Hawthorn vs Ellery — smallest vs largest plan

"Hawthorn or Ellery — the smallest and largest plans at Forest Townhomes — is the widest gap in the lineup. Here's what actually separates them beyond square footage.

The headline numbers

The Hawthorn is 1,579 square feet with a one-car garage, starting around $461,900. The Ellery is 1,917 square feet with a two-car garage and a second-floor loft, starting in the $600,000s. That's a 338 square foot difference and roughly $140,000 in starting price — the widest spread between any two plans in the community, and the comparison buyers most often ask about first.

What the extra space actually buys you

The Ellery's loft is the biggest functional difference — a flexible second-floor room the Hawthorn simply doesn't have room for. If you need a home office, a playroom, or a second living area separate from the bedrooms, that loft is worth the jump. The Ellery's two-car garage is also a real, everyday difference from the Hawthorn's one-car garage, not just a storage nicety — it's the difference between parking a second vehicle under cover in the Florida heat and leaving it on the street or a shared guest space.

Beyond the loft and garage, the additional square footage on the Ellery tends to show up in slightly more generous proportions throughout — a great room that feels less compact, a kitchen with a bit more counter and cabinet space, and an owner's suite that reads noticeably larger in person than the 338 square foot difference might suggest on paper.

Who the Hawthorn fits

Buyers prioritizing the lowest entry price, or who don't need a second car in the garage, will find the Hawthorn covers the same three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath basics as every other plan in the community — just in a smaller footprint. A single professional or a couple without kids often finds the Hawthorn's scale more than sufficient, especially if the community's shared amenities — the pools, the dog park, the walking paths — cover the outdoor and recreation needs that a bigger home might otherwise be asked to provide space for. See all five plans compared side by side for how the Hawthorn stacks up against the three plans in between.

The Hawthorn is also worth a serious look for buyers who've been priced out of a two-car-garage plan elsewhere in Palm Beach County and are willing to trade garage capacity for a meaningfully lower starting price on brand-new construction.

Who the Ellery fits

Buyers who want the most house the community offers, or who know they'll use a loft, should start with the Ellery. Families who need a dedicated home office separate from where the kids do homework, or households that regularly host guests and want a second living area to spread out into, tend to gravitate here first. Curious about the middle ground? the Ashton, Dakota and Laurel comparison covers the three plans between these two extremes, each within roughly 350 square feet of the Ellery but without its full price premium.

Whichever plan you land on, the included features and warranty are the same across the community, and the buying process itself works the same way no matter which floor plan you choose — the decision between Hawthorn and Ellery affects your daily living space and your budget, not what you're covered for or how the purchase process unfolds.

Making the decision in person

Numbers on a page rarely settle this comparison on their own. The $140,000 gap is real, but so is the difference in how a 1,579 square foot home and a 1,917 square foot home with a loft actually feel to walk through. Buyers who assume they want the Hawthorn purely on price sometimes change their mind once they've stood in the Ellery's loft and pictured what they'd use it for; buyers drawn to the Ellery on space alone sometimes realize the Hawthorn genuinely covers what they need once they see it in person. Walking both back to back, ideally in the same visit, is the fastest way to know which one actually fits.

The financing angle

The $140,000 gap between these two plans isn't just a bigger number on the contract — it changes the monthly payment conversation meaningfully. Buyers who can comfortably qualify for the Ellery's price point sometimes still choose the Hawthorn to keep a lower monthly payment and preserve cash for furnishing, moving costs, or a rainy-day fund after closing. Others stretch toward the Ellery specifically because they don't want to outgrow the home within a few years and would rather absorb a higher payment now than move again later. Neither approach is wrong — it depends on your broader financial picture, which is worth discussing with a lender before you fall in love with either floor plan.

What doesn't change between the two

It's easy to focus entirely on what's different between the Hawthorn and the Ellery and lose sight of what stays constant. Both plans sit on homesites within the same community, with access to the same three pools, the same fenced dog park, and the same walking paths. Both carry the identical Mattamy warranty — one year of workmanship coverage, select two-year items, and ten years of structural coverage. Both are built to the same current hurricane codes and carry a similar HERS energy rating. The choice between them is entirely about how much space and which layout features you want, not about getting a better or worse version of Forest Townhomes itself.

Common Questions

Ready to see Forest Townhomes for yourself? Call Simon Karim at 561-704-0091 or Walk the Hawthorn and Ellery back to back."