At least 1 million people are expected to move to the Nashville region over the next 20 years. Already, the early arrivals have begun to dramatically change the landscape of the suburban counties surrounding the city.
Thousands of new homes are under construction, or about to be built, in places that until now were just a name on a map, and in small towns and cities that are being transformed by the attention.
“It’s a ‘build it and they shall come’ phenomenon,” says Eugene James, director of the Brentwood office of Metrostudy, which analyzes housing markets across the country.
“You’ve heard the saying, ‘drive until you qualify’” for a mortgage, he says.
There are examples of new development across the region.
— Rural College Grove, which even long-time Middle Tennesseans might have trouble finding on a map [near Franklin and Murfreesboro], is home to The Grove, the region’s newest gated golf community. Another 381 executive homes are being built in the Falls Grove subdivision next door.
— In Fairview, the once-overlooked Williamson County town that was always a bridesmaid to glamorous Franklin, 725 homes have been approved for just one subdivision. Hundreds of others are being planned by some of the region’s largest home building companies, including Ole South and the Jones Co.
“We’re on it. Fairview is going to go,” Ole South Vice President Trey Lewis says.
— In Sumner County, close to 2,000 homes are on their way to Hendersonville, a quiet community of 54,000 on the shores of Old Hickory Lake 18 miles north of downtown Nashville. Last year, in comparison, the city issued just 194 building permits for homes.
Those houses won’t all be built this year or even next, but builders are racing to keep up with demand from homebuyers who have discovered Hendersonville, says Karlie Kee, past president of the Sumner County Association of Realtors and broker for Coldwell Banker Lakeside.
Construction in the Millstone subdivision in Hendersonville will eventually have about 600 homes, as well as an amenities center.
“Right now our biggest problem is (continue reading)