by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
East West Partners has a third major development and this one is a bit different.
The company developed Eagle Landing and Eagle Harbor but Rolling Hills at Lake Asbury has a new look for company president Roger Arrowsmith.
“We have never had a brand new community that has had so much already here,” he said. “We have three brand new schools right down the road. We have never had an existing shopping center with a grocery store already there. It really is interesting. It is a new experience for us to work into an existing community, Lake Asbury, that’s already here.”
Lynda Winters, Kelly Touhey and Marla Newman are the site agents for the 500-acre development in Clay County.
Beverly Dubis, senior vice president of East West Realty, said they’ve had a mix of potential buyers coming in, but mainly they are seeing military families and local buyers.
“Now that we have the amenity center finished, I think we will see more of the relocation buyers from out of town that don’t want to wait for amenities to be in place,” said Dubis.
At buildout, there will be 761 homes in Rolling Hills. Currently, there are 30 homes in the community.
Price range starts at $170,000 and go up to the mid $400,000’s. Builders in the community include King South Construction, Cornerstone Homes, Ryland Homes, David Weekly Homes, Rosewood Homes and Sid Higginbotham Homes.
“This is the least expensive community that we’ve had with the kind of amenities that we have here,” said Arrowsmith. “With this community center here, we have more facilities here than we have at Eagle Harbor, except we don’t have a golf course.”
The project started in 2007 with the sales center and infrastructure. The amenity center was finished in May.
“We are very thankful that we started when we did,” said Arrowsmith. “If we were starting now, with the economy, I’m not sure that (the community center) would exist to the extent that it is.
“That’s a $5 million facility sitting over there and it would be very difficult to sit down today and justify going ahead with that. In the long run, with a future of 761 homes out here, that will be very much appreciated and a great asset for the entire community, so I’m very thankful that we went ahead and built it.”