Trails out the back gate, the mountains right there, and 132 homesites going in at the south end of town. Three different names get used for it. Here is what is actually up there.
By Carlos SotoCedar City REALTOR®Updated August 2026Yes, I walked the model home
The walkthrough is in the edit.
I filmed the model home this week. The full walk lands here shortly.
Filmed at the Courtyards at Shurtz Canyon model home, Cedar City.
Why This Page Exists
"Right now it is mostly dirt, stakes and survey tape. People hear that and decide to wait. That is exactly backwards."
When a community is finished you pick from whatever nobody else wanted. When it looks like this, every lot is still on the table. The view, the trail side, the corner, which way your morning light comes in. All of it is sitting there right now for whoever bothers to show up and ask. That window closes quietly, and it does not reopen.
Shurtz Canyon is the south end of town, off Old Highway 91, right where the valley floor gives up and the mountains take over. There is a trail system going in that ties straight into Iron Mission State Park, a clubhouse with a pool and pickleball courts, and a park in the middle of the whole thing. Ten years ago this was open ground. Right now it is the busiest place to build in Iron County and it is not close.
Here is the part that trips everybody up. Three names get thrown around, but they are not three equal things. The Courtyards and the Estates are two sides of one master plan by Choice Builders, sharing the same clubhouse and the same trails. The Trails is a separate project by a different company on different ground. So when somebody tells me they are looking at Shurtz Canyon, my first question is always the same one. Which one?
So. Here is each of them, what I actually confirmed, and what I would want to know before I signed anything.
The Three
Three names. Two projects.
01.
The Courtyards
Single level, a private walled courtyard, and somebody else handles your snow. Clubhouse, pool, pickleball. Epcon home designs, developed by Choice Builders.
Now selling phase 1
02.
The Estates
The custom side of the same master plan. Semi custom and fully custom homesites, sharing the clubhouse and the trails.
Choice Builders · custom homesites
03.
The Trails
A different project altogether, by a different company, on different ground. Classic single family, one and two story, basements on some lots.
Mann Development · mid $400,000s
The Courtyards at Shurtz Canyon
Developed by Choice Builders · Epcon home designs · Now selling phase 1 and custom lots
This is the one I walked this week, and it is the most distinct thing being built in Cedar City right now. Not because of the finishes. Because of what it is actually competing with.
It is not really up against the other new construction here. It is up against the idea of not moving at all. Every plan is single level, built around a private walled courtyard, with the front landscaping and the snow removal handled for you. At 5,846 feet, that last part is not a small favor.
Community address
3187 W Courtyards Dr, Cedar City
Sales office
1115 S Main Street, Cedar City
Priced from
Upper $400,000s
Size range
1,437 to 3,981 sq ft
Configuration
2 to 4 bed · 2 to 4 bath · 2 to 4 car
Amenities
Clubhouse, fitness center, lounge, pool, pickleball, green space, walking trail
Prices as of August 26, 2026. Builder pricing and incentives move month to month.
The site plan, counted
This is the part nobody publishes, so I counted it off the official interactive site plan myself. One hundred and thirty two homesites at full buildout, across six numbered street series.
Total homesites
132 at full buildout
Showing release status now
45 lots, the 100s and the 300s
Held for later phases
87 lots, the 200s, 400s, 500s and 600s
Reported split
106 courtyard homes and 26 custom homesites on 60 acres
That number matters because it is the one you will find three different answers to online. One outlet reported 106 courtyard homes plus 26 custom homesites at the groundbreaking, which adds to 132. The site plan shows 132. Those two agree, so I am comfortable telling you 132. If you have seen 600 somewhere, that one is wrong.
The streets are Courtyards Drive, Shurtz Creek Loop, Iron Hills Drive, Three Knolls Way, Pyramids Drive, Estates View Drive, Sugarloaf Way and Tipple Road. The clubhouse with the pool and pickleball courts sits centrally, where Courtyards Drive meets Sugarloaf Way, so most of phase one is a short walk from it. There is a separate park and walking path in the interior, tucked between Courtyards Drive and Three Knolls Way.
See It Yourself
Epcon publishes an interactive site plan with live lot availability, plus full floor plans and brochures for all five designs. I am not going to re-host their material here, they keep it current and I would only make it stale.
Jennifer Saulala leads the sales team up there, with Ellie Navarro and Linda Hahne. They know this canyon better than anybody, Ellie and Linda are my colleagues at Stratum, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
They also represent the community. That is not a knock, it is just the structure of every new build in America, and knowing it going in is the whole point. Go see them. Ask them everything. Then bring somebody whose job is only you.
Five plans, and what each one is really for
Epcon floor plans at the Courtyards at Shurtz Canyon
Plan
Square feet
Bed
Bath
Garage
Capri
1,437 to 2,088
2 to 3
2 to 3
2 to 3 car
Palazzo
1,596 to 2,241
2 to 3
2 to 3
2 to 3 car
Portico
1,801 to 2,627
2 to 3
2 to 3
2 to 3 car
Promenade
2,093 to 3,014
2 to 4
2 to 3
2 to 3 car
Provenance
2,862 to 3,981
2 to 4
2 to 4
2 to 4 car
All five are single level. Promenade and Capri offer an optional bonus suite upstairs, which is the move if you want somewhere to put guests that is not costing you square footage the other fifty weeks of the year. Provenance is the only one with two first floor owner's suites. That sounds like a footnote until you are buying with a parent or a sibling, and then it is the entire reason you picked it.
Every plan includes the private courtyard, a first floor owner's suite and first floor laundry. Zero threshold showers and universal design features are options across the range. If this is the house you intend to be the last one, ask about those at contract, not at renovation. Much cheaper that way.
The Question Everybody Asks
Is it fifty five and over? No. There is no age restriction at the Courtyards. Anyone can buy here.
