Jan. 07, 2008
Cotswold heats up with spec projects
15 homes starting at $550,000 join already bustling section of city
DOUG SMITH

Condo developers aren't the only ones in the residential market attracted to Charlotte's Cotswold area.

Vicus Builders Inc. has started the first two of 15 speculative homes planned on 4.7 acres at Windemere Lane and Sharon Amity Road across from the Sherwood Forest neighborhood.

Prices at Mason Oaks start in the $550,000s for four-bedroom houses ranging from about 3,000 to about 3,800 square feet.

Cotswold is sort of a convergence point for single-family infill development spreading inward along Randolph, Sardis and Providence roads in south Charlotte and multifamily development creeping outward from the urban core.

The area already is experiencing an upswing in residential construction, and real estate analysts believe its strategic location will attract even more.

"It's difficult to find something new in that area, and our prices are competitive based on what it would cost to buy and renovate a home there," said Vicus Builders co-owner Craig Jones.

Residential builders say long commutes and high gas prices are forcing more home owners to look inside Interstate 485 for a house and a lot.

Cotswold is convenient to jobs and medical centers in the center city as well as south Charlotte destinations such as SouthPark.

Jones said the neighborhood's proximity to uptown was the allure for Vicus Builders, which is finishing the last four houses in 18-home Avondale, an earlier Cotswold area community it started off McAlway Road about two years ago.

Jones founded the company in 2002 with co-owner Jack Joyce. They've focused on the urban core, working in such neighborhoods as Myers Park, Plaza Midwood, Chantilly, Elizabeth and Cotswold.

At Mason Oaks, the first two houses should be finished by June, Jones said.

Buyer demand will determine how quickly the estimated $9 million-plus project is completed, he said.

Helen Adams Realty's Brandon Ruby is handling sales of the homes, designed by Charlotte's Design Board with large family rooms and third floor space that can be finished as a bonus room.

Vicus Builders (www.vicusbuilders.com) is building on lots averaging about 0.2 acres and saving about 70 percent of the mature oak trees on the site, which will include about an acre of common area.

Houses were designed around the trees, Jones said, to save as many as possible and to fulfill the wishes of the project's namesake Mason family members, who sold them the land.

Home permitting and sales have slowed in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis and tighter lending policies, but Charlotte builders say there's still demand for niche developments like Mason Oaks in high-demand areas of the city.

The Colville Co. pounced on a 0.6 acre-site in Cotswold in December with plans for Canterbury Square, 11 luxury condos priced from $399,000 to $749,000 on Canterbury Road just off Randolph Road.

Colville President Charlie Strickland said buyers have reserved three units and interest is picking up after the residential market's traditionally slow holiday home-buying season.

Nearby, Tuscan Development started 24-home Whitby Pond off Sharon Amity three blocks east of Cotswold Village Shops just over two years ago.

It's now selling the final 11 houses (2,100 to 3,700 square feet) for prices ranging from $365,000 to $540,000, said Tuscan's Ray "Rip" Farris III.
Development Doug Smith