Golf course community open in Spring Hill

Developer opens gate to golf course community
King's Creek event allows folks to check out homes, admire views
By SUE MCCLURE • For Williamson A.M. • March 28, 2008
SPRING HILL — If you think living on a championship golf course is just for the rich and famous, The Village at King's Creek wants to change your mind.
Beginning at noon Saturday, the developer is presenting a grand opening "Discover Life on Course'' event, complete with model home tours, a golf clinic with nationally known golfing instructor Nancy Quarcelino, an invitational golf tournament, refreshments and a children's area.
All are designed to make you feel right at home on the golf course.
"We are doing this as a thank you to the community and also as a way to say, 'Here's our awesome, new golf course community,' '' said Sims Hill Jr. of Silverpointe Properties, the exclusive listing agent.
"And we want to show off our great views,'' he said, referring to the waterfall and meandering stream that winds its way through the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course. "It's hard to find a great view in this price range anywhere north of Williamson County.
"You would pay $750,000 minimum for this kind of view alone,'' he said.
Instead, golf enthusiasts — or anyone else who enjoys a manicured greenscape view from his or her upstairs porch — will pay between $270,000 and $500,000 for a town or cottage home.
This, the first phase of a multi-plan development, offers 45 homes, including 29 single-family homes and 16 townhomes. Many of those will overlook a community swimming pool, scheduled to be completed this summer.
So much to see
The Village at King's Creek is owned by David E. Miller Development Co., the same company that developed and owns the adjacent golf course.
David Miller, who has more than 23 years of development experience and developed The Governors Club in Brentwood, said he wanted the development to be integrated with, and enjoy the same success as, the golf course.
"We bought the neighborhood so we could do that,'' Miller said. "And there are fantastic views of the golf course from almost all of the homes.
"In most golf course communities, the golf course winds through the development, so a homeowner just sees one or two holes,'' Miller continued. "But ours is unique in that you can see the entire golf course.
"In fact, from one balcony, I believe you can see 12 holes,'' he said. "That's why many people are choosing to put two-story porches on their homes.
"The views are fantastic, just fantastic,'' he said.
Hold onto your socks
Miller enlisted Doug Majors of Homebrook Builders as the exclusive custom builder. Majors has more than 10 years' experience in building homes ranging in price from $500,000 to $1 million throughout Middle Tennessee.
Majors is working with more than 15 unique floor plans and more than 30 elevations to give residents unique floor plans and views, rather than cookie-cutter homes.
Amenities include one- and two-story front porches, granite kitchen countertops, stainless appliances, a choice of cabinets from Franklin Cabinets, tile in the master bath and hardwood flooring throughout the main living areas.
Some floor plans also offer a downstairs master bedroom.
"The standard stuff in our homes will knock your socks off,'' Hill said.
The homes also feature a traditional neighborhood design to encourage walking and bicycling throughout the community.
Those attending Saturday's grand opening event will be introduced to the builder and development team, have the opportunity to ask questions and tour the various model homes.

New Spring Hill Recreation Center to open soon

The Williamson County Parks & Recreation Department is pleased to announce the dedication, open house and ongoing programming activities for Longview Recreation Center in Spring Hill. The public is invited to the dedication ceremony of this new facility at 10 a.m. April 12. Public tours will follow from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
As I look and read through the many activities offered, which happen to be too many to put in this column, I encourage you to go by or call 790-5719 if you have specific questions. I have driven by and looked, and we all should be really thrilled and proud to have such a nice-looking facility for our use. It looks very impressive to me from the outside.
Williamson Recycles and Keep Williamson Beautiful have many environmental events planned for the spring. The first event will take place April 26. This will be Shred Day — free shredding of important documents that could be used for identity theft. This event will take place from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 420 Century Court in Franklin. They will also be accepting cell phones and rechargeable batteries for recycling. For more information, please call 790-5848.
I received the following information past my deadline but wanted to share with you that nationally acclaimed home organization expert Monica Ricci teamed up with Beazer Homes recently to apply her extensive experience as a consultant with HGTV. She was in Spring Hill on Tuesday and held a free home organization open-house event for the public to see firsthand the new SmartDesign options. I hope many of you were able to attend this event.
Looks like another subdivision for Thompson's Station was on the agenda this week for the commissioners to review. I am not sure at this writing exactly where the property to be divided is located, but will try to let you know more in the next column. It will apparently contain 252 lots on 226.69 acres at or near 1780 Dean Road. You may visit the town Web site at www.thompsons-station.com for more information.
Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the family of District Attorney General Ron Davis. I know he had fought an earnest, hard battle with cancer, but it was just not for him to win. He has left a legacy among many people.

