Good Neighbors, Life is Hectic Enough – Home Should Be A Restful Retreat

– Active Years Magazine –

The word “neighborhood” conjures up calming images — quiet streets where a person can walk or jog without fear of too much traffic, homes with spacious yards for play or indulging that gardening hobby, maybe a park or two. And, most important, there’s a feeling of security because you know and are friendly with the folks next door and down the street.

Such enclaves aren’t just in small towns. They can even be found within or on the edges of busy cities, like this sampling of attractive upscale developments that have been springing up around this region.

Life is hectic enough — home should be a restful retreat.

Memphis Area: Boyle Neighborhoods, (901)766-4218; www.boyle.com: Boyle Investment Co. Is known for residential areas throughout Memphis dating as far back as the 1930’s. Over the past two decades, Boyle’s residential community planning and development has concentrated on home sites in a variety of price ranges in and around the city.

Here’s a sampling of the 18 planned neighborhoods with lots currently offered by Boyle; all are near to, if not within, Memphis, and convenient to shopping and schools. (The figures listed for each community and gathered from the Boyle Web site were current as of this writing.)

Bedford Plantation: On 71 acres in Germantown, adjacent to and west of Ridgeway Country Club off Poplar Avenue, this development has large lots, many with trees and many which back up to the Ridgeway golf course. The site has 108 lots ranging from $115,000-$189,900; average sizes are 100 feet wide x 150 feet deep for golf properties and 110 feet wide x 150 feet for interior spots. The minimum home size is 4,000 square feet, with prices starting at $450,000.

Buckingham Farms: A planned community featuring new homes currently under construction, near Southwind and Windyke Country Club. The average lot size is 80 feet wide x 140 feet deep; minimum home size is 1,850 square feet, at prices of $140,000 to $180,000.

The Cloisters: This newest addition to the upscale River Oaks neighborhood is situated on 40 acres between Baptist Memorial Hospital East and the Ridgeway Center Office Park. There are 65 lots measuring 1/2 acre each. Minimum home size is 3,000 square feet (most are 4,500 to 10,000 square feet); prices are $700,000 to $1,000,000 plus.

The Gardens of Riveredge: A neighborhood of custom homes on wooded terrain surrounded by other neighborhoods within the large, master planned Riveredge community, this area features 138 1/2 acre lots. The minimum home size is 3,200 square feet with prices starting at $300,000.

Schilling Farms: The designers of Disney’s Celebration community in Orlando, Fla., drew up the plans for this community in Collierville, with an atmosphere reminiscent of a Southern small town.

There are 87 lots of 9,200 square feet each, with minimum home size at 2,800 square feet; the price range is $300,000-$600,000. Schilling Farms is a mixed-use development which, upon completion, will consist of facilities including offices, retail, a new middle school, churches and a 28,000 square foot YMCA.