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Future Chatham Park residents could one day live within walking distance of a world-class golf course in the development’s 5,000-acre South Village community.
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Southern Land Co. is working with renowned golf course architect Tom Fazio to design a 1,271-acre master-plan golf community, Chatham Park officials announced Monday.
Fazio, who lives in Hendersonville, in western North Carolina, has worked with the natural features of land all over the world to design over 200 courses in 60 years. At South Village, he will be involved in designing an 18-hole course, a 9-hole short course, and state-of-the-art learning and practice facilities, development officials said.
“With our deep connection to the Southeast through hundreds of projects and Southern Land Company’s vision, commitment, and successful track record, we believe this site gives us a rare opportunity to create a truly distinctive golf course and community,” said Fazio, founder and principal designer with Fazio Golf Design.
“Our goal is to create a course that is visually spectacular, fun to play, and deeply connected to the natural character of the land,” he continued. “We can’t wait to get started on what is sure to be an unforgettable experience that will define this community for generations.”
In addition to the golf course, the plan for the next phase of Chatham Park’s South Village development includes a “Golf Village,” covering over 800 acres and approved for up to 250 lots, according to the approved small-area plan. It could add single-family homes, townhomes and condos, plus an area immediately south — The Village — with restaurant, retail and hotel uses.
A future “Farm and Racquet” feature and fire station are planned to the east, and the small-area plan also calls for a regional Roberson Creek Greenway and multiple parks.
The South Village small-area plan is the largest of two approved Chatham Park small-area plans. The North Village, already occupied and under construction, is about 2,000 acres and includes the future Asteria, a Disney Storyliving community.
Chatham Park has not planned a third potential district, but at full buildout, Preston Development Co.’s project could add over 22,000 residences, 60,000 people, and 22 million square feet of business, medical and commercial space to Pittsboro.
The land slated for the golf community is located south of Roberson Creek and is also some of Chatham Park’s most environmentally sensitive, with 324 acres of stream buffers and areas of significant steep slopes. That has generated a lot of concern and criticism from residents, as well as a lawsuit seeking more safeguards.
A Chatham County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit last week, but an appeal is still possible.
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Chuck Smith, Preston Development Co.’s vice president of planning and development, recently updated the Pittsboro commissioners on the golf course and three other plans for South Village:
South Village will also add new roads to the area around Pittsboro, including 6.9 miles of the Chatham Parkway, which is expected to open next June. The city of Sanford and TriRiver Water are also working to expand public water and sewer services by next year, Smith said.
At the same time, Preston Development Co., is continuing to build out Chatham Park’s North Village, located northeast of U.S. 15-501 and U.S. 64 intersection, north of Pittsboro.
That includes another Del Webb project, for a total of about 2,100 units of age-restricted housing once the North and South Village projects are built.
Over 1,100 homes have already been sold in North Village, and there is nearly a half-million square feet of non-residential space, including shops, a hotel, restaurants, a school, and medical and office tenants, Smith said.
Another 1.8 million square feet is planned, including some type of UNC Health hospital facility, he said. Chatham Park’s NOVI Village, anchored by a grocery store and near the Chatham Park YMCA, will be part of that growth, he said.
It’s the development’s first mixed-use village, similar in size to Cary’s Fenton community, Smith said, and could form a symbiotic relationship with UNC’s future medical facilities.
“If you look at any hospital development in the Triangle and the nonresidential development that occurs around that, it just goes on and on and on,” Smith said. “It’s not just doctor’s offices trying to be located there, but it’s hotels, retail, all the things that are needed around a growing hospital.”
North Village is also shaping up to be an entertainment and outdoor attraction, offering events and activities at the YMCA’s Great Lawn, Knight Farm Community Par, and other venues.
Still, “the most important thing we’re doing in the North neighborhood” is Disney’s Asteria project, Smith said. The first phase is underway, laying the ground work for home sales to start next year, he said.
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