Editor’s note: This story has been changed since publication to reflect that the Settlement at Shoe Creek will be 150 acres, not 120 acres. Daily Report regrets the error.
In the next 30 days, Southern Lifestyle Development, of Lafayette, will put out for bid the infrastructure work on the first phase of the Settlement at Shoe Creek, a massive 150-acre traditional neighborhood development planned in Central.
Prescott Bailey, Southern Lifestyle Development area president, says crews are about 90% done with the engineering specs for the infrastructure work that will be completed in the first phase, for which construction should take about 10 months.
“We had always scheduled the second quarter of this year to break ground, and we’re still on pace for that,” Bailey says. The company hopes to break ground in June, he adds.
As portions of the roads are built, the single-family, multifamily and commercial buildings planned in the first phase will start taking shape alongside those roads, Bailey says.
The first phase of the TND being built along Sullivan Road, north of Wax Road, will feature 210 multifamily units in one apartment complex, 100 assisted living units, 115 single-family homes and 28,000 square feet of commercial space.
The entire development will have 479 homes, 250 multifamily units, 100 assisted living units and 125,000 square feet of commercial space. Bailey says it could take four or five phases and eight years to build the entire development.
Bailey also says the company has letters of intent for most of the commercial space in the first phase, but he declined to say which companies will occupy those spaces. He says an announcement could come in the next two weeks.
Southern Lifestyle Development is also in discussions with area homebuilders and will choose a small group of builders to construct the single-family homes in the entire TND.
The project was nearly delayed last year when a trio of Central residents filed a lawsuit against the town of Central and Southern Lifestyle Development to stop the project. They alleged the Central City Council violated zoning ordinances when it approved the TND.
Baton Rouge District Court Judge Wilson Fields never issued a temporary injunction, which would have halted work, and later dismissed the suit. Bailey called the lawsuit “frivolous” and says there was no case against the company.
Southern Lifestyle Development bought the 120 acres in separate deals for about $4.2 million. The company was the driving force behind the Village of River Ranch TND in Lafayette and has about 30 communities in various stages of development, according to its website.
—Ryan Broussard
