Development, walkable community planned around Jackson Plaza

By Rose Hooper

"Do you bring a business to the area and then try to find housing for the employees, or do you have the housing in place to attract the business?" Dukes, managing partner with Dominium, asked.

"Our company is stepping up to the plate, taking the risk and saying housing should come first," said Dukes, who has named his new development BraeStone Promenade.

In a telephone interview with The Sylva Herald, Dukes described the development as a "mixed use, walkable community, providing housing, retail/commercial, and office/professional space covering a variety of price points."

Designs for phase one of the three-stage project are expected to begin in March, consisting of 42 housing units and a 60,000-square-foot mixed-use, mid-rise building.

Dukes has acquired property surrounding Jackson Plaza, and phase one deals with 20 acres beginning at the dirt road just off the entrance way where the Grindstaff house was located.

"The project will go up to the ridge behind Jackson Plaza, up to the old water tower," Dukes said. "We are working with the town of Sylva to make the project an extension of downtown revitalization. You can see the old courthouse from the property, and we plan to incorporate that architecture into the development."

The goal, he said, is to begin with 42 housing units, including "condominiums that start in the $70,000 range, garden villas beginning at $120,000 and some town houses."

The mid-rise building, planned where the Grindstaff house once stood near Grindstaff Cove Road, will feature a combination of condominiums, retail, commercial and office space.

A pooling and sharing of office facilities is planned to allow several businesses to share office staff who answer the phone and handle the mail and faxes, said Dukes, who called it "an affordable arrangement."

Dukes would like the Economic Development Commission of Jackson County to "co-develop" with BraeStone Promenade and will present his full proposal to the EDC at its February meeting. While a date for the EDC meeting has not been set, Dukes will meet 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, with Sylva's planning board.

"This project should greatly augment Jackson County's current and future growth, as well as demonstrate to prospective relocating corporations our eye to the future and ability to create progressive development," Dukes said.

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