Franklin studies affordable housing issue

Franklin creates task force to look at affordable housing
Nashville Business Journal - by Jenny Burns
An affordable workforce housing task force is being created in Franklin to study barriers builders say keep them from building affordable homes in Williamson County - high land costs, impact fees and low-density restrictions.
Franklin's new mayor and board of aldermen say they recognize the need for teachers, policeman, city employees and retail workers to be able to buy homes where they work, says Vernon Gerth, assistant city administrator for community and economic development.
"There's mid- to higher-end but not much toward the lower price ranges," Gerth says. "That is a very critical community and economic development issue in our community as we continue to grow."
"Having a balanced community includes affordable and moderately priced housing, which is a challenge and needs focused attention," Gerth adds.
The median price for a home in Williamson County increased to $387,000 from $371,118 in February. The median is the mid-range in a series of numbers, meaning half the homes sold for more than those amounts, and half for less.
"In the $150,000 to $250,000 range, there are very few properties that are for sale [in Franklin] and if they are, they're 35 to 40 years old and may need repair. That's another problem," says David Pair, government affairs director for the Williamson County Association of Realtors.
The committee will examine Franklin's zoning regulations in areas such as density, design standards and impact fees. Gerth says the goal is to facilitate the ability to offer more affordable housing.
Builder Peggy Krebs of Elite Homes says zoning, privilege taxes and land costs make it difficult to build affordable homes in Williamson County.
She focuses on building affordably-priced homes, she says, because she remembers struggling to pay apartment rent and then buying her first home.
Krebs says she can only build affordable homes in Davidson County where there is no privilege tax.
"The trends for affordable housing are not good," Krebs says. "I give [the Nashville] mayor and city [praise] for trying to address it. Some of our other surrounding counties, not so much."

Refinancing? When is it a smart move?

Does refinancing save money? It depends
By BENNY L. KASS • March 29, 2008
I bought my condo 18 months ago. The interest rate on my 30-year loan is 6.25 percent. Should I consider refinancing to a lower rate? I plan on staying here and paying off the loan so it seems even if I save some money on a lower interest rate I will be extending my loan and paying more over the long haul. — Scott
Since you've had your loan for a relatively short time, the costs to refinance your loan may not outweigh the benefits of a lower interest rate.
Let's take this example: Your loan was $300,000.The monthly payment at a 6.25 percent interest rate is $1,847. (This is only for principal and interest; it does not include escrows for taxes and insurance.) If you refinance at 5.75 percent, the new monthly payment will be $1,751, or $96 less per month. You have to do the numbers. Contact your current lender and see if they will agree to allow you to refinance and not charge you all of the settlement costs. Some lenders will be willing to do this.
If not, contact other lenders in your area and compare closing costs. Let's say that they will run approximately $2,500. It will take you 26 months to begin to see the savings on the refinance loan (divide $2,500 by $96).
So in your case, it is a close call. But since you plan to stay in the condominium for a long period of time, it might be worthwhile to refinance.
Here are two suggestions should you decide to go that route: First, instead of paying cash for the closing costs, if you have sufficient equity in your unit, have the lender add those costs to the amount of your new loan. This will not increase your monthly payments very much.
Second, if you can afford it, try to make extra payments each and every month, and specifically advise the lender (when you send in your check) of the amount of these extra payments. If, for example, you make one additional monthly payment every year, you will reduce your 30-year loan down to approximately 22 years.

A new neighborhood for Thompson's Station?

