Exclusive urban enclave
Cumberland Court taking its time in Nichols Hills
NICHOLS HILLS — Cumberland Court, a new neighborhood — rare for Nichols Hills — is coming along just about the way Tony Say hoped it would.
It's been more than four years since Say, an energy business executive, turned heads by turning to dozers to make room for 23 new upscale homes on Cumberland Drive by removing that many small, mostly dilapidated rent houses built in the mid-1940s.
Seven lots have sold. A couple of homes are up, and a couple of more are under way on what is now Cumberland Court. It is just north of Nichols Hills Plaza, between Western Avenue and Avondale Drive.
Four years isn't that long for a neighborhood designed for $1 million-plus custom homes where empty l ots are priced at $450,000.
Lately, “It has been slow, as you can imagine, with COVID, but it's gotten a lot of attention recently,” said Say, founder and president of Clearwater Enterprises LLC, a natural gas marketing company. “There's really not another product like it in Nichols Hills.”
Say said interest is coming mostly from people already living in Nichols Hills in vintage homes who want to downsize their lives — at least when it comes to home maintenance and lawn care — if not the size of their houses.
“They' re not brandnew homes. They've been around a long time,” he said of some of the big, stately homes in Nichols Hills, one of the wealthiest areas of the metro area since G. A. Nichols started the exclusive enclave north of Oklahoma City in 1929.
Nichols Hill s became a city in 1959 and is basi - cally built out. Cumberland Court is only the second addition since the turn of the millennium. Builders in the neighborhood are Eric Carlson's European Dekor LLC, and Don Childress.
The concierge service is a big draw, Say said, and includes accepting deliveries, coordinating appointments, scheduling repairs and so on.
Cumberland Court is a city street, not in a gated neighborhood — a cul-de-sac now that it no longer intersects with Western Avenue. The only entrance, and a guardhouse, is on the other end, where Cumberland intersects with Avon dale Drive.
The home at 1115 Cumberland Court, the first one finished, set a standard, said Wyatt Poindexter, an agent with Keller Williams Elite who has the home listed for $1,899,999.
The two-story, 5,481- square- foot French provincial-style home has four bedrooms, four baths, one half-bath, three living rooms, two dining rooms and an attached two-car garage — in back, as required by architectural guidelines. Poindexter said the home has warm and bright tones, modern fixtures and top-ofthe-line finish quality.
“Open the front door into a spacious foyer featuring a grand staircase, formal dining room and spacious living area,” he said
The chef's kitchen has a galleys ink, Sub Zero refrigerator, Wolf gas range and Asko dishwasher. The master suite includes a fireplace, double French patio doors, Waterworks polished nickel hardware, a large master closet with safe room, walk-in shower, freestanding tub and radiant heated floors.
Other features include a security system, security cameras, hardwood floors, large bonus/game/theater room, room for an exercise area or additional living s pace, an Environmental Water Systems water filtration system, pre-wiring for TV sand surround sound, a Danby wine fridge, U line beverage fridge, under-counter lighting, custom white oak cabinetry by Oklahoma Millworks, soft-close doors/drawers, climate-controlled storage room, Visual Comfort light fixtures, and Lutron dimmers in every room.
“A guard will be present for 10 hours a day to monitor the neighborhood. Cumberland Court is positioned on acul- de-sac, through traffic will not be a concern; however, the guard will monitor who is coming and going,” Poindexter said. “Residents will be able to contact the guard shack to schedule minor repairs, such as disposal repair, painting touch-ups, hanging large framed pictures/ art/ mirrors, clogged drains, etc.”
Say said it will be a few more years before Cumberland Court is finished.
“There's a market for it, but we' re not going hog wild and building 10 houses at one time,” he said. “This is a project that I sort of took on in 2008, not knowing where it was going to go. I thought I'd buy a few houses (for the lots) and have a builder friend build (a few new houses), and it sort of mushroomed from there.”