Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

Clement recognized for efforts in national magazine

By Natasha Clark

Assistant Managing Editor





SPRINGFIELD Leslie Clement is in the process of bringing $18 million worth of homes to the southern Forest Park area. Relying on unique old school architectural styles from the 1920s, Clement has carved out a successful niche for herself in the uncertain housing market.

Builder Magazine took notice of her efforts last month in a five part feature on "Bright Spots" in a gloomy market. The top magazine for the home building industry took a national look at five projects opting for savvy design and architectural appeal as a successful selling point. Clement's four-year project made the list as one reviving American architecture.

Clement's company, Ames Design Inc., is erecting 37 homes on 12 acres off of Brentwood Street. The new homes -- going for $350,000 to $390,000 -- feature front porches, informal floor plans and the use of natural materials such as stone, shingle and wood. She is currently working on her eighth house, a classic bungalow. Six of the previous have already been sold. She said Springfield has an active real estate market and that most of her homes are geared toward urban professionals and empty nesters.

"I think that the Springfield market is better than the suburban market," Clement said, noting that unlike some other areas in the country, the "City of Homes" did not see the rise in home prices.

Clement is no stranger to building homes in the city. She started as a union carpenter apprentice in 1978, began restoring historical homes in the 1980s and graduated to building homes soon thereafter. She did a condominium conversion in Holyoke that was featured in The New York Times in the late '80s, worked as a broker for a number of years and has built various homes and contributed to a number of projects in the Pioneer Valley over the last 30 years. Her last home project has contributed $150,000 to the city's tax base.

Being highlighted in Builder has been a nice holiday addition for Clement.

"I am so excited to be in Builder. That is the most influential housing platform in the United States," Clement said.