add 15 units on top of the 37 originally envisioned.

Martin Brett of Vastu Partners LLC said that he and representatives of Maharishi International University, plus building partner Doug Bachar of DRB Contracting, agreed to add another row of townhomes in the subdivision just off Highway 1 where Reiff Grain once stood. This would be a row of five triplexes, to complement the original plan of nine triplexes and two five-plexes, and raise the total unit count to 52.

Construction on North Campus Ridge began in the spring of 2024, and as of Aug. 29, 2025, DRB Contracting had finished 15 units, with another 16 under construction. Construction began on the corner of the property closest to North Campus Village, where there is a path connecting the two developments accessible to cyclists and pedestrians but not open to vehicular traffic. DRB Contracting finished the first row of homes and has now moved onto the second row, and expects to finish the third and final row in 2027.

Since the new housing subdivision abuts the Fairfield Loop Trail, Brett and Bachar have created a 5-foot wide gravel trail that connects North Campus Ridge to the loop trail.

“I wanted it to look like a forest trail,” Brett said. “We worked with the Jefferson County Trails Council and the city to ensure it was going to maintain that feeling, because the trail is a huge asset to the development.”

These new rows of townhomes won’t go quite all the way to Highway 1 but will stop about 300 feet short. That remaining space between North Campus Ridge and the highway belongs to MIU, which could use the land for future dormitories or other building needs.

Tom Brooks, Vice President of Operations at MIU, said the university’s immediate need for housing is less pressing since its recent growth in enrollment has been mostly online. However, he’s glad the land has been cleared and is ready for future use, especially since the university also needs new housing to replace Utopia Park, the 180-unit trailer court built in 1983 which Brooks said “is showing its age.” He said the university is fundraising to build modern housing, and expects Vastu Partners LLC and DRB Contracting to help with that, too.

MIU purchased land north of Utopia Park in the 1990s, intending it to become faculty housing within walking distance of campus. Brooks said they expected faculty to build individually, using their own contractors, but that approach gained little traction until Brett proposed a “neighborhood of pre-priced, entry-level homes with simple designs.” In the following 12 years, 60 homes were built in North Campus Village.

The next major phase of North Campus Village’s development began in 2016, when Brett and Bachar took advantage of Workforce Housing Tax Credits to build townhomes, tripling the size of the development to 180 units. Brett said the townhomes built in the last nine years would not have been possible without these tax credits, which allow Vastu Partners LLC to sell the units for $30,000 less than it would have otherwise.

After all the land in North Campus Village was exhausted, Brett and Dave Reiff negotiated a plan to sell Dave’s business Reiff Grain to make way for North Campus Ridge. The only catch was that Brett needed to get a Brownfield grant from the state of Iowa for just under $1 million to demolish the buildings, a grant Brett obtained in late 2023.

Demand for housing in North Campus Village and North Campus Ridge has been strong ever since the beginning of townhome construction in 2016. Vastu Partners LLC offers two sizes for sale, units in the “Ruby Triplex” category that measure 1,260-1,335 square feet with two bathrooms and 2-3 bedrooms, and a smaller one in the “Cottage Triplex” category measuring 849-969 square feet with two bedrooms and one bath.

Brett noted that, with so many townhomes being built in the last nine years, the waiting list to get one of these units is finally being whittled down.

“Back in 2016, we always had 20 to 30 people on a waiting list,” he said. “That went on for about seven years. With this third row expansion, we can turn the waiting list into presales. The final row of homes in North Campus Ridge is well-timed to meet current demand.”

Brett said that the additional 15 units tacked onto North Campus Ridge will complete that subdivision, leaving no room left for further expansion. He said that, after the project is done in 2027, it will be time to focus on building housing on Fairfield’s many infill lots.

“Our role has been to create the campus neighborhood, coordinating annexation, subdivision, legal work, engineering, grants and financing,” Brett said. “After this, I expect Vastu Partners will step back as a developer, and Doug will continue building with infill housing.”

Bachar said he has four lots ready to build on, but the continued expansions of North Campus Village and now North Campus Ridge have kept him plenty busy.

“When this wraps up, those lots will likely be my first project,” he said. “The need for housing in Fairfield remains very strong, especially in the workforce housing market identified in the recent housing study. It’s really just a matter of where to focus next.”

Brett said a team of partners has made these two developments possible, starting with the “expert production-building skills of Doug Bachar and his team at DRB Contracting.”

“Equally important was the cooperation of the City of Fairfield, the State of Iowa, Grow Fairfield, and Libertyville Savings Bank,” he said. “Their support was essential in securing the financing and the state grants that made the project possible.”