Developer Plans 400-Home South Forsyth Community

FrontDoor Communities closed on 158 acres in south Forsyth County to develop Traditions, a community with more than 400 homes.

"The 400 corridor, and especially South Forsyth and North Fulton is really the center of demand for metro Atlanta today. And this community is pretty far south for that area," said Terry Russell, CEO and partner of FrontDoor.

This is the largest residential community land acquisition in metro Atlanta in seven years. The 158 acres is large enough to do something interesting in terms of having a variety of price points, he said.

"We're gong to go for something a little more architecturally sensitive, a higher level of execution, if you will," he said.

A community of this scale affords them the opportunity for amenities such as the 12 planned parks, a pool, tennis courts and a clubhouse overlooking a lake.

Located 1.7 miles from Ga. 400 on GA 9, Castleberry Road and Majors Road, Traditions residents will have access to schools including West Forsyth High, as well as outdoor recreation sites such as Fowler Park and the Big Creek Greenway walking, running and biking trail. An adjacent parcel will be developed into a 184,000 square-foot neighborhood shopping center anchored by a grocery store.

In the next 12 to 24 months Russell said there's going to be a shortage of home sites, taking a lot of risk out of this development.

The housing industry's recover is a matter of scale, he said. Metro Atlanta at its peak was building 60,000 homes in a year. The low point was 6,200 homes, and he expects 10,000 homes to be built this year.

"You've got to put it in perspective. It isn't like 2006 all over again," he said.

Partners such as Lamar Wakefield of Wakefield Beasley and Associations will help make Traditions unique.

The Providence Group is known to a large extent for superior architectural execution, and the ability to stick to that execution at a scale Russell said many other builders can't meet.

Russell said they expect a large number of presales. As they sell homes to customers in advance, they will fill in the gaps in the community.

"The theory there is that it helps to build the streetscape when you build all homes contiguous," he said.

The first phase of homes will be approximately 90 home sites. Traditions will have a variety of home site sizes. Sales prices are expected in the $300,000-$500,000 range.

"It's not a cull de sac plan," he said.

Groundbreaking is expected in September, and they will be selling homes in the first quarter of 2014.

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