Lupton City ridgetop soon to be developed

A 50-acre ridgetop in Lupton City will be developed next year into a traditional-style neighborhood with 72 cottage-style homes.
   Highlands Development Partners, a real estate investment group that bought, rezoned and cleared the property over the past five years, is joining with the Chattanooga Development Group to create the $35 million project. Known as The Overlook, the subdivision off Fairfax Drive will include homes built in the early 20th century style similar to the East Brainerd neighborhood of Reunion.
   "This will become an extension of North Chattanooga and offer the amenities of downtown living at a more affordable cost," said Jim Gallagher, a principal in the Chattanooga Development Group.
   The subdivision will include 20 different home styles ranging from 1,600-square-foot homes priced at just over $300,000 up to 3,583-square-foot houses priced at more than $500,000. The home site offers views of the Tennessee River, Lookout and Signal mountains and the nearby Rivermont Park. The lots will be laid out to include 6-foot-wide grass strips between the road and yards along with old-fashioned street lights and mailboxes along tree-lined streets.
   Mr. Gallagher, who also worked to develop Heritage Landing in the 1980s and a variety of other developments, is joining James Pratt & Associates to build the homes in The Overlook. Mr. Pratt and Mr. Gallagher also teamed up to build the 42-acre Reunion subdivision off East Brainerd Road.
   Mr. Gallagher said The Overlook will be the biggest residential community of its type since Heritage Landing was developed nearly 25 years ago.
   The project is a revision of the original plans to build up to 125 homes on the hilltop site on a once-wooded location owned for most of the past century by Dixie Yarns.
   In clearing and reshaping the site over the past year, Greg Vital of Highland Development Partners said he found it ideally located for the traditional neighborhood development concept popularized by developments like the Seaside in Destin, Fla., and Celebration in Orlando, Fla.
   "Bringing this concept to Chattanooga is an exciting opportunity to complement the neighborhoods of Riverview and the growing North Shore resurgence," Mr. Vital said.
   The homes will include front porches, columns and railings, balconies, shutters, dormers and attractive rooflines, he said. Some of the homes will feature alleys for rear entry.
   Construction of the first houses should begin this spring and Mr. Gallagher said the subdivision should be completed over the next three years.