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and entertainment development. The improvements along Frank Scott Parkway give it very easy access. This site had three
factors in its favor, so it seemed right."
Balke Brown is developer of the entire mixed-use development; the apartments represent phase one. Ground was broken in
October for the $20 million apartment portion.
"We think it will be the nicest apartment development on the Illinois side, with 240 units and amenities such as nine-foot
ceilings, very open floor plans, a clubhouse with a media room, a computer lab and fitness facilities," Butler said.
This is the first residential venture for Balke Brown in more than 15 years, but Butler said it's a sign of things to come.
Balke Brown developed the Park Terrace apartments in Fairview Heights in the 1980s. Butler said the company began thinking
of reentering the residential market, due to its development in the Highlands at the old Arena site. The Highlands is also a
multi-family project with loft-style apartments. The company began looking for another residential development site in
Illinois.
Phase two of the Green Mount development will include "for sale" villa town homes that will undergo construction in the
spring.
The apartments will be leased and managed by Brookshire Management; Taylor-Morley's staff will market the for-sale units.
"We are looking at a couple of other opportunities in the city of St. Louis - and some in Illinois - for added residential
developments," Butler said. "We are really excited about getting the Green Mount project going. We've been working on it a
little more than a year, and it's great to see some activity going on."
The first buildings will be completed in May, with projected completion of the total apartment development by the end of
2003, Butler said. When finished, the apartment section will include eight apartment buildings and a clubhouse.
All three-story buildings will offer one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with nine-foot ceilings. Ample parking will
be available with garages and carports.
Phil Fingerhut, senior director of special projects and new products for Taylor-Morley Homes, said the partnership of the
two companies came about after Balke Brown purchased the property in O'Fallon and approached Taylor-Morley to develop the
for-sale component.
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"The owners found they had a lot in common and got along well, and they decided to partner on the whole project," Fingerhut
said. "It's quite exciting."
The apartments will range in size from about 900 to 1,300 square feet; each will feature modern kitchen design, white
woodwork, balconies and storage closets, Fingerhut said.
Each apartment will have the quality of finish that is usually found in a for-sale unit, he said; they will not really
seem like apartments.
"The for-sale component has a couple of exciting new ideas," Fingerhut said. "The mansion house is a fairly new trend, and
we want to perfect it and improve it."
The for-sale portion will include a mixed variety of elements to please a wide variety of people. There will be
condominiums, town homes and mansion houses - a new concept that includes four units, yet from the outside, looks like one
large home. That particular area will have its own pool, he said.
Taylor-Morley is a part of a consortium of builders across the nation in which ideas are shared, Fingerhut said. One of the
group's homebuilders - a company that hails from the West - builds something similar to the mansion house, he said.
Taylor-Morley Homes wanted to adapt it to the St. Louis market.
"We're designing the site so there will be framed vistas," said Fingerhut. "So when you drive down the street, at the end
there will be a feature - such as a fountain, a clubhouse or a lake - that is highlighted."
The entire Green Mount community development will be completed in approximately three years, depending on how fast the
market moves, he said. In total, there will be 250 to 300 homes in the for-sale component.
Illinois is a fairly new market for Taylor-Morley Homes. This will be the builder's third development, with Olde Lantern at
the Hale Irwin golf course near Belleville and brand-new Hearthstone in O'Fallon, where the company is just finishing the
entrance monument.
"There is more coming from Taylor-Morley in the Metro East area," Fingerhut said. "We are really excited about expanding
and serving homeowners in Illinois. And we're really excited about our partnership with Balke Brown. They're great partners,
and both companies have strengths. We're excited about this community because we plan to offer elements for everybody and the
location is great. There's a lot of synergy in the Green Mount area."
graphic designer and staff writer: Vicki Bennington 
email: vbennington@ibjonline.com
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