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It Takes a Well-built Village
The City Paper, April 13, 2005

Lenox Village Habitat Conservation Plan
Green Space, People, and Nashville Crayfish
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov
Habitat Conservation Plans, March 2005

The top 10 Middle Tennessee subdivisions
InfoSource, Compass Newsletter, 4th Quarter 2004

Questions about New Urbanism?
Ask Lenox Village developer
The Tennessean, February 25, 2005

Southeast Davidson
Hot Spot for Homes
The Tennessean, January 10, 2005

Local Developer Receives
Friendly Street Award
Walk/Bike Nashville Press Release, October 6, 2004

Unsprawl Case Study
Features Lenox Village
Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments, Issue 15 Fall/Winter, 2004

Smart Growth Awards presented to
Mayor and Lenox Village
The Nail, January, 2004

Krebs: 'Smart Growth' Considers
Those Without Kids
Williamson A.M, Friday, January 23, 2004

Lenox Village plan nets AIA design Award!
Press Release, Spring 2002

Ruby May set for West End Park

By Will York, News Correspondent, The City Paper
August 02, 2006

The radical reshaping of West End Park continues, as Nashville developer Regent Homes has begun preliminary work on the 18-unit Ruby May residential building.

The three-story $5 million Ruby May will sit adjacent to its sister building, the Artie Lee, at 3100 West End Circle. To be completed in mid-2007, the Ruby May will feature one- and two-bedroom condominiums.

Preserving the historical integrity of the West End Park neighborhood was vital to the project’s design, said developer David McGowan, president of Regent Homes LLC.

“We wanted a vintage look to the building that fits in with the neighborhood,” McGowan said.

Ruby May features traditional Tudor and arts-and-crafts-era architectural influences reminiscent of the 1930s and 1940s, when the neighborhood was at its peak.

The building also features underground parking and a gated English garden to join the Ruby May with the Artie Lee.

McGowan targeted the West End Park neighborhood because of it proximity to nearby businesses, restaurants and entertainment venues.

“We know there’s a lot of jobs in that area, and a lot of people are wanting to be closer to their place of employment,” McGowan said.

McGowan said demographic studies for the project concluded potential residents would shed at least one vehicle as a benefit of living in the area.

The Ruby May development, together with similar nearby residential projects, marks a significant rebirth of the formerly thriving residential Midtown neighborhood.

“West End Park is under complete redevelopment,” McGowan said. “It’s a classic neighborhood with a lot of history, and our development complements those classic elements.”

The neighborhood’s resurgence owes at least partial credit to the 31st Avenue and Long Boulevard Urban Design Overlay (UDO), approved by the Metro Planning Department in March 2004.

Jennifer Carlat, Planning Department spokesperson, said the overlay has helped bring developments to the area.

“There has definitely been an influx of projects coming online after the UDO,” Carlat said. “We’ve seen a blossoming of that area with developers willing to achieve higher design standards.”

The strict overlay calls for shallow street setbacks, intricate facades with about three floors of height and compatibility with area historic buildings for the diverse residential neighborhood. The document aims to “create an urban neighborhood with a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly street.”

The overlay requires higher-density buildings such as the Ruby May to adhere to more stringent design standards.

Carlat said the overlay sets up the neighborhood for future growth, eventually drawing mass transit and increased commercial services without jarring the area with high-density development.

McGowan said Regent is looking at other West End Park parcels for development, but has yet to secure any other properties.

Prices will average about $250,000 per unit for the Ruby May.

Nashville-based architectural firm Kline Sweeney Associates designed the Ruby May, with Linkenholder Architects handling the design of the garden. Regent is overseeing construction and sales, and First Bank of Tennessee is providing construction financing.

Copyright (c) The City Paper. All rights reserved.

