Walnut Hollow

Walnut Hollow is a new construction community by Lennar going up along the Route 31 corridor in Prairie Grove, Illinois, between McHenry and Crystal Lake. It sits north of Ames Road on Route 31, which puts it within minutes of downtown McHenry, the Fox River, and the retail and restaurants that have filled in along Route 31 over the last several years. As of now the site is in active development, graded and roaded with utilities stubbed for its first homes. The village of Prairie Grove approved the community for 224 homes, a mix of 112 single-family homes and 112 Lennar has since named the two collections that will be built here, Medallion Series single-family homes and Traditional Townhomes, and lists park, trail and pond amenities, but has published no floor plans, pricing or opening date.

Lennar is one of the largest homebuilders in the country and has been steadily expanding across McHenry County, with active communities just up and down Route 31 in Johnsburg and Crystal Lake. Lennar builds under its Everything's Included approach, which bundles the features most buyers would otherwise pay to upgrade, things like stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and a suite of smart home technology, into the base price of the home at one transparent number. Instead of a long design-center upsell, you get a well-equipped home without negotiating every finish. The exact Everything's Included package for Walnut Hollow has not been published yet and typically varies by community and floor plan, so confirm the specifics for this neighborhood before you write an offer.

For buyers, a new Lennar community in this part of McHenry County lands in a spot that is increasingly hard to find in this area: a brand-new home, under warranty, with current energy efficiency and a layout built for how people live now, in a county where most of the housing stock is decades old. Walnut Hollow's home designs, square footage, lot sizes, and pricing are all still to be announced. Rather than guess, I will pass along verified details the moment Lennar releases them, which is exactly what the interest list below is for.

McHenry County has spent the last few years catching the overflow of buyers priced out of the closer-in suburbs, and the Route 31 corridor through McHenry, Prairie Grove, and Crystal Lake is one of the clearest beneficiaries. Buyers get Fox River and Chain O' Lakes lifestyle, real downtowns, and Metra access at a price point well below comparable new construction in Lake or DuPage County. That math is a big part of why McHenry County new construction is having a moment in 2026.

National builders go where the land, the rooftops, and the demand line up, and the Route 31 corridor checks all three. Lennar already builds at Remington Grove in Johnsburg just up the road and Woodlore Townes in Crystal Lake to the south, and Walnut Hollow extends that footprint into Prairie Grove right between them. When a builder the size of Lennar commits to a new site here, it is a strong signal about where the corridor's growth is heading.

For a buyer, the opening phase of a new community is usually the best time to get in. Early releases tend to be priced to build momentum, you get the widest pick of lots, and you are buying a home built to current code with a full builder warranty and none of the deferred maintenance that comes with a resale. Walnut Hollow is still early, which is precisely the window worth watching if a new Lennar home in the McHenry and Crystal Lake area is on your radar.

Lennar has named the two collections coming to Walnut Hollow, Medallion Series single-family homes and Traditional Townhomes, but has not released a single floor plan, square footage or price for this community. What I can tell you is what those exact collections look like at Lennar’s other Chicago-area communities right now, because the plan sets are remarkably consistent.

Sizes and prices above are from Lennar’s other Chicago-area communities carrying these same two collections, captured August 2026. They are not Walnut Hollow figures, and Lennar has announced none.

Two things make that range worth trusting, and one makes it worth distrusting. In its favor: square footage in these collections barely moves between communities, often by twenty feet or less on the same plan. And the range independently matches what the developer told the Village of Prairie Grove back in November 2024, when the approval was reported as 2,100 to 3,200 square foot single-family homes and 1,700 to 1,800 square foot townhomes. Two unrelated sources, two years apart, landing on the same envelope.

Against it: price is a different story. The identical single-family floor plan starts around $528,000 at one Lennar community and around $615,000 at another, an $87,000 spread on the same house, driven purely by submarket. Treat the size range as a good working assumption and the price range as a rough bracket. Walnut Hollow could land anywhere in it, or outside it.

I am also not going to tell you which specific plans will be offered here. Lennar varies the roster community by community, so naming plans now would be a guess dressed up as information. The moment the actual Walnut Hollow plans and prices are published, everyone on the interest list hears it.