Unadvertised Upper-End Lots at River Oaks See Brisk Sale

– Commercial Appeal –

Boyle Investment Co. in a joint venture with Russell H. Kostka sold 27 large lots for upscale houses last week for about $4.3 million.

Wednesday was the first day contracts were accepted on 65 lots in The Cloisters of River Oaks, the newest addition to River Oaks Subdivision on 40 acres near Shady Grove Road and Sweetbriar.

The average price of lots sold was almost $160,000. Prices ranged from $117,500 to $315,000. Sizes ranged from 12,000 to 41,000 square feet. Only two lots were priced above $300,000; each sold. Three buyers bought two lots, said Russell Bloodworth, executive vice president at Boyle.

Boyle and Kostka acquired the land in February for $3.9 million from Wilda Humphreys and her son James H. ‘Herbo’ Humphreys Jr.

Extensive planning by a team of architects and land planners has preceded development.

Lot development will start next month. The community will be enclosed by a fence and will have 24-hour security guards. It will also have wide boulevards with extensive landscaping and restrictive covenants. One covenant will require buyers to choose an architect from a previously approved list of about 10 architects, Bloodworth said.

Initial-day sales were "way ahead" of any previous upper-end community by Boyle, Bloodworth said.

"There was no advertising, and there’s no sign on the property. It was a word-of-mouth thing," Bloodworth said.

Boyle had sent 140 informational packets to people who had inquired.

Offers with prices above listed price and offers to buy two or more lots were given priority over the time when the contract offer was received. Otherwise, time took precedence, said Paul Boyle, who is part of Boyle’s residential development division.

Five contracts were taken between 6 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. Wednesday.

One fellow showed up before 5 a.m. to bid first. He apparently talked a security person into opening the lobby door at Boyle’s office and locking him in, Bloodworth said. Then, he fell asleep on a couch in the lobby, Bloodworth said. When the building doors were unlocked at 6 a.m., another early bidder arrived and found his way to the residential division office before the man who had fallen asleep.