If you?ve always wanted to live in Brookline, but can?t afford the $1 million median home price, now is your chance.
All you have to do is move to Charlotte, N.C.
?It?s such a cool area,? said developer Daniel Bartok, who is building Brookline - a gated community in North Carolina inspired by the ?timeless homes? of Brookline, Mass. ?It?s really where I got my inspiration.?
Bartok discovered Brookline while his daughter, Erin, lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Beacon Street as an undergraduate at Boston University.
The town?s stately collection of American Georgian Revival homes made from brick and stone gave way to Bartok?s vision for the 55-acre development of 257 single-family homes advertised from $275,000 to $355,000.
?I?ve developed a passion for old classic neighborhoods,? said architect Stephen Fuller of Atlanta, who designed Brookline for Bartok?s Clarion Homes. ?Brookline is certainly in that category of cherished, classic American places.?
The development offers six different floor plans with up to 125 choices for brick or stone exteriors. Each floor plan comes with a Bay State namesake - Newbury, Harvard, Emerson, Beacon, Cambridge and Commonwealth.
Bartok also borrowed street names Aspinwall Drive, Charles River Circle, Cushing Street and Coolidge Drive. He wanted to build a Newbury Street in honor of one of his daughter?s favorite hangouts, but there?s already one on the books in Mecklenburg County, N.C., Bartok said.
Standard features of the homes include 9-foot ceilings on the main level, crown molding in formal areas, granite countertops, hardwood floors and stairs, stainless-steel appliances, detailed interior and exterior trim and rocking chair front porches, according to the Web site, homeatbrookline.com. Every home comes with a detached garage that is set back from the street.
The development?s marketing campaign is scheduled to begin June 6. Bartok said a few units already have been sold and he hopes residents will begin to move in by the end of July. The starting prices for Brookline are higher than the $225,000 median home price for Charlotte, Bartok said.
Veteran Brookline real estate agent Chobee Hoy said the North Carolina development is ?flattering.?
?It?s certainly a compliment,? said Hoy, who owns Chobee Hoy Associates Real Estate, Inc. in Brookline Village. ?But to get the patina takes a century or so, which is, of course, what Brookline is.?
