Ginn’s Laurelmor has New Name – Reynolds Blue Ridge
Reynolds repositions another community. Lot prices are lower too.
Palm Coast, FL – September 26, 2009 – On the heels of a repositioning of Hammock Beach condominium prices, the Reynolds Plantation subsidiary that purchased Ginn’s unfinished Laurelmor community near Blowing Rock, NC announces a name change. The community, which Reynolds acquired as a result of Ginn-LA’s Credit Suisse loan default, will now be called Reynolds Blue Ridge.
The announcement came in a posting to the community website yesterday. Besides the name change, the posting provided a progress update and announced a re-pricing of lots. The posting is provided below. Pay particular attention to the exquisitely composed rationale for the decrease in prices. GoToby.com has highlighted it in red so you can’t miss it. Existing owners who reportedly paid an average $625,000 per homesite are sure to resent the new lower prices, but "the market is what the market is." Any developer who wants to move forward with a partially finished project will have to make similar adjustments.
Owner Update
Posted in Letters To Owners on September 25th, 2009
Since the Laurelmor Owner meeting in June at Reynolds Plantation, our team has been hard at work incorporating your feedback and building the foundation for a strong community. We communicated some of the infrastructure updates in a previous posting, and I wanted to bring you up-to-date on some other exciting developments as we prepare to commence sales efforts. I hope you share our excitement at this crucial juncture in the community’s evolution!
As we are all aware, one of the challenges developers face today is establishing credibility. Fortunately for us, the reputation the Reynolds family has established in building communities over the last 25 years represents a “gold standard” among developers. The affiliation with the Reynolds name and brand is something we plan to take full advantage of, beginning with the new name of the community: Reynolds Blue Ridge. We are proud of this great piece of property and what we envision it can become, and are pleased to put our name on it.
Some additional updates on items of interest at Reynolds Blue Ridge:
Amenity and Infrastructure Status
Infrastructure: The HUD-1 infrastructure construction is ongoing and close to completion. All Phase 1 roads are now paved, with the exception of Marigold Road. Paving crews are standing by while a steel bridge, which will allow driveway access to several homesites, is installed. New paving continues west along the main Parkway to the State View Road entrance.
Entrance: As sales operations commence and owners commit to begin home construction, the entry experience to the community will become vitally important. In anticipation of this we have enlisted land planners and architects to design the permanent gatehouse, community signage, and landscaping at the State View Road entrance. Installation is scheduled to begin this year and be completed by Spring.
Golf Routing: After working through numerous potential designs, Rees Jones Golf has finalized the new golf course routing. The new design makes use of several previously planned holes. A course layout demonstrating the routing is being completed and will be shared with owners in a future posting.
Adventure Trail System: The Blue Hole Trail, the first of many miles of trails at Reynolds Blue Ridge, is now complete. Signage is being installed, and the trail is now open for hiking. In the last few weeks several families have enjoyed the trail. If you are interested in hiking it yourself, please contact us and we will be happy to provide directions and a trail guide. For easier access to the waters of Laurel Creek and the Blue Hole, we are constructing a road which will provide vehicle access to the area. The road will be complete next week. The Blue Hole is a short and level walk from a parking area near Laurel Creek.
Featured Builder Program
We understand that many owners are considering beginning construction of their mountain home, and we are committed to assisting them in adding affordability to this process. To this end, we have eliminated the 8% Featured Builder Royalty required by the previous developer. We are currently working on establishing a new Featured Builder Program
.
Club Membership Update
As communicated previously, Reynolds has agreed to honor the waived initiation fee for all 179 original owners. Membership documents for the club are currently being prepared and the new club will offer a variety of membership categories. Golf membership will not be mandatory. In addition, Reynolds will offer a “generational” membership option when the club is established. This program will extend membership privileges to the grandparents, children, and grandchildren of members. These benefits will be extended to the 179 original owners for no additional fee.
Sales Commencement and Pricing
In the past several months we have assessed market conditions and established strong relationships within the local community. We are now prepared to begin marketing and selling Reynolds Blue Ridge to new customers. In the next few weeks we will release for sale our first offering of homesites. As we evaluated the 240 homesites remaining in Phase 1, it became clear that existing owners purchased a majority of the finest homesites in the community. Our new pricing takes into account view, size, and location of existing homesites, and contemplates competitor’s offerings and the development status of Reynolds Blue Ridge versus some established communities that prospective buyers will compare to us. Given these conditions the first offering of homesites will be priced from $139,900 to $569,900.
Homesite Exchange Program
We are currently exploring a program that may allow existing owners to exchange their homesite for specially designed homes we are planning near the Rees Jones golf course. Timing and details for this program are not yet determined, but we are contemplating near-term occupancy and a program for owners to rent or sell the homes upon completion.