Regent Homes, LLC has received approval from the Smyrna Planning Commission to begin development of 60 acres of land for the creation of Lenox of Smyrna, a residential and commercial mixed-use community. Sales are expected to begin in Fall 2006. Lenox of Smyrna will consist of 340 attached and detached single-family homes, 40 condominiums, and over 18,000 square feet of retail and office space.

Lenox of Smyrna will be patterned after the highly successful Lenox Village community in south Nashville. Lenox Village, a traditional design neighborhood, is the number-one selling new-home community in Davidson County. Over 600 homes have sold since the community’s opening in October, 2002.

“We feel that Lenox of Smyrna will be as successful as Lenox Village,” says David McGowan, president of Regent Homes, LLC. “We have spent years researching what today’s home buyers want, and the Lenox product has become very popular with Middle Tennesseans.

“Currently there are a lot of buyers who do not have children under the age of 18 at home. This market (singles, married couples without kids, and empty-nesters) desire condos, town homes, or single family homes that meet their lifestyle needs. In a large part, these are the types of buyers that find the Lenox product appealing.”

Homes at Lenox of Smyrna will range in price from the $150s to the $350s. Buyers will be able to choose from 2-bedroom condominium flats, 2- and 3-bedroom town homes, or 3- and 4-bedroom single-family detached homes.

The residential character of Lenox of Smyrna draws on traditional Tennessee architecture with porches, balconies, high ceilings, tall windows and classic architecture detailing. All home exteriors will be brick or Hardie Plank cement siding.

The community will be developed with alleyways so that the majority of garage doors will be on the rear of the homes. In addition, all utilities will be underground.

“We want the feel of Lenox of Smyrna to be like that of a small Tennessee town from the past,” says McGowan.

Lenox of Smyrna will offer a pedestrian-friendly environment. Tree-lined streets and a network of wide sidewalks will create a strong connection between residential areas, green spaces and retail areas. The neighborhood will feature a large greenway and numerous “pocket” parks.

The main Village Green park will accommodate home owners with gardens and a bandstand reminiscent of small towns built before World War II. This main Village Green will be the backdrop for community-hosted parties and special events.

“Lenox Village in Nashville has made great use of their Village Green as a community gathering place,” says McGowan. “We have had Cinco De Mayo parties, a Valentine’s Chocolate Fest, Movie Night Under the Stars, and various barbeques for the residents on the Village Green.”

Lenox of Smyrna is ideally located next to Stewart Elementary School along Old Nashville Highway. For more information, please call Regent Realty at (615) 445-8888 or visit www.regenthomestn.com.

Developer introduces four new attached and detached home designs

Lenox Village, a mega subdivision that has become the "poster child'' for new urbanism in Davidson County, will soon begin the first of three more construction phases planned this year.

Construction is also beginning on about 10,000 square feet of office and retail space. To date, none of Lenox Village's planned 160,000-square-foot office and retail portion is complete.

Lenox Village, in south Nashville on Nolensville Road south of Old Hickory Boulevard, is an example of new urbanism, a concept promoting compact communities consisting of housing, workplaces, shops, entertainment, schools, parks and civic facilities, all within walking distance of one another.

Phase Seven, which will begin construction in a few days, will consist of 80 single-family detached and attached homes. It will introduce two new single-family detached plan designs and two new attached town home designs.

The Magnolia Springs, one of the new single-family detached home plans, features two bedrooms on the first level and allows buyers the option of finishing out the second level with a third bedroom and bonus room. The plan also includes a front porch and attached two-car garage. Pricing on the units will range between $220,000 and $270,000.

The Sugarland, one of the new attached town home plans, will feature a master suite on the first floor and two additional bedrooms and a loft on the second floor. It also has a fenced-in rear courtyard and optional garage or carport.

David McGowan, president of Nolensville Road-based Regent Development and Homes, said the new phase would "remain true to Lenox Village's unique Southern architectural style with single-family detached homes and attached town homes mixed together on the same street."

