David Forester seems to be a matter-of-fact sort of fellow. Straightforward. No-nonsense. To the point.

As senior vice president and senior development director of the Howard Research and Development Corp., an affiliate of the Rouse Co., and the man who helped oversee the maturing of Columbia, he still feels wonderment and a tinge of hindsight when a new community comes to life.

Two weeks ago, while joining Emerson's first residents as they celebrated their move-in day, he gazed through their pristine kitchen window and said: "I priced all the lots, and I'm always amazed once you get in the house how you can see so much more. And then I think I should have gotten more for it."

Perhaps. But as Emerson, a 570-acre mixed-use community on the southeast fringe of Howard County just north of Laurel, opens its model park Saturday, the question persists: Can Rouse persuade potential homeowners to buy the concept that they are getting a slice of western Howard County lifestyle and a taste of Columbia, though they're locating in a territory not known for its upscale bloodlines?

Take a short drive past Emerson south along Gorman Road and you'll find a mobile home park. Five minutes away from Emerson's gateway is industrialized Route 1.

The property has Route 216 to the west and borders Interstate 95, which until last month was under consideration as a possible route for an experimental high-speed elevated train that would have connected Washington and Baltimore.

Is this really a place where you can expect buyers to happily purchase homes that sit on one-fifth- to one-third-acre lots and cost between $400,000 and $600,000?

Remember, this isn't the fabled farmland of the west or the prestige of Rouse's most expensive village, River Hill. In fact, the Columbia Council of the Columbia Association, for better or worse, balked at Rouse's proposal to add Emerson to its planned community and make it a part of the Kings Contrivance village.

But don't underestimate the power of Rouse.

"I have seen Rouse for 30 years, and that's a long time," said Harry L. "Chip" Lundy, president of the Williamsburg Group and one of eight builders in the model park. "I've seen them do amazing things compared to other developers."

Said Earl Robinson, sales and marketing manager for Ryland Homes: "What we believed when we went in here is that Rouse has the ability to create a market. They are one of the few developers who can.

"We believe the overall impression of Laurel will change in that area because of what the community will do. It will draw all of these expensive homes in there. It will be a totally different type of person who will be living in the area who moved from Montgomery County or Fairfax County who is going to change the whole area."

That is what Rouse is counting on.

Alton J. Scavo, senior vice president and director of community development for Rouse, said, "We're not in Route 1. We have 500 acres, and in a neighborhood that is very acceptable. It has already been well-received, and the model home park hasn't even opened yet. I feel really good about it."

First phase sold out

The 34-lot pre-construction first phase of Emerson, named for American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, is just about sold out, and builders are taking reservations on the second and third phases. By the time the project is completed over an eight-year period, it will have six neighborhoods with 400 single-family detached homes, 550 townhouses and 250 condominiums or rental units.

"It has been extraordinary considering that most folks haven't had anything to see," Robinson said. "The demand for a Rouse community is always hot. We have had a waiting list that is exceptionally large. For $400,000 to $500,000 homes, it is incredibly large. It's not like we are building $150,000 singles and there are a lot of people waiting. This is a waiting list for homes that could be $500,000; that is pretty unique."

Which just makes Scavo smile.

"Everybody said we wouldn't be able to get the lot prices. You wouldn't be able to get the home prices. All this nonsense. We've heard that too many times on other projects," Scavo said. "You're on the east side of Columbia. It's close to 95. Inevitably, we always underestimate the power of 95 in the consumer's mind. Interstate 95 is an amenity. It is an accessibility to work.

"We always fret over it in our own little minds about what is the impact. And the impact is always the same: outrageous acceptance by the consumer. They look at the community. They look at what they are getting. They look at the builders who are in the community. They look at the amenity packages and they see 95, and for them it's just a connection."

Forester agreed and said that with plans to extend Skylark Boulevard and Stephens Road - two main streets through Emerson - to Route 216, access to Columbia and Laurel as well as Washington will be easier.

'Key Property'

When Rouse purchased the property in the 1970s, the developer put it on the back burner while concentrating on Columbia. However, Rouse always referred to the parcel in-house as the "Key Property" because of its "key" southern proximity and access to Washington.

