By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Mundy Mill development revived
Developer plans to build in controlled manner on 604-acre community
0418mundy3
John Schwartz, sales manager of Main & Main Real Estate, talks about future plans for Mundy Mill, a large residential development off Mundy Mill Road. - photo by Tom Reed | The Times
One of Hall County’s largest planned residential developments, Mundy Mill, is rebounding, but growth expectations won’t resemble the national trend of overextended developers before the Great Recession.John Schwartz, sales manager for Main & Main Realty, which markets Mundy Mill, said Butler Property intends to move forward in a “controlled” manner.“One thing about our developer and our builders is they’re very strong financially, and we’re not operating on any borrowed money,” he said.Plans for the mixed-use, 604-acre development, when approved in 2004, called for 1,148 single-family houses, 578 town houses, 460 apartments and more than 1 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space.Only 67 homes were built before the housing market fell apart across America, leading to what would become the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.Mundy Mill was like many other vast subdivisions that have turned into ghost towns, with developers finishing roads and other infrastructure but not much else.Beginning in July 2009, four banks seized parcels of the development over the next year. Butler Property bought the property in 2010.“We’re not going to get too stretched out building too many houses at a time, so we’ll build three, four or five at a time and, as we sell two or three, we’ll build two or three more,” Schwartz said, speaking after a grand re-opening of the development Tuesday. “We won’t get too far ahead to expose ourselves to any undue risks.”Mundy Mill’s main entrance is off Mundy Mill Road and is bounded by Mountain View and Old Oakwood and Meeks Drive.