A front page article (subscription required) in this week's Triad Business Journal profiles the Lake at Lissara project in western Forsyth County, just outside the Lewisville Town Limits. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know much of anything about this project even though it's virtually a stone's throw from my house. From the article:
Four Triad developers are teaming up to create a 112-home subdivision on 255 acres in western Forsyth County that will feature a large man-made lake and could reach $50 million in total investment, making it one the largest residential projects in the county since 2008…
By summer, builders and individuals can purchase lots ranging in size from one-fifth of an acre to 30 acres. Wilcox expects the homes to eventually sell for $300,000 to more than $1 million over the next seven years…
To create Lake at Lissara, the developers purchased six parcels of land for around $4 million from six different families, Wilcox said. Godfrey’s firm, Westview Development, previously owned 100 acres of the land slated for the subdivision.
Wilcox estimates total build-out costs, infrastructure and home construction to be $50 million. Once the land is plotted and recorded next month, Coldwell Banker Residential Mortgage will begin selling home lots ranging from $70,000 to about $300,000, Wilcox said.
The goal of the project is create a unique subdivision dotted with waterfront homes, sprawling estates, views of Pilot Mountain and a 64-foot-deep lake where homeowners can swim, sail and fish. The lake itself stretches some 3,000 feet end to end and has an estimated three miles of lake frontage.
From the standpoint of Lewisville I'm not sure this is a great development. There's a pretty decent impact on infrastructure since the quickest access to US-421 is through town, and that section of town already experiences a great deal of traffic volume. On the other hand, since this development is in Forsyth the town won't recognize any tax revenue from it, and considering these are going to be high end properties that would be a decent chunk of change. Maybe the town will get a little indirect bump if the development helps raise the value of surrounding properties, but I don't think it will be enough to make up for the infrastructure hit.
Update: More from the Winston-Salem Journal