Creig Northrop, one of Howard County's top producing agents with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., said he expects Rouse to overcome the Laurel stigma in the same way two luxury homebuilders did with Elkridge when they opened communities in the area and were able to get high prices.

"Elkridge set a precedent. D.R. Horton came in. Winchester came in. And they got it. And you know what? It was fine," Northrop said. "If people want new, there's nothing new in Columbia. River Hill is sold out. Waverly Woods is in a hold pattern for the year. So Emerson's timing couldn't be any better."

Chuck Ellison is land acquisition manager for Miller and Smith, a luxury builder based in McLean, Va., that is securing lots in Rouse's next project, a gated community called Stone Lake, across from Emerson on the east side of I-95.

"It is blazing a new frontier in a sense that tradition is a very strong thing, and in Howard County the tradition has been Columbia and west of 95," Ellison said. "So whenever you look at other areas, there are always those questions for the developers, the builders and the buying public's mind.

"But with the history of Rouse and the quality of community that they do and the way they put amenities into their communities, I think they will overcome it. It might take a little bit of extra marketing to overcome it, but they'll overcome it, I suspect."

Lundy, although confident, doesn't want to discard the relationship to Columbia in his marketing strategy.

"We're playing this up in our organization that this is another neighborhood of Columbia," he said. "We bring people out to there through Columbia. We don't bring them on [Route] 216. We want people to understand how close this is to Columbia and the Columbia concept. After all, this is what they are buying - the Columbia concept."

Rouse on a mission

It's Rouse's intention to make Emerson look and feel just like every other Columbia community and village that they have created. Parks. Tot lots. Cul de sacs. A swim and tennis club and strict covenants and a homeowners association. In Emerson, 35 percent of the land is being devoted to open space where there will be paved pathways through the woods.

"I look at this as another neighborhood of Columbia - the unofficial eighth village of Columbia," Lundy said. "And that's what I think the perception is in the marketplace, especially because the market is so strong right now."

In fact, Lundy said he believes that since the Columbia Council rejected Rouse's offer, the developer is on a mission to make Emerson "every bit as good and probably better than Columbia because it's the one-upmanship. Rouse wants to make sure it happens. I think Rouse is going to say [to the council], 'I told you so.'"

For Tim Kalaris and Sharon Reynolds - Emerson's first residents - the community became the perfect midpoint, given that she worked in Baltimore while he worked in Northern Virginia. Like many who come to Howard County in search of a home, they first encountered frustration and sticker shock.

'In for a pound'

"When we started looking, we said we're not going above $350,000, and then after a couple of weeks of looking ... we said $400,000. And we still looked, and we couldn't find anything at $400,000. At that point, we said, 'OK, $450,000,'" Kalaris said, recalling the four months of looking at resales from one end of the county to the other.

"We found this, and its base [price] was $460,000, and at that point we said the hell with it. What it came down to was just us weighing the options and the choices that we had. If we are going to be in for a penny, let's be in for a pound and build what we want to build," Kalaris said.

Although the engaged couple came from the White Marsh area, Rouse officials and builders see Emerson as more of an attraction to Washington and Virginia buyers, who will find prices in the $400,000 to $600,000 range as a relative bargain.

"Nothing personal against Baltimore," said Scavo, "but it is very close to the Washington Beltway where we pick up a great deal of both our business and residential market - particularly the upper-end market.

"Thank God for Washington ... and the health of the Washington economy.

"If you're in the Washington marketplace, the options you have are Montgomery County, Virginia and probably Howard. And Howard is perceived as a real steal and benefit to the consumer. Great school system with a very good living environment. Great work opportunities and prices that are considerably better than what you might find in the Northern Virginia side and certain areas of Montgomery."

But what might be cheap to Washington buyers might be a stretch for Baltimoreans.

Yet Scavo believes that if people buy into the community, they will be rewarded not only in lifestyle but also in home appreciation.

"The people who bought in there early are going to wind up with the same thing like the folks who moved into River Hill," he said. "We've seen transfers for people [who] for whatever reason had to sell their home, make $100,000, $120,000. The best result for us is having a consumer do very well. If a consumer does well with the acquisition of his or her home, that does worlds of things for us the next time around."