The mix-up is understandable. Epcon markets it as an active adult community and it shows up in 55+ directories online, so people assume there is a rule. There is not. The design is doing the work, not a restriction. No stairs, no shoveling, nothing to climb at the end of a long day. Turns out a lot of people want that well before they turn fifty five.
The Estates at Shurtz Canyon
Choice Builders · The custom side of the same master plan
Same master plan, different path in. The Estates is the custom side of what Choice Builders is doing up there, roughly 26 of the 132 homesites. Same clubhouse, same trails, same canyon. You just get there by building rather than by choosing.
Buying a lot means also buying a construction loan, a build schedule, a long list of allowance decisions, and whatever the ground under it turns out to be. That is not a warning. Plenty of people should do exactly this, and you end up with a house nobody else has.
But if you are weighing this against the other two, the real question is not which house you like better. It is whether you want to be a project manager for the next nine to fourteen months. Some people genuinely love that part. Worth knowing which one you are before you buy the dirt.
The Trails at Shurtz Canyon
Developed by Mann Development · Traditional single family
Completely different buyer. The Trails is classic single family new construction. Seven designs, one and two story, some with basements, starting in the mid $400,000s.
What sells it is the ground it sits on. There is a trail system on site that ties into Iron Mission State Park, a community park, and commercial planned along Old Highway 91. Homes sit in an HOA that maintains the common areas for a monthly fee.
Priced from
Mid $400,000s
Home designs
Seven, including Canyon, Cascade, Shasta, Solitude and Summit
Stories
One and two story, some with basements
On site
Trail system connecting to Iron Mission State Park, community park, planned commercial along Old Highway 91
Prices as of August 26, 2026.
The basement is the thing to think hardest about. In Cedar City a basement is the cheapest square footage you will ever buy and the best room in the house in July. It also narrows your lot choices, because not every lot gets graded for one. Decide early, not after you have fallen for a view.
Picking Your Lot
Nothing is built yet. That's the good part.
Everything up there is still dirt, stakes and survey tape. People hear that and decide to circle back in a year. By then the good lots have names on them. Here is what I would actually be thinking about while there is still a choice to make.
Which way it faces
This is the one you can never change later, and right now it is a free decision. A south facing driveway in Cedar City is dry by mid morning in January. The north facing one across the street keeps its ice for weeks. Same house, same price, completely different winter. Stand on the dirt and figure out where the sun comes up.
How close you want the trail
The trail system ties into Iron Mission State Park, and the lots along it are a genuinely different product than the ones in the middle. Out the back gate and gone, no driving, no parking. If that is why you are moving to Southern Utah, do not end up three streets away from it by accident. Same goes for the clubhouse, which sits where Courtyards Drive meets Sugarloaf Way. Some of phase one is a short walk. Some of it is not.
What the wind does up there
You are sitting at a canyon mouth, and canyons move air. Not evenly, either. Some spots are noticeably breezier than a lot two streets over. Go back on a second day at a different hour before you commit to a specific piece of ground.
What eventually lands behind you
Forty five lots are released. Eighty seven more are drawn and waiting. That open view behind your lot is somebody's future house, and the site plan will tell you exactly whose. Ask to see the whole approved plan, not just what is for sale this month, and find out what backs up to you at full buildout.
The gap between the model and the standard
Every model home in America is built loaded, and that is the job of a model home. Nothing wrong with it. But ask for the standard finish list in writing and walk the model holding it. The difference between what you are looking at and what actually comes with the house is your real budget, and it is better to find that number now than at the design center.
What the HOA actually covers
Front landscaping and snow removal included is real money in your monthly number, not a nicety. Get the dues, get exactly what they cover, and get whether they are locked or scheduled to step up once buildout finishes. That last part is the one people forget to ask.
Bring somebody who is only working for you
Nothing adversarial here, everybody up there is straight with people. But the on site team represents the community, and you get somebody in your corner at no cost to you. How buyer agent compensation works changed in 2024, so ask about it out loud on your first visit. After you have signed in alone it gets more complicated than it needs to be.
Still Digging
What I'm still confirming.
I would rather show you the holes than pretend there are none. Here is what I do not have nailed down yet. I am getting every one of these from the source instead of from a listing site, which is slower and worth it.
Which specific lots are Estates versus Courtyards. The site plan numbers them but does not label the split, and I would rather ask than guess at it.
HOA dues. Not published for either community. I am getting the current figure and what it covers.
Current incentives. These change month to month, so I am deliberately not publishing a number that will be wrong in three weeks. Text me and I will tell you what is actually on the table this week.
Phase two timing. The 200s, 400s, 500s and 600s are drawn but not released. Timing on those is a question for the sales team, and it moves.
Whether the Estates lots carry a required builder or an architectural review committee, and what the design guidelines actually say.
Let's Go Look
Want to walk it with someone who isn't selling it?
I will meet you at any of the three, walk the model with the standard finish list in hand, and tell you exactly what I would ask before signing. No pitch, no pressure. And if I think none of the three are right for you, I will tell you that too.
Carlos Soto, REALTOR® · Utah License #14268755-SA00
Sources
Community details, pricing, floor plans and amenities confirmed against
Epcon Communities
and
The Trails at Shurtz Canyon
on August 26, 2026. Groundbreaking and acreage reporting from
Iron County Today.
Custom homesite information from
Choice Builders.
The Courtyards and the Estates are developed by Choice Builders, with Epcon home designs at the Courtyards. On site sales is led by Jennifer Saulala, with Ellie Navarro and Linda Hahne of Stratum Real Estate Group. Homesite count verified by counting the official interactive site plan on August 26, 2026. I am not affiliated with any builder or developer named on this page, and nobody paid to be here.