324 Apartments Being Built at Schilling Farms

By Jerome Obermark
– The Commercial Appeal –

Patton & Taylor Construction Company began construction early this month on a $25 million apartment community, Schilling Farms in Collierville.

The Madison at Schilling Farms is the name of the new 324-unit garden apartment community.

Site work is underway on the 21.5-acre apartment site at Schilling Farms Boulevard and Winchester Boulevard. The apartment developers recently bought the site for $2,106,000.

Initial units will be ready for occupancy in the first quarter of next year, said Clyde Patton, president of the construction company.

Apartment building in the Memphis area may have peaked, because rents have leveled off and construction costs have continued to rise, and some new properties have not filled up as quickly as owners would like, Patton said.

"We looked at it pretty hard, but we didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to be in Schilling Farms," Patton said.

"Schilling Farms is a very pedestrian place to live. You can live in the neighborhood and walk to the middle school, the YMCA, or the day care center, which are all close to us," Patton said.

Last year, 2,911 apartment units were completed in Shelby and DeSoto counties, but only 1,690 units were absorbed, said Holley Dargie, vice president of marketing for the multi-family division of CB Richard Ellis Memphis.

Absorption is the net gain in apartment units occupied at the end of the year.

Trammel Crow Company also is planning to start developing Legacy Farm Apartments at Schilling Farms. It will have 368 units in its initial phase. Construction is expected to start within a few months.

Schilling Farms is a master planned community.

Cooper, Robertson & Partners of New York and Looney Ricks Kiss of Memphis developed the land planning for Schilling Farms. The same firms planned Celebration, a planned community near Disney World near Orlando.

Schilling Farms has mixed-property uses where walking from home to work or school or recreation is facilitated by site placement, sidewalks and paths connecting major elements. Landscaping and special touches capturing the small-town flavor of old Collierville also are part of the planned community.

The development is taking shape on 443 acres of what was a large farm just a few years ago. It is located on the west side of Collierville south of Poplar and east of Bailey Station Road.

Office, medical, retail, distribution, office-showroom, hotel, institutional, apartment and single-family residential buildings are planned or under construction.

"It’s like a town within a town," said Russell Bloodworth, executive vice president of Boyle Investment Company.

Boyle is coordinating the development and marketing the land.

It will take two years to complete the apartment community, Patton said.

Amenities include a tot lot, tennis court, volleyball court, swimming pool, clubhouse, fitness center, business center and covered parking for 68 units.

Monthly rents will range from $675 for one-bedroom units with 764 square feet to $1,170 for three-bedroom units with 1,370 square feet.

Schilling Farms Apartments LLC is the developer-owner of The Madison at Schilling Farms. Other principals include Bruce Taylor of the Patton & Taylor firm, and the family interest of Phillip H. McNeill Sr.

"This is our third apartment development in Collierville," Patton said.

The same group developed Bailey Creek Apartments and Dogwood Creek Apartments in Collierville in the past three years.

The YMCA at Schilling Farms will open this month, and Schilling Farms Middle School will be completed in August, Bloodworth said.

Six or seven houses are now framed in The Neighborhood at Schilling Farms. It is the initial single-family home development within Schilling Farms where houses are expected to sell from about $295,000 to $400,000.

Patton, Taylor & Ryan, a land development company whose principals include Patton and Taylor and Paul Ryan, also recently bought a 14.85 acre site in Schilling Farms for a small lot subdivision.