05.15..2005
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It’s been about 18 months since Jim Bacon, Dell Bush, David Campbell, Barry Carr, Red Carr, Bruce Melton and John Temp Phillips made perhaps the biggest investment decision of their lives and purchased 5,700 acres from the estate of the late O.D. “Peck” Carlton.
Carlton, the founder of Carlton Co., a construction company, had used the scenic land off U.S. Highway 82 in Lee County as a hunting and recreational getaway.
Soon, the property will be a getaway of sorts for hundreds of people. Land planner Martie Jones of Atlanta met with me at Carlton’s former expansive lodge Wednesday to discuss the progress on one of south Georgia’s largest commercial and residential projects.
Jones says Quail Valley, the development’s first residential project, was released to area builders in March. The first phase included 52 lots of 1.25 to 1.5 acres. Fifty of those lots have been purchased by builders and talks are under way on the remaining two.
Construction likely will begin in July. The lots averaged $45,000. Homes built on the site will be at least 2,400 square feet with prices around $300,000 depending on amenities. Jones says the development has a strict set of covenants and restrictions to ensure the property ages well and appreciates in value.
The second group of 47 homes in Quail Valley will be released in January 2006, Jones said. The third phase of 56 home sites will be offered in the fall of 2006 or early 2007, she said.
Plans call for the construction of a road, Oakland Parkway, leading off U.S. 82 and passing Oakcrest Academy, which is also under construction. Also, Security Bank has purchased land for a building at Oakland Parkway and Doublegate and First State Bank of Blakely plans to build at the Hickory Grove crossover into Oakland. Oakland Parkway will pass the site where First Baptist Church of Albany plans to build and lead to a proposed 30-acre business park.
Someone has obtained property for a self-storage unit behind the existing fire department building and Oakland has granted 2.5 acres of land, which Jones says will become the Lee County headquarters library. Oakland has granted 3.5 acres for a Lee County fire and sheriff’s unit substation.
Jones said the development will include all types of housing in various price ranges. Plans call for the construction of an upscale apartment unit, which is lacking in Albany. Much of the housing will be located around a 152-acre lake.
Housing areas will include townhouses, patio homes and a gated community `designed for the 55 and over crowd. Future plans call for a town center that will include a grocery store, dry cleaners, meat market, post office and other types of service facilities.
Jones said about 25 percent or more of the land will continue to be green space. Plans call for sidewalks and construction that will allow families to spend time together without having to get into an automobile.
“We want to build in a manner that generates family time,” Jones said. “We want it where you can walk or ride bikes to get an ice cream cone or do other things together.” Jones said the plan will evolve and change in the next few years, but the partners do not plan to move too quickly.“We will not build and hope they will come. We will build in deliberate stages in deliberate times. This project is speculative enough as it is.”
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