December 17, 2015

Building Community

 
By:  Amos Maki
The Daily News

The Carrington at Schilling Farms looks like an apartment community you might find in Downtown Memphis or a town square, but the development – Boyle Investment Co.’s first apartment project in more than 30 years – is in the heart of Collierville.

“We are trying to enhance typical apartment development by focusing more on architecture and site design,” said Les Binkley, project manager for Boyle. “It’s not your typical suburban apartment complex. It has a more traditional development character, reminiscent of a town square, than what you’re used to seeing in the suburbs.”

As opposed to a traditional, cookie-cutter suburban apartment community design, which can produce an almost soulless community with hundreds of units in similarly designed buildings, Boyle is seeking to infuse the project with designs and amenities that create a more personal, unique community. Buildings are built closer to the street, parallel on-street parking is present, trees line the street, and patios and balconies face a formal courtyard where benches and open space are present.

“Our goal is to bring character and uniqueness into the rental housing market by creating a stronger sense of place,” Binkley said. “We are trying to provide a personable and pleasant experience for our renters, and we feel like it is going to come off quite well.”

Construction is nearly finished and leasing has begun at The Carrington, which Boyle designed to serve as a centerpiece of Schilling Farms’ southern intersection of Schilling Boulevard and Winchester Road.

The master-planned Schilling Farms community includes multiple uses, with residential housing, schools, businesses and a church all part of the 443-acre development.

The Carrington project is a joint venture between Boyle and Schilling Farms partner Harry Smith, who formed a partnership with Clyde Patton and Bruce Taylor to develop the upscale, mixed-use neighborhood of boutique flats and townhomes on a 5-acre site at the northeast corner of Schilling Boulevard and Winchester.

Boyle is overseeing development of the Carrington project, and Patton & Taylor Construction Co. is handling construction. The grand opening is expected to happen this month.

The $13 million rental community consists of 111 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats and townhomes in five buildings. The complex also includes 1,200 square feet of ground floor corner retail space that Binkley said would be ideal for a coffee shop or deli.

Binkley said Boyle intentionally came out with a smaller project of 111 units within five buildings and included the retail space to help create a stronger sense of community and tie the project into the larger community as a whole.

“We’re trying to build smaller, nicer apartments where you’re not stuck in there with 400 other units,” said Binkley. “It will feel more personalized. We think the smaller size of the project is one of our strengths, and we think the market will appreciate that.”