Tennessee is seeing a surge of new people come to the state, and the trend is expected to help planned residential projects such as the huge River Gorge Ranch in Marion County, officials said Wednesday.
"There's a reason we're the most moved-to state in America," said Gov. Bill Lee, citing the state's low taxes, to about 100 people who turned out for the groundbreaking of the planned residential development atop Aetna Mountain.
Chattanooga developer John "Thunder" Thornton said it took a year to sell 98 lots and generate $6 million in sales on his nearby Jasper Highlands mountaintop community, also in Marion County, which he started about a decade ago.
But at River Gorge Ranch, he said, sales have hit over $10 million in the first 10 days during a so-called "soft opening."
"The deals represent 2% of the number of lots," he said to Lee, former University of Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer and others who turned out to mark the start of what could grow into the state's biggest-ever mountaintop residential development.
Thornton's Thunder Enterprises, which acquired nearly 7,400 acres on Aetna Mountain near the former Hales Bar Dam through a series of property purchases last year, expects the new project to ultimately bring more than $1.5 billion of homes and mountaintop amenities.
Lee said that even during the coronavirus pandemic, growth continued in the state, which is attractive to people moving from locations such as California and New York.
"They find themselves in places such as Jasper Highlands and River Gorge Ranch," he said.
The governor said investments in such developments are life-changing for the community.
"What's happening here is an important thing in our state," he said.
While Lee cited Tennessee's growth, moves tracked by U-Haul showed that Texas displaced Tennessee last year as the No. 1 destination state for residents relocating during the pandemic.
Tennessee, U-Haul's top state for people to move to in 2020, ranked No. 3 among all states for incoming moves, behind Texas and Florida during 2021, according to transactional data compiled for the annual U-Haul Growth Index.
Marion County Mayor David Jackson told the group that the county's planning commission already has approved 300 lots for the development, where Thunder Enterprises eventually expects to develop about 2,500 lots - nearly double the 1,300 or so planned at Jasper Highlands.
"They've got the green light," he said.
Jackson said he's hopeful more retail space will come to his county because of the developments.
"We want to bring in more folks so people don't have to go to Chattanooga," he said.
Thornton estimated the new mountaintop community could hold about 5,000 people when it's built out. New property taxes should "flood the coffers" in the county, he said.
The developer said the Southeast Tennessee county with panoramic views of the Tennessee River and the valley below outshines the Grand Teton Mountains in Wyoming, where he also has worked.
"God did his best work in Marion County," Thornton said during the ceremony at the new development that's just off of Interstate 24's Haletown exit and about a 20-minute drive from Chattanooga.
Dane Bradshaw, president of Thunder Enterprises, said in an earlier interview that he expects the development will offer an appeal similar to that which attracted retirees and other homebuyers from 48 states and eight different countries to Jasper Highlands.
Bradshaw said the new development will include lots atop Aetna Mountain similar in size to Jasper Highlands, with 1 acre to 1.5 acres each for most parcels.
Prices are still being set for the new lots as they are developed, Bradshaw said. The lots in Jasper Highlands typically range from 1 to 5 acres in size and sell anywhere from $70,000 for interior lots up to more than $800,000 for some of the prime bluff-view sites near waterfalls.
Thornton said he expects River Gorge Ranch to double the amount of the investment in Jasper Highlands, 9 miles west along I-24.
Initially, lots of River Gorge Ranch will be priced lower than in Jasper Highlands while roads and utilities are being added to the new development, he said.
Lee said he talked a lot about bolstering rural Tennessee amid his gubernatorial campaign. If there aren't investments in rural areas, the state won't lead nationally, he said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.