Where Will Verona's Next New Homes Actually Come From?

Most of Verona's supply of newly built detached homes for the next few years has already been mapped. A few subdivisions with approved plats hold most of the single-family lots that can be bought today. The largest projects the Common Council approved in 2026 were apartments, townhomes and senior housing. The area the city's new comprehensive plan expects to grow the most depends on two things that have no date. One is a highway interchange that is still a concept inside a federal environmental study. The other is annexation. The agreement that once set those rules with the neighboring Town of Verona expired this summer.

For a buyer comparing Verona with other Dane County suburbs, this shapes what is on offer and when. Here is how the pieces fit together.

The Single-Family Pipeline Is Already on Paper

On August 10, 2026, the Common Council gave final approval to the Ardent Glen Second Addition plat. It creates 80 single-family and twin-home parcels and five outlots. In late September 2026, the builder's listings showed move-in-ready detached and twin homes in Ardent Glen priced from $417,900 to $809,900. The neighborhood is centered at 1512 Eagle Eye Street.

Two other active neighborhoods round out most of what a new-construction buyer will find right now:

Kettle Creek North shows the cost of building from scratch. In July 2026, a lot alone was listed between about $195,000 and $240,000 before any construction began. One of those lots, 1268 Stanley Way, was listed specifically as a build with Trademark Homes. If you are pricing a custom home there, you will be pairing a lot decision with a builder decision, and the lot's listing may already settle the second one. Ask about this before your offer, not after.

Prices and availability in all three neighborhoods change week to week. The figures above are dated snapshots, not quotes.

What the Council Approved in 2026 Was Mostly Multifamily

The Ardent Glen plat added 80 parcels. In the same year, three larger projects moved forward:

1. Grassland Terrace Senior Living Community. On March 9, the Council approved a preliminary plan for Erdman's 130-unit project on the Midthun property by a 7-1 vote. The mix is 60 independent-living units, 40 assisted-living, six respite-care and 24 memory-care. According to the Verona Press, the director of the city's Senior Center told the Council that the estimated $4,000 monthly cost was likely at least twice what would be affordable for the people the center serves.
2. The Backus property. On June 8, the Council approved annexation and several land-use approvals for a 15-acre site east of Blue Ice Pass and west of CTH M. The site is tied to a 257-unit apartment and townhome proposal from Fiduciary Real Estate Development. Votes ranged from 5-3 to 7-1. The approved Urban Residential zoning allows apartments and condos but not single-family homes.
3. Enclave Companies on the Midthun property. On July 13, the Council approved a conditional use permit and a height exception for a three-building, 200-unit apartment complex south of Morningside Boulevard. The discussion included a possible 15% affordable-unit allocation and infrastructure the project would need, including the Whispering Coves force main.

Together these three projects total 587 units. That is more than seven times the single-family and twin parcels in this year's one new plat.

Site economics help explain the gap. At the June 1 Plan Commission hearing, Tony DeRosa of Fiduciary said the Backus site needs roads, utilities and intersection improvements, and those costs make a smaller development unworkable. On farmland at the city's edge, a developer pays for the infrastructure first. More units spread that cost further. Neighbors on Monte Cristo Circle spoke against the project, citing light pollution, noise and property values. Commissioners raised flooding and asked whether the project fit the comprehensive plan. Even so, the project advanced.

The Agreement That Expired This Summer

The timing of the Backus vote leads to the larger story. In 2016, the City of Verona and the Town of Verona adopted a ten-year intergovernmental boundary agreement. It divided the land around the city into four categories. Area A was the city's primary growth area. Area B was a longer-term zone of shared interest. Areas C and D were protected Town land and existing Town neighborhoods. In Area A, the Town promised not to oppose qualifying annexations. Development without annexation was generally held to 35-acre minimum lots. A six-member Joint Planning Committee, with three members from the city and three from the Town, reviewed land divisions and rezonings. The agreement did not renew automatically. Both governments had to formally act to extend it.

