Tue
Jul 17 2007
06:52 am
Huge Blount Co. land purchase
By: R. Neal

Sen. Lamar Alexander, Ruby Tuesday's Sandy Beall, and Pilot Oil Corp.'s Jim Haslam have purchased 5000 acres near Townsend and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for $19 million.

According to this Maryville Daily Times article, most of the property will be set aside for conservation, although some "low-density development" is planned by another parter in the deal, Knoxville developer Walt Lane.

The property is near Blackberry Farms. Sandy Beall says his son, who runs Blackberry Farms, will manage the new property in a similar manner.

Topics:
Elrod's picture

Three Sisters

Submitted by Elrod on Tue, 2007/07/17 - 10:39am.

Just curious, but are the "Three Sisters" the three mountain peaks you see when driving east on US321 toward Walland?

Mello's picture

not certain

Submitted by Mello on Tue, 2007/07/17 - 11:16am.

I am not certain on the names of the peaks. I do know that the square of land not purchased is the fire tower and a good deal of the lands on the border to the south/ south east are in 'wildlife management lands." The key now is to figure out if those wildlife lands are owned by the state or if they are in conservation easements to the Foothills Land Conservancy.

(link...)

And as you might have guessed, my pals who know these answers are all really busy at the moment.

michael kaplan's picture

The deal was for $20 million

Submitted by michael kaplan on Wed, 2007/07/18 - 10:06pm.

The deal was for $20 million and the plan calls for the construction of up to 125 private homes in a 'low-density' development. I assume those will be valued at $1 million each, making the deal worth an instant $125 million or so. I'd estimate a $40 million profit. Not a bad return on an investment. And with those family names on the mailboxes, you'll have the ultimate gated community.

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