The former golf school at The Legends Golf Club will get new life with a planned unit development approved by the Franklin City Council Monday.
Fred Paris, a former Franklin mayor, and several business partners plan to redevelop the former Indiana Golf Foundation golf school, at 2625 N. Hurricane Road, into a multi-use space and build 91 homes on 51 acres adjacent to the former school.
Within the planned unit development (PUD), dubbed Eagle’s Landing, will be the redeveloped golf school and three smaller neighborhoods. Each will be distinct in terms of housing density, housing type and landscaping features.
Paris plans to redevelop the former golf school first, with hopes to break ground on the first section by fall 2023, he said.
The 25,000-foot golf school will be redeveloped for several possible uses including apartments, professional services, restaurant, salon, gym, daycare center, school, private club or place of worship, according to plans submitted to the city. An additional building may be built beside the property that would be subject to the same use types, plans show.
With a 6,000-square-foot section of the golf school that already contains a commercial kitchen, Paris plans to attract a restaurant or brewery. Quality is the most important to him, so he’s willing to wait for the right tenant, Paris said.
With a part of the property that is currently a par-three golf course at the site, Paris plans to build the 25-lot Legendary Ridge neighborhood. About six holes of the nine-hole course will remain at the site to be used by anyone who lives in Eagles Landing, Paris said.
The Rock Ridge Manor neighborhood will feature eight estate-size, half-acre lots, with four of the lots backing up to the golf course The Legends, Paris said.
The 58-home Caledonia Park neighborhood will offer small-lot, maintenance-free living, with landscaping, mowing and snow removal to be taken care of by the homeowners association, Paris said.
Paris told the council he wants Eagle’s Landing to bring high quality homes like those developed by his father, William E. Paris. Though the developments his father brought to the community – the Paris Estates, Ramsey and Camelot subdivisions – are older now and without modern touches of today, they are timeless neighborhoods that are still desirable.
“What’s unique about those is that they’ve stood the test of time. People still want to live in those and are still buying homes there and want to live there,” Paris said. “This is our chance to build something that we think he would be proud of and the community would be proud of.”
The three neighborhoods will each be governed by an individual homeowners association, plus would be part of an overarching homeowners association for the entire Eagle’s Landing PUD, Paris said.
The homes will be built by local or national custom home builders that are still to be determined. Whichever builders come to the site will have to follow specific design standards outlined in the PUD. All home exteriors will be built of brick, stone, wood, high-quality vinyl, or a combination of those materials.
The planned unit development was forwarded to the council with a favorable recommendation from the Franklin Plan Commission. The city council approved the PUD unanimously among the five members present. Members Shawn Taylor and Ken Austin were absent.
A public hearing was held Monday but no member of the public spoke for or against the development.
This development is part of a housing boom for the city and for Hurricane Road. Just across the road, the Forestar Group Inc., an Arlington, Texas-based residential developer, plans to build 322 homes on a 130-acre parcel. In October of last year, the city council approved the development, dubbed The Highlands, by a slim 4-3 vote. At the time, neighbors from the area opposed that development and submitted a petition to “keep Franklin small.”