THOMPSON'S STATION — A proposed neighborhood that would link rural Dean Road with Heritage Commons via a new bridge that would go over the CSX railroad tracks was approved by the town Planning Commission last week.
Commission member Millie Halvorson cast the lone vote against River Ridge Farms, though she was not the only member to share concerns. The new development would have 252 lots on just under 227 acres.
Halvorson said she worries about the traffic the development would add around the Heritage Elementary and Middle schools campus.
Commissioner Nina Cooper added an additional concern. "I just feel like these country roads can't handle a lot of construction traffic," she said.
Builders would access the site from Evergreen Road and Dean Road in the first phase of the project, representatives from Cornerstone Development said. This phase will include creating the railroad overpass and the new road,
That phase would take about six months to complete. Afterward, construction traffic would be routed from Highway 31 through Heritage Commons on Trader's Way.
Halvorson said she feared that people would use Thompson's Ridge Road instead, which fronts the campus, because it has a traffic signal at Highway 31.
The site plan and request for residential zoning must be OK'd by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, which meets at 7 p.m. April 8 at the community center, 1555 Thompson Station Road W.

Nashville ranks 16th in affordability!

Nashville ranks 16th for housing affordability in a new Bizjournals study of 50 U.S. cities ranked by income, mortgage payments and taxes.
Nashville Business Journal-March 2008
While builders and Realtors say they applaud Nashville's top 20 ranking, they note some communities in Middle Tennessee need to embrace the need for workforce housing.
"This is just one more feather in our cap," says Mandy Wachtler, president of the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors. "It tells our nation that we're in the top 20. That brings retirees here."
The study ranked the 50 largest metropolitan areas as of mid-2006. It based mortgage payments on a 10 percent downpayment with a 6 percent, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage.
Oklahoma City ranked most affordable with low taxes and the lowest mortgage payments - $667 a month for both. California cities ranked at the bottom of the list, with Los Angeles the most expensive.
Nashville's median house payment was $960 per month, but its median monthly household income, at $3,975, was lower than other similar-priced cities.
St. Louis ranked 13th with a $962 median monthly house payment but a much higher median income at $4,147 per month.
Builder Peggy Krebs of Elite Homes sees buyers who spend as much as 60 percent of their incomes on mortgage and utilities, which she says is too high. Experts recommend 30 percent.
"Why should people care?" Krebs asks. "Because the individual who's trying to get by with $40,000, what happens is a disproportionate share of their income is put toward housing, which means less money is put into shops, dining, spending."
Krebs focuses on building for the lower-income demographic in Davidson County because there are no impact fees, she says.
Local buyers find Nashville more affordable than buyers find metro areas in other parts of the country. A survey by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors shows 48 percent of buyers in Nashville purchased homes because of their affordability while 42 percent said that nationwide.
Davidson County has done a good job of offering high density development and incentives to builders to sell a portion of the units at affordable prices, Wachtler says, but higher-priced markets such as Williamson County need to do more.
"We need to look to all surrounding counties to offer workforce housing, not just 5-acre tracts with mansions on them," Wachtler says.

