‘Sell the neighborhood first’ helps Louisville project

“Norton Commons’s focus has always been selling the neighborhood first and the home second,” says Angela Hepner, Marketing and Neighborhood Manager of Norton Commons. The New Urban development, outside Louisville, KY, has been growing steadily throughout the economic downturn and is outperforming its surrounding neighborhoods according to John Gilderbloom, a professor of urban and public affairs at the University of Louisville, who has been studying the Louisville region’s real-estate market.

Sales have averaged 60 to 70 units per year with the average home price at about $375,000, Hepner says. Norton Commons, which began construction in 2003, has sold approximately 450 residences. There are about 40 businesses operating within the neighborhood. Twenty-one units are to be displayed in a “Home-a-rama” event that takes place in late July — 16 of those units were sold as of late June.

Norton Commons is planned to have a total of 2,880 dwelling units and 560,000 square feet of retail at buildout. The developer anticipates that completion will take 15 years.

Norton Commons brings a holistic approach to its marketing. The neighborhood center has been the host of a continuous stream of events, bringing outsiders into the development and building a sense

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