Small 'custom' cottages coming to Memphis

WILSON, Ark. — Farmer and entrepreneur Bill Joe Denton believes he's innovated a better way to build high-quality, craftsman-style houses that are smaller but efficient and less expensive.

Memphis entrepreneur Ed Apple believes his city's core — where there's so little home construction — is ripe for in-fill houses of 850 to 1,250 square feet with serious porches, vaulted ceilings, great rooms and lots of custom options.

Denton and Apple have joined forces.

They sat side by side in Memphis City Hall on Thursday when the Land Use Control Board approved Apple's proposal for planned development of 10 rental cottages on the vacant northeast corner of Elzey and Tanglewood in Cooper-Young. City Council approval is also needed.

They'll return next month for Apple's proposed planned development of 15 rental cottages near the Highland Strip and University of Memphis.

And Apple says he's already scouted other lots where cottages can be built for sale instead of renting. The asking price should be $150,000 to $200,000.

Loeb Realty Group's Barry Maynard and Frank Dyer are involved in the real estate development, and Realtor Eleanore Kelly Maynard of Hobson Realtors handles the listings for City Cottage.

What little new home construction that does occur inside the Memphis interstate loop "in my opinion does not conform to the history, the actual integrity of the neighborhoods,'' Apple said.

"We'll study a neighborhood, understand what's there, we'll pick spots, and then we'll kind of accent and complement the existing areas.

"And I think Memphis has a lot of areas that are on the edge of turning the corner. I see a lot of green shoots and a lot of opportunity,'' said Apple, who worked about 20 years in equity capital markets with Morgan Keegan and Pacific Global Investment Management Co.

Little Custom Homes

Denton founded Little Custom Homes less than three years ago after his experience of buying and renovating existing homes around this Delta town about 45 miles northwest of Memphis. He figured building new homes in an efficient but quality way is better.

He projects that his carpenters and other employees — totaling about 100 — this year will build 150 to 200 panelized homes. That's up from 75 last year.

"Panelized'' houses are partially prefabricated. Overseen by J. D. Randolph, a carpenter for 48 years, crews work inside Osceola's former Fruit of the Loom plant building walls, roofs and floors before the houses are transported to their respective lots for completion.

Not 'manufactured' houses

"The state calls us 'manufacturing,' '' Denton said. "But in reality we are manufacturing craftsman-style homes using human resources that need to be employed.''

Said Apple: "It is the opposite'' of manufacturing. "Because in manufactured housing you see glue and chemicals. Here you see quality materials, you see screws, you see human hands assembling this. 'Manufactured housing' is a misnomer.''

If the Memphis market takes to the houses like Apple and Denton anticipate, Little Custom Homes will establish a house-building operation in Memphis like the ones at Osceola and at the Alabama Gulf Coast.

These houses sit on conventional foundations instead of slabs. The bottom or crawl spaces of the Memphis homes will be screened by brick or stone, and substantial porches — even wrap-around ones — are built on site.

Custom features

The goal is not only a solid build quality, but for the cottages to look like any other traditional home that meshes with Memphis' historic neighborhoods.

The Memphis cottages will be the best of Little Custom Homes, Apple said. "The Cadillacs of the product. Will have central heat and air. Quality inside and out. High-grade wood and brick, wainscoting, beadboard in the ceilings and all the things you can think of.''

Custom options include items like architectural shingles, where and how big to make the porches, James Hardie board siding, cedar shutters, tongue-and-groove Sheetrock or paneling, cedar closets, and garages.

Randolph, the lead carpenter at the Osceola operation, estimates he's helped build 2,000 houses in his 48-year career and said he was skeptical initially of the indoor, off-site construction.

But now, Randolph said, "I wouldn't go back to the other way, no way. It's cleaner. ... Your houses are better built.''

To divide and perfect

The Osceola plant is compartmentalized. One day last week, a crew was building 46-foot-long exterior house walls in one large room while another stained trim board in a different room.

The more compartmentalized and specialized, the better, Denton said during the tour.

"The precision and repetition of the way they are doing it is called specialization,'' Denton said. "... We're trying to look at it as components and seeing how we can specialize in certain areas,'' he said.

"Take the wall department. Those guys are building that wall every day. J.D. is constantly thinking of ways to improve that system. If you have a wall department building walls and doing the repetition every day — specializing — you're getting better at it. Same with floor department and roof department. All this is still in research and development. ...

"But there's no doubt in my mind that specializing is the way to go.''

Pushback and response

The Cooper-Young proposal received a recommendation from city planners and a 7-2 positive vote from the Land Use Control Board. But support was not unanimous.

Five people spoke against the project, most citing skepticism about the quality of homes constructed off site. Among them was Tamara Cook, executive director of the Cooper-Young Business Association.

"I do not feel these modular units are in keeping with the integrity of our historic district,'' she said.

However, Brenda Solomito Basar, land planning consultant for City Cottages, responded, "These are not modular homes. They are not mobile homes. Not manufactured homes. The end result is the same if not better than existing homes in Cooper-Young. We do meet the criteria for historic design.''

Rob Norcross, an architect and Land Use Control Board member, said he has seen structures built off site, shipped in pieces and assembled, and the project was "of very high quality. That's not issue at all,'' he said.