Included in Phase Seven will be a new "pocket park" called Lenox Park. The park, which was designed by locally based Linkinhoker Land Architecture, will be heavily landscaped with benches and a pergola, or trellis. It will also feature a concrete plaza and large manicured lawn, and the park's entrances will be flanked with brick columns and walls accented with iron railings.

In addition to the park, the homes in Phase Seven will front a preserved greenway that has a natural stream running through it. McGowan said Lenox Village is committed to preserving the stream, which connects to Mill Creek.

Alteras Park, another pocket park that was part of Phase Five, will also be completed this spring.

McGowan said Lenox Village strives to provide all that new urbanism has to offer in one complete package.

Lenox Village offers "a product line that very much addresses the needs of the community," McGowan said.

The mega development attracts residents ranging from young singles and couples to empty-nesters and people with special needs. It also allows families with multiple incomes to live there.

"It addresses a very diverse buyer profile," McGowan said. "We're very proud of it being the poster child."

Town Center, Phase Section Three and Town Center, Phase A-2 will be developed simultaneously with Phase Seven, which is all residential.

Town Center, Phase Section Three will consist of 36 town center homes and 41 single-family attached homes. The homes will feature Lenox Village's most popular floor plans — the Bradford and the Alexander.

Town Center, Phase A-2 will consist of three buildings — a 2,700-square-foot restaurant and two buildings consisting of five retail shops and offices along Nolensville Road.

McGowan described the shops as "quaint and charming."

"It will be a significant departure from the typical strip centers that are being developed in Davidson and Williamson counties," he said.

Lenox Village has also begun construction on its first four live-work town homes, which offer residents a chance to have a neighborhood office or retail establishment where they live. These units will run between the upper $200,000s and the lower $300,000s.

McGowan described them as "ideal for the customer who hates long commutes to work."

McGowan said families from Rutherford and Williamson counties, as well as Davidson, have moved into Lenox Village since ground was broken on the first phase about four years ago. He anticipates there will be about 1,600 families there when it's complete.

"Right now, we have a little over 500 families living here," he said.

InfoSource, a Franklin-based housing market research firm, ranks the top 100 subdivisions in 10 counties in Middle Tennessee.

Between January and September 2005, with regard to the number of building permits issued for everything ranging from single-family attached to single-family detached, "it would make them the second-most active subdivision in the area," InfoSource President Brian Laster said.

"Lenox Village has been quite a success story," he said.

Community to maintain yards of 'English garden' homes

BRENTWOOD/ANTIOCH -- With plans for the new Rosedown subdivision, Regent Development is hoping to attract the empty nester.

The first phase of the project on Holt Road near the Davidson-Williamson county lines, which consists of 17 homes, has been approved by the Metro Council. The second phase, which would consist of 20 homes, has been approved by the Metro Planning Commission but still awaits council approval.

"The community will be designed in what we call an English garden setting," said David McGowan, president of Regent Development, which is also the developer of the nearby mega subdivision, Lenox Village.

McGowan said the homes would have trellises and landscaping resembling an English garden.

All of the homes will have front porches and will face a nearby park, and they'll have attached two-car garages a! nd underground utilities. Access will be through a series of lanes with decorative streetlights, stop signs and mailboxes.

"The exterior will be 75% brick," McGowan said, adding that the remainder would be cement hardiplank, a material made of cement that resembles wood.

"It won't rot; it won't burn," McGowan said.

The homes will be single-family detached, and most will be one-story.

"Some will offer a bonus room above the garage," McGowan said.

The homes will range between the high $200,000s and the mid $300,000s.

McGowan said his target market group is "a 55-year-old-plus buyer who has lived in Davidson County or Williamson County and would like to move where the community maintains the yard."

He said this group is commonly referred to as "the move-down buyer market." All of the yards, he said, would be maintained by a homeowners' association.

McGowan said there are about 2,500 potential buyers estimated to be within a five-! mile radius.

He said he expects the area to be "very attractive" to them because of its proximity to two major interstates, downtown, hospitals and the Cool Springs shopping district.

