HISTORIC PROPERTY SELLS FOR $16.3M

856-Acre Flint Hill Farm will host 21 homes

Fauquier Times Democrat * George Rowand * July 13, 2005

Flint Hill Farm near Rectortown, which sold for $16.3 million last month, will be divided into 21 home sites. According to project manager Gretchen Yahn, the parcels will range in size from three to 100 acres.

"There will be 21 lots in all, counting the main house," Yahn said. "We will have three 50-acre lots; four 100-acre lots; 11 'Village lots; that will be from three to five acres; one 83-acre lot; one lot that is about 153 acres; plus 15-20 acres with the main house."

The 856-acre farm had been on the market for a couple of years, Yahn said, and she and Flint Hill Partners, LLC, the owners and developers of the property, can develop it by right.

"It (the subdivision) is per the ordinance," Yahn stated.

In addition to the subdivision, one other thing will change: the name.

"We're calling it 'Chattins Run Farm,' because Chattins Run runs through it, and George Washington referred to it by that name in one of his journals," said Yahn. "He owned the farm, and we're going to go back to what it used to be."

How much?

"The Village lots will cost $525,000 and up," Yahn explained. "The 50-acre lots will be $1.5 to $2 million, and the 83-acre lots and larger will be $2 to $3 million."

Yahn said houses will be sited on the property so that home owners will not be able to see other homes.

"We've gone over the siting of the homes extensively, and we are going to be very sensitive to the views of the other home owners," Yahn said. "The home sites have already been chosen, and we didn't just put each home on the top of the biggest hill. We took into consideration the tree lines and the topography of the land, so that home owners won't be looking at other houses. They're set, and the first one in will know where all the other houses will be.

"There will be no further subdivision of the property. That will be recorded in the courthouse in perpetuity."

The property already contains numerous tenant houses and outbuildings. Most of the houses will stay, but some of the buildings will be removed.

The scenic impact of the development was not lost on the Piedmont Environmental Council.

"We've been told that you will be able to see only one house from the road," said Doug Larson, PEC vice president. "We've heard that they plan to build with a great deal of sensitivity to the landscape, and we're hopeful that will be true. If they do, it will be a good way to mitigate the impact of the development."

Yahn said developers will be very restrictive in the type of houses they allow to be built on the tract, and the lots will not be able to be recorded until March 2006, though the developers will take reservations before then.

"We're going to have neo-classical farm houses and English traditional, using natural materials ... stone, slate, stucco, copper and wood siding," Yahn explained. "We want these homes to appear as if they belong to the landscape.

"The homes will cost from $1.5 to $2 million on the Village lots, from $3 to $5 million on the 50-acre lots, and from $4 to $6 million on the larger lots," she added.

Who's buying?

"The market for these homes is much more out-of-state purchasers," Yahn said. "Texas, California, Florida, Connecticut and the European market, especially the English. They can't fox hunt in England and this is Orange County Hunt territory. We tried to site the houses so that they will have a minimum impact to the Orange County Hunt."

As for allowing the hunt to continue to cross their lands, Yahn said that decision would be left up to individual landowners.

Yahn said she intends to use such instruments as the Wall Street Journal and New Yorker magazine to market the lots.

"I think that we will attract a nice mix of family, early retirees and people buying second houses," she continued. "For most of my clients, this is the last notch on the belt."

One of the lots contains a couple of grass landing strips that are FAA-certified.

"That might be attractive to a buyer, the opportunity to fly into and out of their own property this close to D.C.," Yahn said.

Yahn said that her company, Castlerock Enterprises, Inc, will build homes on several of the lots, but that other builders were welcome as well. She said she and Joe Camarda and Bruce Arinda, the principals in Flint Hill Partners, LLC, are keen to get going on the project.

"We're extremely excited about this opportunity," Yahn said. "It's a spectacular piece of property with a history to go with it. You can see from Big and Little Cobbler (mountains) all the way up towards Paris."

So, what else is on the horizon for Yahn and the partners in this development?

"We are about ready to go to closing on another 400-acre piece of property in Fauquier," Yahn said. "We're planning on developing it into four 100-acre lots with significant views."

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