The first phase of 23 housing lots in the Oaklee Ridge residential development has started on the acreage once home to the Dallas Pike Campground in Ohio County.
The campground, sold to Kerr Development LLC a little more than a year ago, is about 53 acres in size and before the sale, it offered tent camping and trailer spaces with utility hookups. The former campground residents were given three months to vacate the property before the parcel was cleared for the new neighborhood of single-family homes, according to Roger Kent, owner of Kerr Development LLC.
“We have started to develop a new housing development on the property that was, for many years, the Dallas Pike Campground,” he explained. “It’s going to be called Oaklee Ridge, and this first phase will develop 23 lots with all of the underground utilities, and if someone is interested in purchasing a couple of lots, that would be fine with us.
“We already have two of the lots under contract, and we’re speaking with a number of other interested parties,” Kent reported. “We have four or five home designs people can choose from, or they can bring our builders their own design. The homes can have basements if that’s what someone wants. It’s going to be a very nice neighborhood area.”
Each lot, Kent detailed, is about a quarter-acre in size, and the home designs available from Kerr Development feature underground utilities, front porches, basements, and level yards.
“We haven’t had to do a lot of excavation for the lots in the first phase, but that will likely change when we continue the development. When we’re close to selling out the first phase, we’ll start getting the next area ready,” Kent said. “We’re moving a lot of dirt for the new lines for underground utilities, but for the most part, the first 23 lots are pretty level.
“If someone wants to come take a look at the area for Phase One, all they have to do is call me and I can meet them on site. That’s the best way to go about it right now,” he explained. “Just call me on my cell phone at 304-280-3115.”
Kent is a certified public accountant licensed to practice in the state of West Virginia, and he was graduated from Wheeling Park High School in 1982. He and his business partner, Andre Fontaine from Washington, D.C., purchased and renovated the former Ernie’s Esquire in 2015 into the Woodview complex along East Bethlehem Blvd. near Denny and Colleen Lee’s DeFelice Bros. Pizza location.
“Our first project involved the renovation of the former Ernie’s Esquire into affordable senior housing, and we’ve also constructed a few duplexes in that area, too. It’s all been very successful because of the demand,” Kent said. “And it’s the demand for modern, single-family homes that guided us to the Oaklee development at the old campground.
“We believe we could have as many as 80 to 90 new homes in the Oaklee development, and who knows what’s possible beyond that point,” he said. “We’ve seen developments like this one will be pop up in a lot of different areas along (Interstate 70) for the past several years, so we know this project is long overdue in this area.”
Kent said the new homes are priced between $325,000-$350,000 right now, but a reduction could be realized thanks to a development program offered in the Mountain State.
“Of course, we have been in communication with the folks with the Ohio County Commission, and they have been great to work with as far as the utilities and things like that,” Kent reported. “I’m sure as we continue moving forward, our relationship with the County will be terrific because this is only the beginning of what we plan to accomplish.
“The program with the state is called ‘Build West Virginia,’ and it is what it sounds like it should be,” he said. “The preliminary pricing for each our lots and builds has been set but we’re still working with the state of West Virginia and some of the development programs that are in place. Those programs could help us reduce the lots prices in the future, and that’s why we’ve been working with several people in Charleston who’s involved with that program.”
Oaklee Ridge will become the newest housing development in close proximity of The Highlands, a retail and light industry development less than two miles away from Kent’s new site. The Highland Park Apartment complex, a development featuring one- and two-bedroom living spaces, also is nearby.
Stephanie Hockenberry, the growth and retention manager for the Ohio County Commission, welcomed the news about the new housing development.
“We have heard that housing is a concern in our area so when a developer like Roger Kent is willing to invest to address that demand, it’s definitely a positive concerning our future here in Ohio County,” she explained. “Housing is a topic we talk a lot about in this area, and as this development grows, I’m sure those conversations will continue and hoping develop even more.”
