After seeing the success of the first 43-lot filing in the Highland District of the Village at Magnolia Square in Central, Bardwell Homes has purchased another 14 acres in the second filing of the traditional neighborhood development for another 43 lots.
In a deal filed late last week with the East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court’s Office, Highland VMS LLC, represented by Bardwell Homes owner Scott Bardwell, paid $1.22 million to The Village at Magnolia Square LLC, represented by The Village at Magnolia Square developers Jimmy Nunnally and Steele Pollard, for the land.
Bardwell Homes shelled out $1.08 million in January 2015 for the first filing’s 12 acres. Bardwell says his company sold about one-third of the lots in the first filing and has seven homes under construction, which was enough to justify the second filing investment.
“Magnolia Square is popping,” he says.
The size, prices and layouts of the second filing homes will be similar to those in the first filing. They are expected run between $350,000 and $500,000 and will have backyards and front porches. Bardwell Homes will build some of the homes and sell some of the lots to other builders.
Bardwell estimates that crews could start construction on the homes in the second filing in the next 12 months. The crews still have to build the roads and infrastructure on the raw land.
Nunnally and Pollard are developing Magnolia Square, which will feature a town square, restaurants, office and retail space. The pair bought the 185-acre tract in Central in 2006 for $1.7 million.
—Ryan Broussard