"It's a very convenient area for shopping and working," he said.

Metro Councilman Parker Toler said he thinks the development will be "a positive" for the community.

"There's a demand for this type of housing, especially in my district," he said. "I think it will be something folks will be proud of."

Early on, Toler said, several residents were opposed to the project. Traffic was a concern as well as the sizes of the lots.

"Some would like the area to remain as it is in larger tracts," Toler said. "But the greater majority thought it was the right thing to do," he added.

The project received no opposition when it recently went before the planning commission.

Toler said he would propose the second part of the project at the Metro Council after some remaining issues are resolved with the Metro Stormwater Division and ! the Metro Planning Department.

"I made a pretty strict amendment," he said, adding that the amendment addresses some related storm-water issues.

Also, Toler said, he wanted the first phase to get under way so the neighborhood would get an idea of what the second phase would look like.

A stone house that sits on the property will remain, although the owners have chosen to sell and move out.

Thomas Sirmeyer, who lives in the house, said he thought he got a fair deal from Regent Development, and he thinks the new subdivision is needed in the area.

"It's a neat concept," he said.

Sirmeyer said he and his wife, Donna, plan to move into one of the homes of the new subdivision or to nearby Lenox Village. As they have gotten older, he said, they have need for less space.

"This house is just so big for us; it's more than we need," he said.

Copyright (c) The Tennessean. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc. Record Number: nsh2005091414003232

It is a neighborhood that bills itself as offering something for everyone.

Now Lenox Village, located on Nolensville Road south of Old Hickory Boulevard, is getting bigger with the addition of its sixth phase.

Construction is under way for the more than 30 town homes and 10 single-family homes that will make up the new phase, said David McGowan, president of Lenox Village.

The town homes, which have two or three bedrooms, range from $150,000 up to $210,000, he said.

The single-family homes start at $209,000 and go up to $300,000.

"This area is real unique in that it overlooks the stream," McGowan said. "It backs up into a large area where we're preserving the hilltops."

Lenox Village has a town center near the entrance of the subdivision complete with a "Village Green" across from the community's model home.

Residents can be seen walking the area's sidewalks or pushing baby carriages through the neighborhood, strolling by its rows of multilevel single-family homes sprinkled in with townhouses.

"The whole neighborhood is designed to have a park climate," he said. "We're a community for all generations and all incomes."

A.C. Corder and his family moved to Lenox Village last year. He said he found out about the neighborhood just by driving by one day.

"I really like the community," he said. "It seems like a nice environment and safe so far. They keep it up real nice."

Retail also is an option that will be added to the area in the near future. While Corder is not sure how he feels about retail businesses opening in the community, his wife, Ashley, is considering opening a hair salon in Lenox Village if they do.

The businesses will be in a mixed-use building that will have living space as well as stores including: Dino's Italian Bistro, a dry cleaners, coffee shop and a gift shop, among other businesses, McGowan said.

Tracey May filled out paperwork last week for her new two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath condominium. May said the proximity to her job at Southern Hills Medical Center and the fact it was easy for her to get exactly what she wanted attracted her to the area.

"Everything you would want was standard," May said.

That includes crown molding, hardwood floors and a fenced-in yard, which she sees as being ideal for her two dogs.

In addition to Phase Six, the community will eventually include "live/work units" in which people will have businesses on the first floor and live on the top two floors of their townhouses.

This phase of Lenox Village is scheduled to be completed by November, McGowan said.

Conversation with a Leader

By William Williams,
The City Paper
May 11, 2005

Your early career as a builder/developer centered on conventional suburban development. You are now focused on New Urbanism/TND infill projects. Why the switch?

