Mar 22

Mar 22 Housing developments follow local job growth

Several major industrial projects in the Lexington area are spurring plans for growth in the local housing market.

About 35 acres of land at a site at 718 Richard Road between the Davidson County Airport in Lexington and Interstate 85 Business Loop recently received approval for rezoning as a subdivision from an industrial and mixed-use classification by the Lexington Planning Board/Board of Adjustment.

The board’s staff summary stated the change would be consistent with the city’s 2022 land-use plan and recommended approval by the Lexington City Council at its March 25 meeting.

The project, tentatively named Green Needles, will have up to 107 units of housing, including approximately 62 townhouses and 45 single-family homes. The landowner, MRT-1, LLC, plans to sell the site to local developer Davidson Land Development.

Dan Timberlake, a principal in MRT-1, said the landowners had considered development of warehouse space and logistics operations because of proximity to the airport but felt recent economic development announcements made it clear there was a growing need for more housing for workers moving to the Lexington area.

Austria-based Egger Wood Products opened a plant in the Interstate 85 Corporate Center in Linwood that makes laminate in 2020 with plans to employ up to 770 people by the early 2030s. It currently has about 500 workers.

Charlotte-based Nucor Steel is building a steel rebar mill in Davidson County on 229 acres along the Highway 64 East corridor near the intersection with Interstate 85. About 500 temporary construction workers are currently building the mill and the plant, when finished, will employ about 200 people.

In March of 2023, Siemens Mobility announced plans to build a factory to make passenger rail cars on a tract off Brown Street in Lexington that will employ up to 500 people.

This past December, Japan-based Dai Nippon Printing Co. said it would hire 350 people for a plant in the I-85 Corporate Center that will make lithium-ion battery pouches used in electric vehicles.

“The way I look at it, because of those announcements, there’s going to be a tremendous amount of demand for housing,” Timberlake said.

He said Davidson Land Development is a large, local developer that does its own grading and utility contracting and will contract with builder Century Complete to construct the homes. Davidson Land Development developed the Glen Oaks subdivision off Fifth Avenue in Lexington several years ago and, more recently, Oak Ridge, off South Main Street, and is currently working on subdivisions in Asheboro and the Denton area.

Chris Reid, managing partner of Davidson Land Development, said the size of the single-family homes will range from 1,770 to 2,180 square feet with townhomes at about 1,600 square feet. Reid said the subdivision homes will have a variety of colors and rooflines so as not to appear too cookie-cutter.

He said the price point will be around $250,000 and up for single-family homes of three or four bedrooms and slightly less for townhomes.

Reid said his company hopes to begin site work on the project by June. The company will then sell the land to Century Complete, one of the top 10 home builders in the U.S., which will then begin a two-phase construction project.

Reid said he expects approval of the project by the city council since the planning board has already signed on.

“It’s a $30 to $50 million addition to the tax base for the city and requires the need for city utilities,” he said.

Reid said he expects to see more subdivisions developed in the near future.

“I think so with all the industry coming in. We’re going to need housing for the workers coming in or they will look somewhere else.”

In fact, there are plans for another large subdivision in Lexington called Quail Ridge III, which is to be developed by Mungo Homes in Winston-Salem into 135 single-family homes on 40 acres at 313 Bill Medlin Road.

The Lexington Planning Board/Board of Adjustment approved the development March 18 and the city council will consider the same at its meeting April 8.

According to the planning board summary, Quail Ridge III will offer a variety of single-family house plans and amenities accessible to all residents. Shugart Homes, a division of Mungo Homes, will build the homes.

Along with homes, the development will include community pocket parks with open spaces, a walking trail and a 20-foot landscape buffer around the perimeter of the development.

The summary states: “A variety of house plan options with one-bay and two-bay garages are included to allow for better affordability within the development. Materials for the houses include a mix of vinyl siding, incorporating traditional lap siding, board and batten vertical siding, and shake siding along with masonry brick and rock, adding to the aesthetic appeal and diversity of the community's architectural style.”

Entrances and exits will be off Quail Ridge Drive and the other on Bill Medlin Road. A traffic analysis looked at conditions at the intersections of Old Linwood Road at Quail Ridge, Old Linwood Road at Brown Street, Brown Street at Bill Medlin Road and Bill Medlin Road at the access site.