Kent Eastman, Landis duo form KMR Properties

Eastman, who grew up in the Twin Hills area and has dreamed of having his own house in the wooded area, said the property has been owned by the Black family since the 1960s and is one of the more attractive development areas in the Joplin area.

“I’ve had my eye on that property for a long time,” said Eastman, who is also a real estate agent for Keller Williams Realty. “Hopefully this fall we’ll be able to get started on it. Right now we’re in the zoning process with the city.”

According to Mike Landis, the property and forthcoming subdivision will be developed through a new LLC formed by the three partners which will be called KMR Properties. Eastman would not disclose the amount paid for the land, nor the particulars of the partnership. Landis Construction, with Robert and Mike Landis as CEOs of the company, has three other subdivisions in the area — an eight-lot area across from Arbor Hills on west 32nd Street, 37 lots in Sunnyville East, and two lots in the most recently developed Day/Landis subdivision. Eastman said he has been selling many of the Landis properties in recent years and the working relationship between the three of them has been developed through those deals.

“We’re really hoping to make this a gated community,” Mike Landis said. “It would be the first gated community in Joplin. If everything works out then we should be able to start building some homes this spring. We already have some people interested.”

Mike Landis said the land will likely be divided into 20, three and three-quarter acre wooded lots that will feature “upper-end” homes of around $300,000 or higher.

“It’s a place with beautiful trees and $1 million homes on either side,” Eastman said. “We’ve got some good feelers out there already and some verbal commitments. I’m going to put my personal house out there.”

One of the first steps will be getting the property annexed into city limits, as it currently sits just outside of city limits. Mike Landis said that could take all the way until January. In the meantime, KMR Properties is working on getting its tax ID, and Landis construction is working on about 10 other homes in the area, as well.[[In-content Ad]]