New Rossville Development

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Courtesy of the Commercial Appeal

Rossville golf course planned

By David Flaum

Contact

April 20, 2006

Owners of Windyke Country Club plan to build a golf course and country club near Rossville and develop lots for about 400 houses on 481 acres nearby.

Whether it happens depends on the family-owned enterprise finding a developer for the homes and getting approval from the Rossville authorities, said Russ Garner.

"Best case scenario, we'd start a year from now," Garner said. "We'd do the golf course first and shortly thereafter start with the streets and utilities. It may or may not happen. It depends on Rossville."

Rossville Mayor James Clay Gaither calls the plan "a fine thing," and said the town will likely annex the development. That's a move the Windyke folks expect.

But Gaither said, "The problem is getting water and sewerage in there."

The Rossville sewage system was built in 1968.

"At the time, we thought it was the greatest thing in the world," he said. "We had a lagoon big enough to handle (a population of) 10,000 to 15,000."

However, the pipes don't have the capacity to handle the additional development and will need to be redone, Gaither said. That involves borrowing money and will take at least two years, he said.

That lack of sewer capacity has slowed growth in southwest Fayette County even as the northwest section booms, said Don Berge, president of MarketGraphics of Memphis, which tracks homebuilding trends in the area.

About half of the building permits granted in the past year are for Oakland, he said.

The partnership formed by the Windyke owners, who bought the Fayette property in 1998, is out to change that.

If everything falls into place, Windyke Farm, the $10 million golf club, would take about two years to build, Garner said.

He had no cost estimate for developing what the partnership calls Glen Ross with 400-450 lots from 7,000 square feet to an acre at prices of $75,000 to $150,000.

Homes should be in the $300,000 to $1 million range, Garner said.

Berge sees plenty of potential for that and other possible development in southwest Fayette.

"The population is pretty much stacked up against the (Shelby-Fayette) county line in Collierville," he said. "There's much more density there than there is north, around U.S. 64."

Plus Rossville is closer to the county line than Oakland.

"There's no reason to think the southwest part of the county can't experience the same kind of growth that you've experienced in the northern part of the county," Berge said.

Garner agreed.

"Collierville has exploded," he said. "And now that's spilled over into Fayette County."

People looking to move "have a need for other than 1-acre lots," Garner said. "They need a community to do things in and that's why the golf and country club is there."

-- David Flaum: 529-2330

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WINDYKE FARM-GLEN ROSS

Location: Rossville annexation area between Tenn. 57 and Southern Railroad line.

Golf:

18-hole golf course

Nine-hole short course

Clubhouse

Estimated cost: $10 million

Homes:

400 to 450 lots

Cost: $75,000 to $150,000 each

Estimated home prices: $300,000 to $1 million

FAYETTE COUNTY BUILDING PERMITS

2003: 475 or 5.8 percent of five-county area total.

2004: 650 or 7.7 percent,

2005: 735 or 8 percent.

First quarter 2006: 199 or 10.1 percent.

Source: MarketGraphics

"There's no reason to think the southwest part of the county can't experience the same kind of growth that you've experienced in the northern part of the county."

Don Berge

President of MarketGraphics of Memphis