Oct. 19, 2013

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The Tennessean

Khris Pascarella of Pearl Street Partners

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Real estate developer Crescent Communities has 150 acres in Mt. Juliet under contract with plans for a residential community with 426 homes along with Brentwood-based co-developer Pearl Street Partners LLC.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company this week filed with the Mt. Juliet planning commission seeking permission for multiple sizes of lots in a master-planned community. The subdivision, which will be called Nichols Vale, should help to address a growing shortage of developed lots in the Nashville area, something one researcher considers a crisis at hand for many homebuilders.

“If they’re going to put lots on the ground and if it’s in a good location, they will do well,” said Edsel Charles, chairman of the Nashville-based MarketGraphics Research Group, which focuses on the new home market.

The move into Mt. Juliet comes after Crescent earlier this year bought 221 acres off South Carothers Parkway in Franklin for Lockwood Glen, a master-planned community that was expected to have up to 384 for-sale homes and 240 apartment units. Locally, Crescent is best known for developing the Corporate Centre office park and the Venue at Cool Springs apartments. The company is also planning the 252-unit Crescent Cool Springs apartments at Carothers Parkway and Resource Parkway.

The new subdivision planned in Mt. Juliet will be near intersection of Benton Douglas Parkway and U.S. Highway 70. Crescent and Pearl Street, which is also development manager for Lockwood Glen, will essentially develop the lots at Nichols Vale and invite builders to construct homes.

Without providing names, Khris Pascarella, a principal in Pearl Street, said the co-developers are talking with builders that have been selling out of their neighborhoods elsewhere in Mt. Juliet. That list is likely to include Jones, Drees, Celebration, Beazer Homes and Phillips Builders.

Infrastructure work should start at Nichols Vale in spring 2014. Lots in the first phase of the project should be ready for home construction by that fall with models completed by spring 2015, Pascarella said. Homes are expected to be priced from the low $200,000s, all the way into the $400,000 range.

“As we analyzed the statistics and demand drivers for townhomes and single-family homes, Mt. Juliet specifically and Wilson County stood out as a place where a new mastered-planned community could be profitable,” Pascarella said, noting quality of life, local schools, and proximity to the airport and downtown Nashville.

Getahn Ward covers growth and development for The Tennessean. He can be reached at 615-726-5968. Follow him on Twitter: @Getahn.