Neither did. At the June 1 Plan Commission meeting, the minutes record this from the alder who later moved for the Backus annexation:

"Diaz stated that the boundary agreement will expire in June and annexation may be more difficult after its expiration."

Sources disagree on the exact month the agreement lapsed. City minutes say June. A Town official's spring election answer said July. The September record is clear, though. A September 8 staff memo asked the Plan Commission to amend the city's extraterritorial land-division rules "to reflect the expiration of the City and Town Boundary Agreement," and noted that "future modifications may occur to this section if a new boundary agreement is signed." The Council approved the change on September 14.

The public record does not explain why the agreement was not renewed. The Council discussed successor terms on May 12, 2025, met in closed session and returned without an update. In the Verona Press candidate Q&A, Town leaders said they wanted a renewal or were open to compromise.

The lapse did not end annexation under state law. The predictable, map-based process, including the Town's commitment not to oppose annexations in Area A, no longer governs new proposals. Raw land at the edge of the city is the starting material for every future subdivision, and turning it into lots now involves more uncertainty than it did in 2025.

The Largest Growth Area Waits on a Highway Study

On September 14, the Council also adopted Verona's updated Comprehensive Plan. The public draft released in June assigns growth to five subareas:

Of the 23,000 projected new residents, more than half are assigned to the East Subarea. That area is agricultural and rural-residential land east of USH 18/151, between Whalen Road and the Military Ridge State Trail. The draft states plainly that its full size depends on a full interchange at East Verona Avenue. That interchange would extend East Verona Avenue east and south of the highway to CTH M. If it does not happen, the plan calls for a more compact East Subarea limited to the land between Grandview and Whalen roads.

That interchange is not a project yet. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration are running an environmental study of US 18/151 from Dodgeville to just west of McKee Road in Fitchburg. WisDOT's project page says no construction is planned. The study's schedule runs from 2025 through 2028. Choosing a preferred alternative and completing the Environmental Impact Statement come late in that window. Final design and construction would depend on approval and funding. WisDOT held public meetings on October 8 and 9, 2025, and expects a second round in fall 2026. None of the materials published so far shows a design for East Verona Avenue.

The full East Subarea therefore needs two separate approvals, a state transportation decision and annexation from the Town. Neither is scheduled.

Reading Verona Against the County Numbers

Neither regional REALTOR association publishes Verona-only sales figures for August or September 2026, so county data is the closest benchmark. For August 2026, the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin reported a Dane County median sale price of $475,000 on 647 sales, with 2.2 months of supply. For the same month, the Wisconsin REALTORS Association reported a $479,900 median, 641 sales, 4.3 months of inventory and 81 average days on market. The WRA notes that it counts inventory differently.

Ardent Glen's late-September price range starts below the county median and runs well above it. Kettle Creek's lot prices show how quickly a build-from-scratch budget climbs past it. With little single-family land in the approval pipeline and the next large tract tied to an unfunded interchange, the platted lots and homes listed above are Verona's new-construction market in practical terms. The South Subarea's planned extension of Scenic Ridge and Woods at Cathedral Point points to where future plats may appear. The plan does not set dates for them.

Quick Answers

Did the expired boundary agreement stop annexation in Verona? No. State annexation law still applies. What ended was the 2016 agreement's set of map-based rules and Town commitments, which made annexation more predictable.

When will WisDOT decide on an East Verona Avenue interchange? WisDOT has not set a date. Its study schedule runs through 2028, and the second public meeting is expected in fall 2026.

Is the adopted plan identical to the June draft? The Council adopted a final draft on September 14, 2026. The subarea figures above come from the June 4 public draft. Check the final version on the City of Verona website for any later edits.

If you own a home in Verona and want to know how a tight single-family pipeline affects your home's value next to new construction priced like Ardent Glen's, Lessing Real Estate can walk you through the comparison. We work with builders and land sellers in Verona, and we will base your number on current sales, not last year's. Get Your Free Home Valuation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.