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Old Posted Aug 24, 2006, 2:04 AM
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If the research park is where the world's automotive finest will amass, Verdae will be for the people.
Unveiled Tuesday was a decades-long master plan for 1,100 acres of the late John D. Hollingsworth's nearly untouched city timberland that developers say will offer homes for as many as 10,000 residents and places to work for 15,000 employees.

Called Verdae, its eventual value could be $1.5 billion, said William G. Monroe III, the project's master planner. Every dime of the profits will go to charity.

The real estate coup is near two interstates and two bustling shopping corridors, adjacent to Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research and roughly three times the size of downtown Greenville.

It will include starter homes, a retirement community, condos and estate houses.

Plans call for a central park and pond, a Main Street-style town center, an amphitheater, golf course and hotels, as well as corporate offices, professional services, retail shops, restaurants and civic services.

It will someday be a place to live, work and relax in the vein of planned communities such as Ion and Daniel Island in the Charleston area. It means the triangle of land that has long been the showpiece of the late textile millionaire's 42,000 acres will at long last begin to fill in. First to come will be four residential communities, with more than 400 units for sale, and the 40-acre Hollingsworth Legacy Park.

Details on the first trophy slices for development will come within 60 days.

For a man who lived in an Airstream trailer, bought hundreds of contiguous acres to help ensure his privacy and attentively avoided personal photographs, it will be an antithetically public monument. Also uncharacteristically, portions of the land swath will likely be sold to outside parties, albeit slowly and with strings attached. Under terms of Hollingsworth's will, profits will be divided among local groups — 45 percent to Furman University, 10 percent to the Greenville YMCA and 45 percent to other Greenville County charities.

The aim, developers say, is to net the biggest profit possible for charity, on a heavily treed chunk of land whose present worth could approach $100 million, according to longtime land manager Paulette Murphy.

Irv T. "Buck" Welling Jr., chairman and president of Hollingsworth Funds Inc. and Hollingsworth's longtime accountant, said Thursday a new development firm has been formed to manage the project for the foundation.

Hollingsworth's benevolence, he said, will be felt "in perpetuity."

In life, the unconventional magnate had some rules. Never sell, for one, and if you have to develop, wait for the project that will make a hallmark. For the old boss, land was better than money, said Murphy, though she's convinced he knew it would be sold after his death. This project, she said, perfectly illustrates why he insisted on keeping it all together.

"His strategy brought a completely different dimension to the terms 'deep pockets' and 'patient money,' " said Rick Sumerel, chief operating officer of the newly formed Verdae Development Inc. and a 26-year veteran of local real estate.

Verdae's first, residential-heavy phase is a direct response to ICAR and the adjoining Millenium Campus for private research, Sumerel said. Both of those developments are taking shape on sold Hollingsworth land and will cooperate closely with the Verdae piece for 1,800 total acres of planned corporate, residential and recreational living. Suitors invitedSumerel, who said he grew up hearing about the "mysterious man" who bought land, was also among the developers who later courted Hollingsworth people for a slice of the prime real estate. But Murphy insisted on a lease instead of a sale, something Sumerel said he found "ridiculous" and inscrutable.

Sorting through her old business cards recently, Murphy said she came up with about 260 from local real estate people who have pitched development plans before. They packed the Embassy Suites meeting room Tuesday from as far away as Texas, some joking that they couldn't stop shaking, and clots of them crowding around a large map of the tract.

"Rick (Sumerel) is going to get bombarded next week," said Monroe, of Charlotte. "We can't find a true comparison," he added, when asked about his previous work on such projects.

Almost unheard of is such a tract in the middle of a booming metropolis that has long since grown past it, he said. Now, with the real estate world at their beck, developers can afford to take it slow, said Monroe.

"When you sell and how much you sell allows the land to appreciate in value," he said.

When parcels are sold, they'll go with conditions for development that fit the master plan, Murphy and Monroe said. Sumerel said Verde Development will also do Hollingsworth-style ground leases and develop portions itself.

