Old golf course set for new apartments

Development will mix residential, retail, office spaces

Developers of a mixed-use project at the old Monrovia Golf Course site say Eighteen Watercress's design will set a standard for apartment communities in the Huntsville area.

Plans call for the 324-apartment complex at the northeast corner of U.S. 72 and Jeff Road to be built in clusters of three-story craftsman-style buildings holding 12 units each, forming six distinct courtyard neighborhoods surrounded by green space and a walking trail.

"All of the buildings will have front and side windows," Bartlett said.

Other amenities include wrap-around porches, hardwood floors, stainless steel kitchen appliances and a putting green.

The 85-acre, $50 million development will also have 130,000 square feet of retail space, and up to 100,000 square feet of office space, said Lou Stevens Bartlett, principal for Watercress Development Group and daughter of John and Jerda Holder Stevens, who operated the golf course for more than 40 years.

Bartlett's grandparents bought the land, including a store, after TVA condemned the family farm in Jackson County to be flooded by Guntersville Dam in the 1930s. The area became known as Holder's Corner; Bartlett's parents opened Monrovia Golf Course in 1960.

The golf course closed in 2007. It had been operating under a lease, but was not modern and large enough to continue, Bartlett said.

Later, the family heard from several developers seeking to buy the land, but decided to do the project themselves, with the help of Jeff Mullins of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood civil engineers.

"We wanted to do it ourselves to control the green space," she said.

The first apartments should be ready for occupancy by fall. Rental rates will be comparable to other similar apartments in the area, Bartlett said.

Beck said some of the retail tenants, including stores and restaurants, will be announced this fall.

Plans for the development were initially announced last year, but were delayed to work out an access issue for an adjacent property owner.

Naming the new development Eighteen Watercress is a nod to the land's history: Watercress grew on the golf course, and will likely be put in retention ponds at the site, Bartlett said. Street names will include Old Fairway and Back Nine.

The project is a partnership of landowner Lou Stevens Bartlett and her family, which has owned the property for three generations; Mullins, and Randy Bailey, a longtime local developer and builder. Atlanta-based Pucciano & English architects designed the apartments; Don Beck of The Shopping Center Group is the leasing agent for the retail and office segments, and Doster Construction is the general contractor.