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New (sub)Urbanism
Too much of a rarity until Rarity Ridge
by Matt Edens
It was a strange road trip. The weather was oppressive: pouring rain with intervals of steaming sunshine. The hazy, shimmering heat and rampant green of the hillsides lent the scenery an exotic, almost tropical atmosphere. But the destination was the weirdest part. Turned a corner on the winding gravel road and there it was—a block-long cluster of 10 charming quasi-Victorian cottages rising like some backwoods Brigadoon out of a lush green valley. Only it wasn’t a mirage or magic; it was merely an unusual manifestation of modern real estate development: Rarity Ridge, the, uh, sprawling New Urbanist-inspired development just over the Roane County line in Oak Ridge (developed by the same folks who brought you Rarity Bay, Rarity Pointe, Rarity Meadows and Rarity Mountain).
Which isn’t to say the developers lack imagination. While most of their other developments are fairly standard golf course and waterfront communities, Rarity Ridge is a tad rarer, at least in these parts. You see, while some parts of the development will be the usual conglomeration of cul-de-sacs and “estate lots,” most of it won’t be. Instead, most of the residential acreage will be laid out on small lots lining a dense grid of streets that connect to an even denser town center with retail, restaurant and office space, multifamily housing and townhomes.
On top of that, the primary amenity planned for the development isn’t a golf course, it’s more than 100 acres of nature preserves and recreation areas with hiking trails, proving that, when it comes to environmentalism, urbanism might just be the best strategy.
Well, almost. While I appreciate what the Rarity Bay folks have accomplished, and I’m glad to see the New Urbanist development model catching on locally, it would be nice to see more of this sort of development occurring somewhere other than rural Roane County (although, to Rarity’s credit, they could have just laid out a golf course and been done with it). Other than the planned Northshore Town Center, out on the city’s suburban edge, the private sector has yet to tackle a similar redevelopment within Knoxville’s urban core. Mechanicsville Commons, while certainly New Urbanist, was developed largely with funds from HUD’s HOPE VI grant.
Hopefully that’ll soon change. Touring the model homes at Rarity Ridge, I was struck with how similar many of them were to HOPE VI residential properties—modestly sized wood frame bungalows and cottages clad with cement-fiber siding. Interior finishes and fixtures were more expensive: oak and poplar cabinetry, fireplaces and ceramic tile, and hardwood flooring and brick veneer on the slab foundations (HOPE VI’s are stucco finished), but otherwise there was little to distinguish them. Except prices, that is, which start at $169,900 for the 1,376 square foot Brentwood cottage. A similar sized house in Mechanicsville Commons costs only about half as much (albeit minus Rarity Ridge’s standard two-car garage). But with Fourth and Gill prices for fully-restored, ready to move in homes catching up to the bottom end of Rarity Ridge’s $96 to $125 per square-foot range I wonder if the time may be ripe for inner-city infill to move more upscale. So, even if you’re a committed urbanite, check out Rarity Ridge: Not only is it a model suburban development, it might just be a useful model for urban redevelopment as well.
July 15, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 29
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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