Right out of college, I did resort development golf-course communities with Diamondhead Corp. During this time, I learned the value of studying demographics of homebuyers. In my recent demographic studies, I have learned that 75 percent of the homebuyers in the marketplace do not have kids 18 or younger. For years, a lot of consumer groups bought houses that did not fit their needs. They simply bought for price point and location. In studying buyer groups, I have found there are very diverse housing needs. I have studied Kentlands, Lakelands, Harbor Town, Seaside, Celebration, etc.

Why is traditional neighborhood development important?

From a society standpoint, TND offers a broad range of housing types and price levels. In itself, that meets the diversity of the new American household. At Lenox Village, we offer housing priced from the $90,000s to the $300,000s. You can have a single home with [two or] three generations of a family because many LV homes have "bounce-back" above-garage apartments for recent college grads or aging parents.

Do you feel that municipalities requiring development be done in the conventional, single-use manner harm society by allowing the wasting of land and segregating of people by socio-economic class?

The cost of maintaining a community at one unit per acre - the Brentwood model - or at 1.7 units per acre - the Franklin model - puts a high burden on future generations that will maintain and operate those communities. That type development creates a separation of classes by economics. Few people who make less than $100,000 annually can afford to buy a home in Brentwood. As such, people who work service jobs in Brentwood cannot live in Brentwood. The cities of Brentwood and Franklin allow the building of office condos at 12 units per acre. So jobs are being created but not the housing to support those jobs. Workers are driving from other communities, and city officials complain about the main roads being clogged with traffic.

You have just returned from Oklahoma City to speak to city officials about traditional neighborhood development.

It's a compliment that the City of Oklahoma City is looking to Nashville to find solutions for housing and planning problems. It says a lot about Mayor Bill Purcell and Metro Planning Department Executive Director Rick Bernhardt and how they support New Urbanism/smart growth.

How would you describe your leadership characteristics?

I find talented employees and professional engineers/architects, and I trust them and give them the authority to do their jobs.

What is your main weakness as a businessman?

I can sometimes be too demanding with local politicians whose assistance I need with projects.

You are preparing to develop 3102 West End Circle, a $5.5 million four-story residential building with a traditional design and underground parking. This will be your first infill project in urban Nashville. Your thoughts?

We basically are looking forward to moving into the core of the city. We've had a lot of interest already and hope it's the first of many infill projects in that area.

What is the financial status of your various companies?

We're very strong financially. Within the past 12 months, we have doubled our revenues and number of employees.

Who in the traditional neighborhood development/smart growth community nationwide do you see as your main influence?

Orlando-based John Van Sossen with Looney Ricks Kiss Architects is an expert. He knows how to design a livable community and perfect a TND plan.

How can Nashville retrofit some of its land-wasteful suburban developments?

The city is working to do that by using zoning overlays.

What locally based developers are doing the best job of creating urban infill buildings?

Bristol Development and CODA are the main two. They are stepping up big.

You are on the board of the Adventure Science Center. The Metro Parks Department controls the property on which the center, Greer Stadium and Fort Negley are located. What should be the future of that land?

It's one of the most prime pieces of real estate in Nashville, and it needs to be developed as a major park and tourist destination for the city. The park would be anchored by the Adventure Science Center, the Civil War interpretive park [at Fort Negley] and other family-oriented offerings. The center's board and city officials have had discussions. Hopefully, the complexion of the area will have major changes when the Nashville Sounds leave.

Biographic Summary:

David McGowan, president, Lenox Village LLC, Regent Homes LLC, Regent Realty LLC, and Regent Development LLC

Hometown: Mobile, Ala.

Education: Bachelor's degree in political science, University of South Alabama

Age: 56

First conventional job: Design draftsman with a consulting engineer firm

Hypothetical dream job: Governor of Tennessee

After years of handling conventional suburban residential development, David McGowan is now focused on "traditional neighborhood development" (TND). He directs 16 employees working from his office in Lenox Village, the New Urbanism development in South Nashville. In 1991, McGowan structured a leveraged buyout of the Radnor companies (Radnor Homes, Radnor Development and Radnor Realty) from parent Radnor Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Oil Co. As such, he oversaw one of the state's largest privately owned homebuilding/land developing companies. In 1998, Pulte Corp. bought Radnor, and McGowan left to focus on researching smart growth, TND and New Urbanism, with his efforts resulting in Lenox Village. McGowan is a former president of the Homebuilders Association of Middle Tennessee and remains a director of the association on various levels.

