Local home builder branches out

The project, a planned development district, is located on the southeast corner of Farm Road 93 (also known as Oakwood Avenue) and Farm Road 174, behind Republic Ford.

“There won't be any (single-family) homes there, There will be 372 apartments and 35 duplexes and about nine acres of commercial,” said Terry McKee, an owner-partner in the business with his brother, Keith McKee, and Rex Maples. Terry McKee has been home-building since 1980; the trio has operated under the name MGM Properties since 1998.

Six months ago, MGM Properties purchased the 50-acre plot of land that will hold Oak Court Place, from five property owners for a total of about $1.45 million, or $29,000 an acre, McKee said, and it has been annexed into the city of Republic.

“We've built a lot of duplexes, but this will be the first multifamily development that we've done,” he added.

McKee estimates that Oak Court Place will be a $30 million development when it's finished.

Having the land rezoned as a planned development district enables the developers to have mixed uses for the single parcel of land, said Wally Schrock, principal planner with the city of Republic.

“If you're just doing a single-family subdivision, you wouldn't do a planned development district,” he said.

Subdivisions - and home building - are what MGM is most known for.

The company's residential developments include Kings Mill, Copper Ridge, Bradford Estates and Lexington Square, which recently started.

“We have found that there's a need to diversify the company (and) have a holding of some rental property,” McKee said. “Republic's an area that's anticipating a lot of growth, and with the new four-lane highway that goes right through the middle of town, they're going to be able to handle a lot of traffic, and a lot more commercial development. Along with the commercial development, you're going to need some dwellings for people to live in.”

Global Link Land Surveying and Engineering Inc. is working on the preliminary platting for Oak Court Place, which must be presented to the Republic Board of Aldermen and the Planning & Zoning Commission.

Global Link civil engineer Martin Gugel expects that preliminary platting will be ready for the board and the commission in early February.

'Pedestrian-friendly'

Gugel said that Springfield architecture firm H Design Group and Brent Stevens determined the layout of the apartment buildings in the middle of the development, related amenities, which include an outdoor swimming pool and play area, and a community building.

“We are dealing with the rest of the site,” Gugel said. “The main thing we want to do is try to input some sort of traffic calming throughout the development,” he said.

That's important to pursuing the goal of making Oak Court Place a pedestrian-friendly development.

“(There are) features in the design that would, by just kind of natural response, slow traffic. Those (features include) adding some curbs and streets, putting in a tree-lined median in the middle, just things that would visually cause drivers to slow down,” Gugel added.

Sidewalks have been incorporated into the design, which also includes nearly five acres of green space.

Once the preliminary platting is approved, Gugel said, Global Link will produce the construction documents needed for the project to receive final approval so that construction can begin. McKee said he hopes to begin infrastructure work in Oak Court Place in about six months.

“As far as any building, it will be about a year,” he added.

Pursuit of commercial tenants is on hold, McKee said, until there are visible rooftops in the development, but Oak Court Place will have strip-center space available for businesses.

“Maybe an insurance agent, maybe a tanning salon, places to get haircuts, whatever would serve the community right there,” he said.

The developers have their eyes on future growth, evident in one feature of Oak Court Place's design, namely that the intersection of Oakwood and Farm Road 174 is designed as a roundabout.

“We're working with the city on that as far as right-of-way interests go to try to get that put in there, which would incorporate any kind of future expansion of (Farm Road) 174 toward U.S. 60, ” said Global Link's Gugel.

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