After some controversy about the type of housing that would be built in a subdivision near Yellow Creek Park, a project is moving forward to add 31 homes that will start at $199,000.
Last month, local developer Gary Boswell sold 11 parcels to CMH Homes LLC for $577,000. Those 11 parcels include 10 plats along Sturbridge Place and 26 plats on Cambridge Drive (for which the rest of the roadway would need to be built).
According to a statement from company representatives, 2 Clayton retail centers — Clayton Owensboro and Clayton Evansville — are building “a new 31-home neighborhood.”
“The neighborhood will feature off-site built homes on permanent foundations with a detached garage option. All of the homes in the neighborhood will be eBuilt®, meaning they are built to the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Home specifications. These homes feature 25 additional energy-efficient enhancements and are estimated to save homeowners up to 50% on annual energy costs, providing homeowners a lower cost of ownership over the lifetime of their home,” the statement reads.
According to the statement, the new homes will start at $199,900 including land, and home sales will begin in Spring 2024.
After selling the land, Boswell stressed that his original intent was to provide single-family homes, but that after prices went up he wanted to instead add duplexes to provide affordable housing options.
“I determined that it was not financially feasible to build single-family houses. But I’m also very aware that there is a tremendous housing shortage right now in the market,” he said.
But after the fallout regarding his attempt to have the property rezoned, the property “was just sitting there.” Boswell said he was contacted about 2 months ago by CMH and decided to sell.
Boswell first told Owensboro Times in November 2021 that he planned to construct 37 single-family homes with an average cost to be around $150,000 to $200,000.
However, in mid-2022 Boswell said it was no longer feasible to build single-family residences because construction costs — and therefore the selling price of the home — had risen too much.
Bowell decided to instead build duplexes, and the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission approved rezoning the approximately 9.5 acres from single-family residential to multi-family residential. However, residents of the neighborhood voiced several concerns and appealed the OMPC decision.
The Daviess County Fiscal Court — at the time led by Judge-Executive Al Mattingly with Commissioners being Charlie Castlen, George Wathen, and Mike Koger — first publicly discussed the appeal in September 2022. That Fiscal Court overturned the OMPC rezoning decision the next month.