Signature Tower Moving ahead with Marketing

Marketing push set for Giarratana Development's Signature Tower
Nashville Business Journal - by Jim Stinson Nashville Business Journal
A major marketing push will begin in April to sell another 100 reservations in the 400-unit, $250 million Signature condo tower.
That magic number is necessary for the 70-story tower in downtown Nashville to be financially viable, says Tony Giarratana, Signature's developer.
Giarratana says he has sold 103 units and needs another 100 to get financing. That's a change from how he financed the 333-unit Encore condo tower in SoBro, reflecting the nation's credit slowdown.
"While we financed Encore and Belle Meade Court with no pre-sales, current market conditions dictate that we secure 200 pre-sales prior," says Giarratana.
The tower also will feature a 200-room Kimpton Hotel at the base and a restaurant. The Signature would be the tallest building in the Southeast and eclipse Atlanta's Bank of America Plaza.
Downtown observers say they expect the 70-story Signature to go up eventually and note Giarratana has endured tough times to build the Cumberland, Viridian and Encore towers.
The Cumberland apartment tower, opened in 1999, was the first new residential project in the core downtown district since Metro rewrote zoning laws in 1993.
The 31-floor Viridian, Middle Tennessee's tallest residential building, followed in 2006 with 305 units, and the 333-unit Encore opened in early March.
"[Giarratana] has practically built the entire downtown [residential] market," says Tom Turner, executive director of the Nashville Downtown Partnership.
There are 1,178 residential units under construction downtown, says Turner, a number which excludes the 300 units in SoBro's Encore, where move-ins have begun.
The downtown residential units number includes land south of Jefferson, inside the interstate loop, so Gulch properties such as The Icon are included, Turner says.
Eighty-two percent - or about 966 - of those 1,178 units are sold, says Turner.
Nashville is behind such Southern cities as Knoxville, Charlotte, N.C., and Louisville, Ky., Turner says when it comes to downtown residential development.
The cities average one residential unit for every seven office workers downtown. Nashville averages half that, with about one unit for every 14 workers downtown.
Giarratana says he often hears people skeptical about the downtown market suggest there are 10,000 units downtown, when in fact the market is underbuilt. The reason, in part, he says is the city only legalized new downtown residential construction in 1993.
Turner says he believes the Signature Tower will survive the national economic downturn because of the strong demand for downtown condos.
"I think there is a disconnect between residential demand and the residential economy," he says. "A lot of people are looking at national market stories and not necessarily looking at the local economy. [Nashville] is on a steady uptick."

Jamison Station townhomes Phase I almost Sold Out

Jamison Station townhomes, condos selling briskly
Nashville Business Journal, February 28, 2008
Developers for Jamison Station in Franklin sold out of 95 percent of its mixed-use urban townhome and condominium development, so it's opening phase two for sale.
The project incorporates retail and is next door to The Factory at Franklin.
The first residents will move in by spring.
Phase two include a pool, spa, fitness center, resident's lounge, media center and billiards table.
One-, two- and three-bedroom lofts range from the upper $200,000s to the $600,000s.
Developer Centrum Nashville specializes in projects that respect the historic and architectural traditions of the region.

