Yesterday marked the beginning of the end for the development of Columbia - one of the nation's largest planned communities in size, scope and population.

"We're reaching the point where there's no more land to develop," said Maggie Brown, the Columbia Association's president, who joined other dignitaries at 8 a.m. on the last undeveloped home site in River Hill, Columbia's last residential village.

They were there, wielding gold shovels and wilting in their heels and shirt sleeves, to collectively break ground for what will be the village's final single-family residence, slated for completion in September.

"It's a momentous occasion," said Sang Oh, the Howard County executive's representative. "I came here in 1973, and people always talked about Columbia eventually being built up.

"I can't believe we actually got to that date."

Actually, the finish is at least 17 years behind schedule.

Columbia dwarfs most American real estate developments in terms of scope and scale. It occupies 10 percent of Howard's land area, has taken nearly two generations to complete and, if incorporated, would be Maryland's second-largest city.

For the most part, it's a city that works. There are concerns about crime and the economic viability of some retail centers. But Columbia enjoys a reputation of having good schools, good recreational facilities and a diverse ethnic mix.

All that's left now is to fill in the holes, which will be done mostly with commercial development and a handful of multifamily housing units.

Columbia's first residents moved into the initial village of Wilde Lake in 1967, when home prices there averaged in the $25,000 range (today, they sell for $160,000 to more than $1 million).

Those who came first were buying into a vision - founder James W. Rouse's vision - more so than a development.

"In the early days, the people who came here were really pioneers," said David E. Forester, development director for Howard Research and Development, a division of the Rouse Co., which has overseen the Columbia project since its inception. "They came for a new social setting."

Diversity was key

Social and ethnic diversity was the cornerstone of Rouse's image of Columbia, which he announced in 1963.

Then known for his shopping malls, Rouse envisioned it as a bigger project: a self-contained community with all the necessary recreational and retail amenities and a populace made up of all sorts of races and income levels living side-by-side.

It was a '60s vision that many embraced.

But eight presidents later, people are moving to Columbia, which now has a population of nearly 96,000, for "convenience and location," Forester said.

Situated midway between Baltimore and Washington, Columbia offers commuters a suburban home base with lots of perks, including 27 swimming pools, more than 3,500 businesses, 4,700 acres of park land and 83 miles of trails.

"I came for the planned community and the things that come with it, the pools and such," said Laurie Gift, who will move into the groundbreaking house with her husband, Dana Gift, and their three children.

Shift to affluence

Those who live in the single-family homes - which account for 40 percent of Columbia's 38,350 residences - are typically well-to-do, two-wage families, and they're not doing much to keep up the economic diversity.

The average home price in Columbia hovers in the $300,000-plus range. In River Hill, where homes are twice the size of the first Wilde Lake houses, the average price is $436,000. The Gifts paid somewhere around there, but they won't say exactly what because their deal is not yet final.

This skewing toward affluence might not be exactly what Rouse had in mind, but Columbia has largely stuck to the original plan, said Alton J. Scavo, general manager of Columbia for the Rouse Co.

"There are opportunities for folks to grow and prosper here," he said.

Planners originally thought they'd finish development in 1985. But economic fluctuations coupled with expanding scope threw the schedule off, Scavo said.

"How old is a city like Baltimore, anyway?" said Scavo. "Think about it. That's the business we're in, building cities. ... The question is did it turn out as expected. And yes, it did."

Scavo says there is still "much more to be done" in Columbia.

"We're not there yet," he said. "Hopefully, we'll never be finished."

Condos, townhouses

Two condominium buildings are under construction in River Hill, with a townhouse development just beginning, and the Town Center area has yet to realize its residential potential - though all housing there will likely be multifamily.

(Scavo said there are still tiny pockets of land scattered throughout the city that haven't been developed for various reasons, and those could potentially end up as single-family homes. But as far as the official roster is concerned, yesterday's groundbreaking marked the last of such homes in the last village.)

Commercial space is the biggest undeveloped area. Several hundred acres are waiting to be filled with industrial parks and businesses, while only a few acres remain for housing, said Forester.

Because of the shrinking demand for new structures, some builders, such as Allan Waschak of Allan Homes, the Gift family's builder, have had to shift their focus.

Until a few years ago, Waschak drew 100 percent of his business from building in Columbia. He's had to expand to building custom homes elsewhere in the county and doing remodeling in Columbia.

"For years, I thought that when Columbia came to an end, so would I," said Waschak, who started his business in Columbia 23 years ago. "But about six years ago, people started asking us to finish their basements, and that grew into a home improvement business."

Waschak has the added cushion of promised building in Emerson and Fairwood, two other Rouse Co. projects in Maryland that are just getting under way.

Bigger in Nevada

A decade ago, Rouse began work on Summerlin, a planned community in Nevada outside of Las Vegas. It spans 25,000 acres and currently has 50,000 residents. Rouse Company officials say it will eventually be home to 160,000 and have 30 villages (Columbia has nine, plus the Town Center area, an unofficial village).

Compared to Columbia, Summerlin still has a long way to go.

But Columbia has a long run ahead too, Scavo predicted, continuing to shift and change through revamping and redevelopment.

Yesterday's groundbreaking was "a landmark," he said, "one of dozens ... yet to come."