William Williams writes about Nashville’s man-made environment. He can be contacted at wwilliams@nashvillecitypaper.com.

It Takes a Well-built Village

By William Williams,
The City Paper
April 13, 2005


Welcome to Nashville, Lenox Village.

South Davidson County’s fledgling neo-traditional mixed-use development provides a true sense of community, a wonderful thing given that Lenox Village is severed from Nashville’s gritty, historic and authentic urban core by a no-man’s land of generic, dehumanizing sprawl.

The disconnect is jolting, spurring those passionate about meaningful places to root for the success of Lenox Village, despite its warts and detractors.

Urbanites curious to see LV likely will do so by motoring south via Interstate 65, exiting at Old Hickory Boulevard and traveling east past once-beautiful hills now pockmarked with nondescript residential enclaves, many gated and with homes turning their backs to the car-intense thoroughfare. Of note, the pretentiously named Copperfield, Archstone and Brentwood Downs seemingly are marketed to attract an English nobility. Ridiculous.

At the Edmonson Pike/Old Hickory intersection, an ugly billboard-sized sign blatantly advertises Cheryl Crewse’s insurance agency. That Metro Government allows a small business to have such monstrous accompanying signage is baffling.

Shortly thereafter sits a spaceship-like structure home to Faith Church, its puny “steeple” rising sheepishly from a polygonal edifice.

Next, the massive Christ Church building frames its hillside setting with the sensitivity of a hyena goring a felled wildebeest.

Past fast-food fry pits and cartoonish buildings, and down Nolensville Road, the gargantuan Lake Providence Missionary Baptist Church looms, a confused combination of contemporary and faux-traditional design. Those who prefer religious structures to look both dignified and welcoming might ask, “Do people worship God or manufacture aircraft carriers in this building?”

The visual assault ends as Lenox Village soon appears.

Refreshingly, developer Lenox Village LLC is creating the old-school community more for people than for cars. It’s a simple town/city planning principal Americans discarded after World War II, with detrimental social and health ramifications.

LV highlights foreign to conventional suburban residential development include a civic space with a bandshell, tidy alleys (called “lanes,” no less), child-friendly pocket parks and a church that can be accessed by foot.

Quirky and quaint street names such as “Bienville,” “Saint Danasus,” “Tuia” and “Ned” add to the LV distinctiveness.

“We actually researched books to find names that were unique to small traditional villages in the Northeast and South,” said David McGowan, LV mastermind.

Soon, ground will be broken on an approximately $4.5 million mixed-use structure (nicely designed by Nashville-based Crossroads Architecture LLC) combining office, retail and condominium space. This building alone will differentiate LV from the sea of single-use subdivisions flooding the South Davidson County hinterlands.

Lenox Village was not born easily. Many scoffed at the original land-use plan, tastefully handled by Looney Ricks Kiss. Initially, banks were skittish to provide financing. Kudos to AmSouth Bank for being the first to overcome its queasy stomach. Since then, SouthTrust, First Bank and The Community Bank also have stepped forward.

Despite great progress, Lenox Village is not unflawed.

Understandably, a patina of age is missing, thus lending a certain sterility to the community. Also, more non-residential space than currently planned could effectively complement the eventual 1,400 residences.

Still, Lenox Village is a place all Nashvillians can care about.

Unlike the bland non-places that surround it.


William Williams writes about Nashville’s man-made environment. He can be contacted at wwilliams@nashvillecitypaper.com.

