Southern Hills Plantation already is promoting lots in Phase 2. Industry insiders and those at a similar development watch to see if it pans out.
By DAN DeWITT
Published June 12, 2004
BROOKSVILLE - Southern Hills Plantation is a week away from opening its welcome center and has not yet received approval for the layout of its lots and streets.
But it is already announcing the opening of Phase 2. "We just can't keep it secret anymore. Due to demand, we're already opening Phase 2 in Southern Hills Plantation Club," read an advertisement last week in the Times; the ad also said more than 400 prospective buyers had made payments to reserve lots.
"We've had a lot of success and it looks like Southern Hills is going to be well-received by buyers," said Jim Doyle, vice president of marketing for the project's developer, LandMar Group LLC of Jacksonville.
Prices for the 999 houses planned for Southern Hills, which is south of downtown Brooksville and east of U.S. 41, range from $100,000 to $600,000; some builders and real estate agents questioned whether LandMar would be able to sell many homes at that price in Brooksville, especially because of the slow start of Hernando Oaks, a similar development on the other side of U.S. 41.
By December, several months after opening, Hernando Oaks had sold 19 lots to individuals, only a handful of whom had built homes and moved into them. The number of sales has since climbed to 39, according to the Hernando County Property Appraiser's Office. At least twice that number are buying houses directly from builders, said Nancy Thomas, the manager of Hernando Oaks' welcome center.
And these are buyers, she emphasized, rather than the potential buyers at Southern Hills.
"Reservations and closings are two different things," Thomas said.
Though the price range at Hernando Oaks, from $200,000 to $400,000, is similar to Southern Hills', Thomas said she does not consider them as competition.
"We're going to be a nice complement to one another," she said, adding that she is encouraged by the recent interest in the houses at Hernando Oaks.
"Things have really picked up. The market is wonderful," she said.
Doyle agreed. He said buyers seem interested in the area, as well as the plans for the golf course, which is designed by nationally known golf course architect Pete Dye, and the hilly landscape that has featured heavily in LandMar's promotion of Southern Hills.
"It's the combination," he said.
Though he declined to reveal how much LandMar has spent on this marketing campaign, it has included newspaper ads and billboards, including several on Interstate 75 in Marion County. Most mention the hills, the golf course and the "quaint" atmosphere. But advertising alone won't convince buyers, he said.
"Marketing only attracts attention," Doyle said, "but the product has to sell on its own merits."