This is a crucial time in the “renaissance” of your community. My team and I appreciate the encouragement so many of you have offered us and we rely on your future support as our partners in the exciting things to come for Reynolds Blue Ridge.
Sincerely,
Terry Russell
President
Reynolds Signature Communities
As we are all aware, one of the challenges developers face today is establishing credibility. Fortunately for us, the reputation the Reynolds family has established in building communities over the last 25 years represents a “gold standard” among developers. The affiliation with the Reynolds name and brand is something we plan to take full advantage of, beginning with the new name of the community: Reynolds Blue Ridge. We are proud of this great piece of property and what we envision it can become, and are pleased to put our name on it.
Some additional updates on items of interest at Reynolds Blue Ridge:
Amenity and Infrastructure Status
Infrastructure: The HUD-1 infrastructure construction is ongoing and close to completion. All Phase 1 roads are now paved, with the exception of Marigold Road. Paving crews are standing by while a steel bridge, which will allow driveway access to several homesites, is installed. New paving continues west along the main Parkway to the State View Road entrance.
Entrance: As sales operations commence and owners commit to begin home construction, the entry experience to the community will become vitally important. In anticipation of this we have enlisted land planners and architects to design the permanent gatehouse, community signage, and landscaping at the State View Road entrance. Installation is scheduled to begin this year and be completed by Spring.
Golf Routing: After working through numerous potential designs, Rees Jones Golf has finalized the new golf course routing. The new design makes use of several previously planned holes. A course layout demonstrating the routing is being completed and will be shared with owners in a future posting.
Adventure Trail System: The Blue Hole Trail, the first of many miles of trails at Reynolds Blue Ridge, is now complete. Signage is being installed, and the trail is now open for hiking. In the last few weeks several families have enjoyed the trail. If you are interested in hiking it yourself, please contact us and we will be happy to provide directions and a trail guide. For easier access to the waters of Laurel Creek and the Blue Hole, we are constructing a road which will provide vehicle access to the area. The road will be complete next week. The Blue Hole is a short and level walk from a parking area near Laurel Creek.
Featured Builder Program
We understand that many owners are considering beginning construction of their mountain home, and we are committed to assisting them in adding affordability to this process. To this end, we have eliminated the 8% Featured Builder Royalty required by the previous developer. We are currently working on establishing a new Featured Builder Program
.
Club Membership Update
As communicated previously, Reynolds has agreed to honor the waived initiation fee for all 179 original owners. Membership documents for the club are currently being prepared and the new club will offer a variety of membership categories. Golf membership will not be mandatory. In addition, Reynolds will offer a “generational” membership option when the club is established. This program will extend membership privileges to the grandparents, children, and grandchildren of members. These benefits will be extended to the 179 original owners for no additional fee.
Sales Commencement and Pricing
In the past several months we have assessed market conditions and established strong relationships within the local community. We are now prepared to begin marketing and selling Reynolds Blue Ridge to new customers. In the next few weeks we will release for sale our first offering of homesites. As we evaluated the 240 homesites remaining in Phase 1, it became clear that existing owners purchased a majority of the finest homesites in the community. Our new pricing takes into account view, size, and location of existing homesites, and contemplates competitor’s offerings and the development status of Reynolds Blue Ridge versus some established communities that prospective buyers will compare to us. Given these conditions the first offering of homesites will be priced from $139,900 to $569,900.
Homesite Exchange Program
We are currently exploring a program that may allow existing owners to exchange their homesite for specially designed homes we are planning near the Rees Jones golf course. Timing and details for this program are not yet determined, but we are contemplating near-term occupancy and a program for owners to rent or sell the homes upon completion.
This is a crucial time in the “renaissance” of your community. My team and I appreciate the encouragement so many of you have offered us and we rely on your future support as our partners in the exciting things to come for Reynolds Blue Ridge.
Sincerely,
Terry Russell
President
Reynolds Signature Communities
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Reynolds
Reynolds are the new Ginn, Lubert Adler have just replaced Bobby Ginn with Reynolds and got rid of all the debt, buying it back for 10 cents on the dollar, it proves that Lubert Adler were in charge all along and Bobby Ginn was a mere puppet. Lubert Adler took 80% of the profit and would not even bother finishing the Communities. Bella Collina, Tesoro, Quail West, Cobblestone, Briarrose, Laurelmor, Bahamas, and Reunion never finished although they made more than enough to finish these projects, they left the Owners upside down with Empty promises of ‘World Class’ facilities, which were never built. Profits then distributed to their Investors- Harvard, Princeton, Kodak, Wells Fargo, Philadelphia P.D. Philadelphia Fire Brigade etc.
The U.S. Attorney General could be knocking on doors soon asking for the money back.