By Sadie Hunter
With major home developments in Noblesville’s northwest corner of the city in North, South and West Harbour and others surrounding Morse Reservoir, a major intersection – Ind. 38 and Little Chicago Road – is spurring development at its southeast corner.
The intersection serves as the hub from a sea of residential areas into Carmel, Sheridan, Westfield and the city center of Noblesville, and because of this, the housing development will bring with it a small commercial development.
Sixty-three lots have been proposed by developer Fischer Homes, and directly south, facing Ind. 38, will be three commercial outlots, to be developed by Equicor Co. Both began the process of getting the project rolling in spring 2015.
At it’s Dec. 22 meeting, the Noblesville Common Council approved rezoning and amended waivers for the development from R1 Residential to R4 Mixed Use after a positive recommendation from the Noblesville Common Council Nov. 16. The property was originally annexed into the incorporated City of Noblesville in 1997 as part of an effort by the city to gain contiguity with the Pebble Brook development near Ind. 32.
“We’ll be going in through the next phase of the entitlement process with our plat and our construction plans for our first section. So, we hope that goes smoothly, and as soon as we’re done with that, we’ll look to break ground in the summertime of 2016,” said Sean Sullivan, land acquisition manager for the Indianapolis division of Fischer Homes.
To the immediate west is the existing Mill Grove subdivision, home to hundreds of lots. Throughout zoning and the request for waivers from developers, some Mill Grove residents had concerns over buffering.
Fischer Homes had requested a perimeter buffer of 50 feet at the development’s south border, where it abuts, to be waived to zero. Through meetings with residents and the Mill Grove Homeowners Association, developers compromised to take the buffer from 50 feet to 20 feet, complete with an eight-foot shadowbox fence and trees to separate the two subdivisions.
The 63 single-family lots will sit on 22.27 acres and will be called The Retreat at Mill Grove.
Average assessed home values are estimated to be approximately $320,000 for a 1 1/2-story, minimum 2,000-square-foot home on a 6,000-square-foot lot. The development will have 3.53 lots per acre of the allowed five for R4 zoning.
“We haven’t broken out our sections (for phases of construction) yet. We’re going to be going in for a plat of the entire 63 residential lots, but then we’ll start to configure how big our sections will be,” Sullivan said. “Then, we’ll cement that construction plan after the plat is approved.”
Sullivan said features of the subdivision include walking trails, green space and connectivity to the city at large. An existing lake that was constructed for the Mill Grove subdivision will be expanded to accommodate the retention needed for the development.
Road access to the commercial outlots will be via Ind. 38, and two access points will be at Little Chicago Road to the west and Mill Grove’s Edwards Grove Drive.
“(The houses are) geared toward the boomer population. It’s not age restricted, but more so age targeted,” Sullivan said. “It’s a new product, our patio collection that we’ll be bringing in. We just recently introduced it into a community in Westfield – The Village at Oak Manor – one of the sections there, and we just finished development (of the patio collection) on a section – The Village at Brookside – in McCordsville, that will have this product as well. So, this is really new; we don’t have really, other than those two communities, anything up and running. So, we’re really excited to get this, not just in Noblesville, but in the (greater) Indianapolis area.”
City officials and developers say there are currently no immediate plans or construction schedule for the three commercial outlots.
“(The commercial development aspect) is clearly speculative,” said Greg Small, a principal for Equicor Co. “I mean, if you take the property at (Ind.) 32 and Little Chicago (Road), it’s not all developed, but you’ve got CVS on the corner, and a lot of that’s zoned retail. I think it’s going to take some population on the property. It’s going to take some time. I could be wrong, but I don’t see (development of commercial outlots) happening anytime soon.”
“There will be a lot of residents in that little corner. I think this is a great opportunity for some retail,” said Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear after the Dec. 22 common council meeting. “I have no idea what will be there, but certainly, to me, it’s for those who live in a few miles of that (intersection), so we’re excited.”