Lenox Village Habitat Conservation Plan
Green Space, People, and Nashville Crayfish

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, www.fws.gov
Habitat Conservation Plans, March 2005

In Nashville, when Regent Development began to plan Lenox Village — with houses, offices, and stores — the company experienced a couple of unexpected developments of its own. A five-acre farm pond on the site turned out to be home to a remnant population of endangered Nashville crayfish, isolated decades earlier when a dam was built on a Mill Creek tributary. Not only that, the dam was leaking. Terming the dam a safety hazard, Tennessee authorities told the landowner that it had to be repaired or replaced.

That's when Regent Development, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the Fish and Wildlife Service started talking. The result is a Habitat Conservation Plan for 101 acres including an intermittent stream that the company calls "an amenity for the community."

"The Habitat Conservation Plan gave us a means to make our concept a reality," said Rick Blackburn of Regent Development. "We will improve the stream that runs through the site to benefit the environment and the community. At the same time, we'll keep the Nashville crayfish as part of Lenox Village."

The HCP requires the company to restore the stream to its meandering status with pools and riffles near a forested hillside and establish a stream side buffer as a common area that the home owners' association will protect in perpetuity, in keeping with a conservation easement. Trees native to Tennessee--such as sycamores, willows, oaks, and maples--will provide a buffer along the restored stream. Signs along the stream will let people know the needs of the crayfish.

Biologists expect downstream crayfish to recolonize the restored habitat, along with crayfish relocated from other projects.

The top 10 Middle Tennessee subdivisions.



Taken from: InfoSource, Compass Newsletter, 4th Quarter 2004

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Questions about New Urbanism?
Ask Lenox Village developer.

The Tennessean, February 25, 2005

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Southeast Davidson
Hot Spot for Homes

The Tennessean, January 10, 2005

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The anti-sprawl community efforts of Nashville's first neo-traditional mixed use neighborhood, Lenox Village, have been recognized in a Smart Growth Award given to Mayor Bill Purcell, Metro planning director, Rick Bernhardt, and Lenox Village president, David McGowan, at a ceremony Monday at the south Nashville development held by the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee.

The ceremony was held in a picturesque setting at Lenox Village's park pavilion located on the 101-acre development off Nolensville Road near Old Hickory Boulevard.

Ric Maddux, president of the Home Builders Association of Middle Tennessee, siad the awards were held to recognize important steps taken by visionary leaders to positively affect the way in which various socio-economic citizens can live together in well-planned communities.

"Land is one of our nation's most valuable resources. New urbanism is inspiring political leaders who want to solve social, economic and traffic problems while making their cities and towns more beautiful and dignified. Popular 'Smart Growth' policies promote New Urbanism while reducing sprawl. These policies are now at the top of the agenda for the nation's mayors and governors and we are pleased to be honoring these men today with our first Smart Growth award," Maddux said.

In accepting the award in the park pavilion overlooking the neighborhood, Mayor Purcell said Lenox Village is an example of how together Nashville is as a city.

"Today, I receive this award for what it means to this neighborhood, Lenox Village, and all that it stands for. You have many thanks for what you have done but more importantly the model that this provides for what we can do in this city and ultimately as a model for the country. In standing here today to accept this award, as I look out all I really see is blue sky. I think that is how the home builders and all of us should feel about the potential of this city in years ahead because we are so together," Purcell said.

Long-time builder and developer David McGowan, president of Lenox Village, LLC, said he was honored to receive the Smart Growth award for a project which has meant so much to his company and now his community. "This Smart Growth Award recognizes both the private and public sectors' efforts to create a special place for people to live and work. Lenox Village provides quality, affordable housing choices for people of all income levels and ages as well as an important village retail center," McGowan said.

Since opening the Lenox Village model homes in October 2002, over 200 condos, town homes and single family homes have been sold. The diverse housing is designed for various income types and ages thereby creating an authentic community.


"As I look out all I really see is blue sky," Mayor Bill Purcell said while describing the future of Nashville and the home building industry.