Aug 28 2005
After what was heralded to be an unprecedented new luxury home development in the Brandywine area of Prince George's county languished in county bureaucracy for years and adjacent properties were bought up by production builders, Emerge Homes, Inc. made the reluctant decision to withdraw from the project.
Located on the west side of North Keys Road and south side of Cross Road Trail in the county's rural tier, the Pinnacle with its 3-7 acre lots initially seemed to be a perfect location for the luxurious estate homes that Emerge specializes in.
"We had to do it for our customers," said Michael C. Hill, President and CEO of Emerge Homes. "To have a customer pay $2-3 million for a new home only to then have it surrounded by $800k 'cookie-cutters' would be a tragedy," he continued. "The original plan was to create a large area of upscale development and The Pinnacle was to be just the beginning. Originally arrangements had been set in place for Emerge to build not only 9 homes in the Pinnacle but to build dozens of luxury homes in the adjacent 23-lot Southridge subdivision, the 19-lot Turner's Trace subdivision and several other subdivisions that were in the pipeline. Brandywine was to become the most prestigious place to live in the region. Unfortunately, all of the parties involved, due to a variety of pressures, could not stay the course. We were left with nothing except the Pinnacle and then the county health department reversed a previous approval to leave only 8 lots for our part of the project. With all of that, we saw no alternative but to recommend to our customers a new location for their estates."
Woodmore, a long established upscale community within the county, is the location to which some of the prospective Pinnacle homebuyers have been redirected. Others are having their homes built outside of the county all together. Emerge is currently reevaluating its long-term interests in the county.
"I hope that this series of events sends a message to county officials who claim to support upscale residential developers like Henry Turner and me: if you don't support us, you only open the door to the national production developers to flock in and steam roll our attempts at building quality and distinctiveness with their machine of mediocre similitude. Right now Prince George's county has the greatest opportunity of any jurisdiction in the region to shape its future because it is the least developed county adjacent to the national capital. Development is inevitable. It can't be stopped, but it can be directed and controlled. This county is known for many things. It's a shame that luxury housing is not yet one of them. This was an opportunity missed and it is truly sad for the county."