If the residents would have patronized Katie Belle’s (either version) we would not be having this discussion.

The next thing, the upper level will be converted to apartments then the residents of the apartments will complain about the music on the square being to loud or long!

Developer
 

The developer has to be stopped from dumping his failures to increase unwanted development by the residents.

well said. disgusting the greed !!!!!

-LEASED residential and commercial property is the gift that keeps on giving with MONTHLY rents while selling a house is only a one time score.
-Not to mention, the development cost per apartment front door is a lot less than a stand alone single family front door.
-Additionally, more bedrooms (higher density) means more foot traffic, and more foot traffic means HIGHER monthly commercial rents.

Real estate development...........
It’s all about the Benjamins baby!

Aprtments.
 

In any normal City. There are apartments . not everyone wants a 2000 foot home . nor needs one . grow up . it's the developers land .

Bad trend
 

It's irrelevant whether a restaurant is an official "amenity" or not, the trend of more people and fewer amenities is a bad trend. How appealing would a square with all apartments and no stores or restaurants be to you? I'm sure the developer would have a hard time using that as a marketing tool. Same thing for HH, I have a hard time imagining agents promoting a house near the country club as being "walking distance" to an apartment complex. Don't get me wrong, we love the villages and are happy we moved here, but nothing is so permanent that it can't be ruined by bad management.

Agree. The new generation developers seem to have little idea of what we enjoy And what attracts people to buy here. I would assume they do marketing research but, as someone who has been in corporate life my entire career, marketing research often does not get at the right information. The original Katie belles is a good example. Would something like that be discovered or correctly assessed in marketing research? The real value is. It obvious until you see the exact product Obviously, the concept was a very good one as the universal opinion is that the revised Katie belles was not as good and they miss it very much. I’m on the younger end of age here and I spent many enjoyable nights there. If it wasn’t profitable enough, then tweak it don’t replace it.

We need more unique attractions and those seem to be disappearing. The town squares is another unique attraction. Now, we will just be a big boring sprawling community. Cmon. Where are the wow factors?

None of the commercial property is resident owned but all the rec centers are.

Look at it this way, when the building finally starts to slow down 1000 apartments at say $2000 a month on average would generate $2 million a month or $24 million a year in revenue. Not chump change.

I am wondering about the floor plan of these apartments. Doesn’t the building code require each room to have a window? I’m sure the developers know but I can’t quite envision it.

We don't know whether Katie Bells was viable because none of us have seen the books. It is possible the developer saw a greater return on apartments and closed Katie Bells even though it was profitable.
Spanish Springs square has fewer shops than either Lake Sumter or Brownwood and I would rather had a new restaurant take over.

Open concept would seem to solve that problem

Am I wrong? I thought I read that only the second floor would have some apartments at Katie Belles....

Katie Belle's
 

Katie Belle's is only the second floor. The first floor is Soft Surroundings. The second floor is being repurposed to multiple apartments.

I wouldn't think an apartment overlooking the busy Spanish Springs square would be very desirable. EVERY night the noise from the entertainers. EVERY night listening to all the drunks on patios of the restaurants. EVERY day all the traffic. EVERY day a lack of parking spaces. All those strangers right outside your "home". Not a very desirable location to live, in my opinion.