Source:
Star Community Newspapers
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Southern Land Company has officially opened its Discovery Center at Tucker Hill, a 772-acre traditional neighborhood located on U.S. 380 in McKinney.
The Discovery Center will be home to Tucker Hill’s sales and marketing teams. Opening festivities are slated from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Frisco RoughRiders players and the team’s mascot, Deuce, will attend the event and sign autographs as part of the opening festivities.
“Everyone at Southern Land Company has looked forward to this day for quite some time,” said Kathy Cunningham, vice president of community development for Southern Land Company. “The creation of Tucker Hill has been a team effort from the beginning. We have now reached a place where we are ready to unveil Tucker Hill, and we are confident that we can exceed the people’s current expectations of new development in Collin County.”
Southern Land Company broke ground at Tucker Hill in October 2006.
The first phase of construction contains 129 available homesites. A small number of homesites will be designated custom lots, while the majority already belong to members of the Tucker Hill Master Builder program. Builders in the program include Darling Homes, Flagstone Custom Homes, Pavlis Custom Homes, and Southern Land Company Homebuilding.
Tucker Hill will consist of more than 2,100 homes at build-out and will contain more than 50 acres of open space along Wilson and Stover creeks. Builders are in the final design phases of their model streetscape and will open their new homes to the public in early 2009. Phase-one road paving is under way.
Those interested in becoming a Founding member of Tucker Hill can register at www.tuckerhilltx.com. These individuals will be given the first opportunity to purchase a new home at a pre-opening event this fall.
Tucker Hill homes will be priced from the $350s. The community has been designed utilizing the principles of a Traditional Neighborhood Development, which emphasizes pedestrian walkability, authentic and period-sensitive architecture, and lush horticulture for both streetscapes and homes, according to a news release. Amenities will be natural and constructed. Hiking and biking trails will traverse the community and open spaces, and parks and public squares will be available.
Traditional amenities such as pools and tennis courts will also be included, along with Residents’ Clubs that will house exercise facilities and space for residents to interact and host events. Finally, Tucker Hill will offer a mixed-use district.
Tucker Hill has been patterned after Southern Land Company’s local and regional award-winning community, Westhaven in Franklin, Tenn.
Homes in Tucker Hill will be built on nine different lot sizes, ranging from 33 feet to more than 100 feet wide. Many of the homes in the first phase will have vehicular access from the alley.
Architectural styles will draw from traditional neighborhoods in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, such as the Park Cities and historic Munger Place. Specifically, homeowners can expect to find period styles that include Colonial, English, Mediterranean and French designs.
Fennig heads local Maverick office
Marla Fennig has been named branch manager of the Maverick Residential Mortgage, Inc. branch in McKinney.
Fennig and her team assist homebuyers, builders and real-estate agents in McKinney, Frisco, Plano and Allen from their office on the southwest corner of U.S. 380 and North Central Expressway.
“This is an exciting opportunity to grow our business in a vibrant community that continues to expand,” said Fennig. “They’ve opened a third (Boyd) high school, which is an accurate indicator of growth. And to help facilitate that growth, we are making the process of financing the purchase of a home much easier and faster for our clients.”
Maverick Chairman and CEO Bob Johnson confirmed that Fennig is an excellent match for the growth that McKinney is experiencing.
“Marla brings superior sales and marketing skills to this position,” he said. “She also has the ability to ease customers through the financing process, making everything painless and worry-free. She has also made inroads to generating referrals leads among local realtors and home builders.”
Prior to joining Maverick Mortgage in February, Marla was a net branch owner/manager for a rival mortgage firm. She lives in Allen with her fianc/, Kevin Butler, and sons Brady (4 months) and old Jonathan (17).
Maverick Residential Mortgage, Inc., based in Frisco, Texas, is a full-service mortgage banking operation that produces mortgage loans nationwide for sale in the secondary market.
Funeral home opens
new Gunter facility
McKinney-based Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Homes will have a grand opening for its sixth north Texas funeral home, at 300 Pecan Street in Gunter, from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
The event will feature a complimentary Tex-Mex dinner and the official Ribbon Cutting.
At the former site of the First Baptist Church of Gunter, Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow has renovated the church into a full service funeral home complete with visitation rooms, meeting areas and a chapel.
“As the North Texas area continues to grow, we recognize that families in the Gunter and Van Alstyne areas deserve their own full service funeral home so that they don’t have to travel to our locations in outlying cities in time of need,” said Terry Turrentine of Turrentine- Jackson-Morrow. “We are extremely excited about serving the Gunter and Van Alstyne communities with our superior funeral options and unparalleled customer service we’re known for throughout the North Texas area.”
Grand Hotel holds grand opening June 13
The Grand Hotel of McKinney will have its grand opening from 7 to 9 p.m. June 13.
The hotel is located at 112 W. Louisiana, just west of the Kentucky Street and Louisiana Street intersection on the square. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and each room will be open to the public to view. Booking for rooms will begin the following day.