John Marshall Custom Homes Inc. of Davidson is inviting the public to tour a recently completed “green” home this Sunday, April 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. Located at 518 Walnut St. in downtown Davidson, this is the local builder’s third home built to the standards of the LEED for Homes program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. Read the full story

Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce
Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce members and guests will get a peek at the future when Allen Tate Co. President & COO Pat Riley address a chamber lunch this Thursday about trends and expectations for the Charlotte regional residential real estate market in 2012. Joining Mr. Riley will be Kate Gaither, owner and broker for Newport Properties, who will focus on commercial real estate in the Lake Norman market. Read the full story

Homes sales grew 21.8 percent in February, the Charlotte Regional Realtor Association reported, based on Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc. (CMLS) data. It was the second straight month of positive data, according to the association, and also came with gains in average sales prices. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

A Washington State developer is moving ahead with plans for a four-story, 120-unit retirement housing complex off I-77 Exit 30. Representatives of Hawthorn Retirement Group of Vancouver, Wash., were at a joint meeting of the Davidson Town and Planning boards Monday night, where they heard a variety of concerns, about everything from parking to possible tree removal to the amount of public open space.

Hawthorn has been discussing changes in the project with Davidson planners for a year, since a public planning workshop in January 2011. Monday’s meeting was the first of several additional public sessions required before the project can be built. Read the full story

The Davidson Planning Board will hold a joint meeting with town commissioners Monday night, Feb. 27, to review a proposal for a 4-story retirement housing project off Davidson Gateway Drive in the Exit 30 area.  The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at Davidson Town Hall, 216 S. Main St. Read the full story

By CHIP DAWSON
DavidsonNews.net

What courage! Setting off into the unknown to make a new life. Wilderness all about and the only shelter still to be built.

Meet Buddy and Barbara Ferrell, the first residents of Antiquity. In 2007, the Ferrells, who already lived in Mecklenburg County, read about Antiquity in the Huntersville Herald and decided to take a drive. They came down South Street from the north, crossed the covered bridge – which impressed them, they said – and decided to buy what was then a field with a “for sale” sign sitting in it. When they closed on their new Cunnane Group home on March 10, 2008, they beat the next resident by just seven days.

Today, four years after the Ferrells moved in and five years after the project was approved, the couple has been joined by 207 other households on the 130-acre site. Originally planned for 1,000 units and with Town of Cornelius approval for 702 combined single-family and multi-family properties, the current full build-out target is 413 for-purchase residential units plus 94 apartments — roughly half the original plan. Read the full story