Plan caption: Plan for the initial portion of

Well over 200 homes are built or under construction in Norton Commons, a traditional neighborhood development outside of Louisville, Kentucky. The town center for the project is also under construction, with four live-work units, and three mixed-use buildings built or under construction, according to David Tomes of developer Traditional Town LLC. The first mixed-use building has 24 units of senior citizen age-restricted residential above 18,000 sq. ft. of retail, built by Legacy Homes of Louisville. Two more buildings with 24 units over retail — one age-restricted and the other open to any residents — are also under construction. The 40,000 square feet of retail after these building are completed “will hold us for a while,” Tomes says.
He reports that Norton Commons is coming along well, but “we could use a volume builder.” Louisville is a city that has a lot of smaller, local builders. Those that do specialize in production housing are reluctant to follow design codes, Tomes adds. He continues to search for production builders while noting that Norton Commons codes do not allow construction to a lesser standard. The project, planned for 2,880 residential units and 560,000 square feet of commercial on 600 acres, is designed as a complete town with a relatively “organic” block and street structure, very Olmstedian in influence. Louisville has a wealth of parks and parkways designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Norton Commons was designed in 1997 and broke ground for infrastructure in 2001.