Whitehaven development

A new gated subdivision of luxury homes, “Goshen Place,” will be located at the Tennessee-mississippi line.

A new gated subdivision of luxury homes is planned in Whitehaven.

The 15.79-acre development, “Goshen Place,” will be located on Scaife Road, near Elvis Presley Boulevard at the Tennessee-mississippi border.

Gregory and Sherrill Walker, who own the currently vacant lot, are working in collaboration with Self + Tucker Architects on the project.

The plans feature 23 residential estate lots with no less than 3,500 square feet per home, according to a planned development request submitted to the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board. Renderings show space for a play area, trees and green space.

The team developing the land believes the development will uplift Whitehaven’s aesthetic quality and fill the need for middle- to high-income housing development.

“With the housing market shortage, the need for move-up, and middle-to-high income housing development has become crucial in today’s market, especially in the Whitehaven area where there have not been any newly constructed residential subdivisions since 2006,” Self + Tucker Managing Principal Juan Self said in a letter to the board.

Whitehaven is home to 61,000 residents, according to data collected by the Greater Whitehaven Economic Redevelopment Corporation. Whitehaven’s average home value has seen a decline in recent years dropping from $125,000 to $106,000, said Michael Harris, executive director of the Greater Whitehaven Economic Redevelopment Corporation, in a previous interview.

The Goshen Place subdivision will be adjacent to the gated housing portion of the proposed BLP Film Studios development.

According to Harris, Whitehaven is also home to 1,700 businesses with more than 25,000 employees.

Whitehaven native and business owner Trey Carter said the development suggests there is a need for luxury homes in the area. “Traditionally you hear people moving east when they want a bigger house, bigger yards and they go to Collierville, Germantown, etc., East Memphis,” said Carter, president of Olympic Career Training Institute in Whitehaven. “Seeing that’s now being developed in Whitehaven, I think speaks to what Whitehaven is. It’s not that Whitehaven went down or is a dwindling community on the verge of poverty. It’s a strong community.”

Ken Olds, a co-owner of Muggin Coffeehouse in Whitehaven, cheered news of the planned homes and hopes it sparks other housing development.

“This is a much-needed development for mid- to high-income homes and will help from an economic standpoint area businesses,” said Olds, a Whitehaven native. “I talk to many friends and family and they say they would love to move back to Whitehaven. This will give them the opportunity to move back to home and raise their families in the area that instilled so much in them.”

Astrid Kayembe covers South Memphis, Whitehaven and Westwood. She can be reached at astrid.kayembe@commercialappeal.com.

PROVIDED BY GROUP 23RD INVESTMENTS The neighborhood will have one east-west thoroughfare and a smaller street that deviates south. Both streets end with cul-de-sacs.