NEWS

NEWS

February 06, 2017

Babcock Ranch now has an official “first family.”

By: Vicki Parsons - IT

February 03, 2017

The honor went to Richard and Robin Kinley from Acworth, Ga. The couple signed the first contract for a home to be built in Babcock Ranch, an 18,000-acre solar-powered town 20 miles east of Fort Myers in Charlotte County.

The Kinleys should be settling into their new home inside the development’s Lake Timber neighborhood in eight to nine months, says Wes Thompson, director of development for Homes by Towne. The firm’s Heirloom floor plan and its 2,372 square feet of living space won over the Kinleys.

Officials with Babcock Ranch developer Kitson & Partners say the idea of living in a walkable, bike-able small town that uses technologies of the future, including autonomous cars, also drew the Georgia couple.

And they won’t be without neighbors for long. Other builders in the Lake Timber section — the list includes Stock Development and Fox Premier Builders — are on schedule for completion of model homes in February. Those will be followed in March by Florida Lifestyle Homes’ model home. Castle Harbour Homes is scheduled to begin construction of two models in late January and February.

Thompson says Homes by Towne expects to build houses in each of Babcock’s sections. “We want a long run there,” says Thompson, whose company took part in the earliest home building at Lakewood Ranch in east Manatee County more than 20 years ago.

The builder plans to open four model homes by the end of February. Thompson says sales traffic has been heavy from the start. That includes queries worldwide from people who want to live in a self-contained community with modern green technology and street, sidewalk and front porch designs that encourage socializing.—