‘Sell the neighborhood first’ helps Louisville project

“Norton Commons’s focus has always been selling the neighborhood first and the home second,” says Angela Hepner, Marketing and Neighborhood Manager of Norton Commons. The New Urban development, outside Louisville, KY, has been growing steadily throughout the economic downturn and is outperforming its surrounding neighborhoods according to John Gilderbloom, a professor of urban and public affairs at the University of Louisville, who has been studying the Louisville region’s real-estate market.

Sales have averaged 60 to 70 units per year with the average home price at about $375,000, Hepner says. Norton Commons, which began construction in 2003, has sold approximately 450 residences. There are about 40 businesses operating within the neighborhood. Twenty-one units are to be displayed in a “Home-a-rama” event that takes place in late July — 16 of those units were sold as of late June.

Norton Commons is planned to have a total of 2,880 dwelling units and 560,000 square feet of retail at buildout. The developer anticipates that completion will take 15 years.

Norton Commons brings a holistic approach to its marketing. The neighborhood center has been the host of a continuous stream of events, bringing outsiders into the development and building a sense of community among the residents.

The neighborhood center has outdoor movie nights, Thursday night live music, weekly farmers’ markets, summer programming in a community pool, 4th of July fireworks, and has hosted several bike races through the community.

Events frequently piggyback multiple agendas: the weekly farmers’ market often features a charity event across the street. Home-a-rama, a regional home show put on by the Home-builders Association of Louisville, also features the raffling of one home with the proceeds benefiting the local Children’s Hospital.

The development has focused on building community amenities to maintain a consistent buzz around the project, even when home sales slowed during the recession. Several parks and a pool were built in the early years of the project. The development has a YMCA and church under construction and has plans for two schools. “We continued to concentrate on building things that showed progress during the worst of times,” says developer David Tomes. “The firehouse, parks, and civic buildings … there was always a perception that a lot was happening here and only here.”

There are currently about 60 buildings under construction, which is fewer than had originally been planned at any given time, but, “when you look at everything else in town it’s the only place doing anything,” says Tomes.

A variety of housing types and price points helps. “Functional, creative and unique floorplans seem to be the way the world is moving and this is exactly what we offer,” says Tomes. Norton Commons includes condominiums, townhouses, apartments, single-family houses, and live-work spaces, as well as market-specific units such as age-restricted housing. The price range is wide. Condominiums have sold for as little as $139,000 and some houses have been priced as high as a million dollars. High-end houses are still being built, but under contract — not as spec houses.

“We concentrated efforts to deliver products that hit market needs,” Tomes says. Yet primary focus is always on creating a good place. “If someone loves the neighborhood, they will find a house,” says Hepner.