A touch of Europe adds flair to our home market

The Tennessean-Williamson AM
A home shopping trip this spring through some of the county's newest neighborhoods will sound a lot like a European tour, if not exactly look like one.
The craze for French country, Tuscany and other Euro-rural styles is sweeping through, resulting in a slew of subdivisions with foreign names that evoke images of wine, good times, sophistication and la dolce vita.
Some people trace the origins of the Tuscany trend — now showing up in furniture lines, china patterns and cookbooks — to the books of Frances Mayes. Her memoir, Under the Tuscan Sun, was made into a movie in 2004.
Another writer, Peter Mayle, has popularized the French countryside over the past several years with his travel memoirs, including the bestseller A Year in Provence.
Wherever the Euro trend comes from, it has grabbed the imaginations of some local developers — at least while they were working to come up with names for their new subdivisions.
Lily Griffin of Oxford Real Estate Co. said she believes it comes from "more people with more spending power who are traveling more."
"Everyone is interested in European flair," she said. And from traveling in Europe, they are more familiar with what's going on there, she added. Griffin's company is marketing the new Tuscany Hills neighborhood on Split Log Road in Brentwood.
The houses being built so far in Tuscany Hills, however, are not the stucco and rough-stone villas that characterize the Tuscany region of Italy.
While the builders are de-emphasizing the all-brick traditional look by mortar washing and by adding stone and other features such as turrets, "I don't know that it's going to be so much a Tuscan-looking neighborhood," Griffin acknowledged. "I think it's more in the name."
Despite its Italian name, the neighborhood has a street called Versailles and is incorporating the French fleur de lis as a visual accent in the streetscape.
"I think a lot of the interest in French or Old World stems from more people with an interest in wine and wine country," speculated Cheryl Oglesby, a manager at Sprintz Furniture in Cool Springs. The store carries several lines of furniture in French country, Tuscan and Spanish colonial styles. The newest thing is a line inspired by the "Argentine hacienda" look.
On Moores Lane, just west of CoolSprings Galleria, Valle Verde is poised to take off with construction beginning on the first of its 41 homes. The neighborhood's name means "green valley" in Italian.
"It's a great description of this property," sales agent Greg Standifer said. Some of the possible home designs in Valle Verde include The Bellagio as well as the French-sounding Margarette and the English-sounding Lansdowne.
"We don't want it to be one particular style," Standifer said, adding that the Italian name for the neighborhood is hoped "to set us apart."
Too late for that.
In addition to Tuscany Hills, there is already Benevento, which is not only a town in southern Italy but now also a subdivision of 250 all-brick houses in Spring Hill. The first homeowners moved in two years ago.
Benevento is "a neighborhood designed with a hint of Italian style," according to its Web site, offering "traditional custom-built homes."
And there's also Belle Vista, just off of Henpeck Lane, which is already preparing for its second phase of new homes.
Belle Vista is a "European-styled village" according to its promotional literature, with a variety of home plans for buyers to choose from, such as the Bordeaux, which the builders acknowledge as an English cottage, and two French cottage designs, one called the Florence and another called the Dresden.
Coming soon to Wilson Pike in Brentwood is Borgata, which is Italian for village. It will feature 27 custom homes of as-yet unknown designs starting in the $800,000 range. There's also Bellasara, slated to appear later this year near the intersection of Split Log Road and Ragsdale.
Meanwhile, just outside the town of Thompson's Station, construction continues on Brienz Valley, a subdivision named after a community in Switzerland.
The houses in Brienz Valley are not Swiss chalets but traditional brick, two-story homes. But the connection to Europe is an authentic one. Sales agent Rene Ragsdale said the neighborhood's name honors the ancestors of developer John P. Thoni Jr. They lived in the Swiss community before coming to the United States.
Coming up with appealing names for new neighborhoods is not always easy for builders and developers, who have to submit the names for approval to local planning commissions to ensure that the new names do not sound too much like existing neighborhoods covered by the same fire and police forces.
"They don't want the names to repeat or to be too similar to something else," said Beth Ann Smith of Turnberry. "It comes down to the fire chief and 911."

Mandrell Estate will become exclusive sub-division

Friday, February 1, 2008
Mandrell estate destined for residential development
Nashville Business Journal -
Country music star Barbara Mandrell's former estate will be developed as nine large homes in a large-lot subdivision - the end product of a deal struck last week between Tower Land Co. and the estate's owners.
Terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but officials say 10 lots, including Mandrell's former 27,000 square foot log cabin home, will be sold.
Lot prices will start in the low $300,000s.
Tower's announcement has already generated interest from potential buyers, says Alex Marks, senior vice president of Tower Land Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tower Investments LLC.
The developer has been building equestrian communities and large-lot subdivisions in the outskirts of Nashville in areas that include Leipers Fork. Tower has communities in Williamson, Maury and Fentress counties. This is the company's first subdivision in Davidson County.
Estate owners Dale Morris and Marc Oswald, co-managers of country acts Big & Rich, Alabama and Gretchen Wilson, bought the estate for $2.1 million in an auction in 2002. They approached Tower about the development because of Tower's focus on large-lot subdivisions.
"We don't do high-density subdivisions," Marks says.
Marks says he doesn't know what the log home, which was at one time the largest in the world, will sell for today.
Richard Exton, principal appraiser at Manier and Exton, says he has not done an appraisal on the property, but it could be worth more now since residential and land values have risen since 2002. He says it would need to have been occupied and well-maintained to have increased in value.
Marks says the three-story Fontanel Mansion was too large to be used as a clubhouse for the community.
Its 18 rooms, six bedrooms, indoor pool and spa, media room, gym, indoor pistol range, formal dining room and 2,500-square-foot great room make it a mammoth home.
The estate was the site of CMT's new reality show "Gone Country."
Tower Investments LLC is headquartered in Northern California and has an office in Nashville.