The new company was created to preserve Hollingsworth Funds' tax status as a charitable enterprise, Murphy said. Selling land too quickly could jeopardize the foundation's lower tax rate, so Murphy said current land owner Verdae Properties will sell the amount of land needed each year to Verdae Development at the current market value.

Buyers must agree to begin work quickly. Land will not be sold for investment purposes or discretionary development, Murphy said. Park, neighborhoods in first phaseJohn C. Cothran, president of the new Verdae Development, said there's no rush to funnel money toward charities immediately, and Verdae's development pace depends very much on how fast ICAR takes shape and when such amenities as a trolley from Verdae to the research park materialize.

All principals agree they've learned one thing from Hollingsworth: take your time. The amount of money that could flow to charities annually has not been calculated, officials said.

Still, Cothran, Monroe and Greenville Mayor Knox White say the consummation of Verdae is likely to happen much faster than the 35-year timeline presented Tuesday night.

"This property was just leap-frogged," Monroe said. "Verdae is the hole in the doughnut, just waiting to be unveiled."

In addition to the Hollingsworth park, which plans show will include a pond and sports fields, phase 1 will include at least 400 homes. "Starter" houses will cost roughly $150,000 to $200,000, a "neo-traditional" neighborhood will feature units in the $350,000 to $500,000 range and an area of large estate homes has not been priced yet, Monroe said.

Not counted in that housing figure is a retirement community that will feature options for seniors who want cottages, apartments or assisted living. Medical services will be available, and the community could eventually spawn medical and support businesses along Verdae Boulevard.

The community could operate on a ground lease and remain under Verdae control, Murphy said.

Still in question is who will own the park, which Sumerel said will be the first piece to take shape. It could belong to the new Verdae Development or be given to the city, Murphy said.

For later phases, Monroe said he's already planning a fire station, police station and a public school site. Nearly 3.5 million square feet of total commercial space could eventually take shape.

A town center will look much like downtown Greenville, with retail, office and residential units in the live-work style of the 1920s. Open plazas and nightlife will be plenteous, as will green areas, trails and fountains.

Near existing railroad tracks will appear multi-family housing aimed at young professionals and graduate students who could use the trolley that developers hope to run underneath the interstate to the research campus.

Where two new Hollingsworth-owned office buildings already exist, the Bonaventure office park will be developed between Verdae and I-85, though the 15- to 20-story office buildings and 10-story hotels developers envision will take years to materialize, Monroe said.

Nearby, and adjacent to the existing Verdae Greens golf course, will be more condos and townhomes. And along the interstate, near the starter homes, will be smaller office properties to be developed with Rosen Associates, which is also developing the Millenium Campus. Tax revenues to growDetails on initial development sites will be released in 60 days, Sumerel said Tuesday, begging those in attendance not to knock on his door all at once. Brick signs could go up around the property soon, and both Sumerel and White said the do-all community would not compete with Greenville's booming downtown.

More dramatic are the potential effects on the tax base.

Mark Holmes, an attorney with Leatherwood Walker Todd & Mann, said his studies have shown there will be "significant" increases to tax revenues for the city, which has been aggressively trying to draw people toward downtown.

With fewer than 60,000 residents currently within city limits, Verdae alone could provide at least a 10 percent boost in dwellers. Also, much of the property is classified as agricultural, meaning very little tax revenues currently come from the land. Commercial and residential development, business licenses and other fees will have a dramatic impact, said Holmes and Kevin S. Cosimano with Stonebridge Associates Inc. near Washington.

In the end, the long-awaited use of the crown jewel in the tycoon's land portfolio will be both "strange" and in keeping with his expectations for the land, said Murphy, who has managed the land and seen that the pines are reseeded for decades.

"It's ready to go and there's nothing to stop it," Murphy said. "I mean, there's no Mr. Hollingsworth going to change his mind tomorrow. He decided when he put it in his will — that's it."
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