Upscale home project planned -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Mike Rutledge Post staff reporter One of northern Kentucky's high-end builders is planning a 25-home development immediately north and west of Newport's Wiedemann Mansion. Homes will sell for at least $450,000 apiece -- with the average sale price possibly at $600,000 or higher -- Dale McPherson of Signature Homes told the city's Planning and Zoning Commission this week. Already, 16 of the 25 properties have sales contracts, he said. The development, known as the Estates at Wiedemann Mansion, is slated to be a CitiRama show location in 2004, just down the hill from the 2002 CitiRama site, the Newport Promenade houses at the top of Wiedemann Hill. The 25-home project continues a rebirth of Newport -- once known as the underbelly of Northern Kentucky -- that has included a redevelopment of its riverfront into an entertainment district, a spruced-up Monmouth Street and the other upscale housing atop Wiedemann Hill. The new homes will have to be "historically accurate," meaning if a builder proposes an Italianate house, the home must have only Italianate details that will be spelled out in a design book. "We're not requiring reproductions because we don't want to handcuff the builders, but we want to make sure anything we do in there has that accuracy," McPherson said. Streetlights will have historic looks, and outdoor walls will have rock faces. "We're really upgrading the image from the typical what I'll call CitiRama site, where you just build with a view," he said. "We really want to play up the exclusivity of this." Under plans for the subdivision, the historic 28-room Wiedemann Mansion is to remain on two acres of what was a 7½-acre site. The subdivision's homes will have views of Newport and downtown Cincinnati but will have height restrictions so they never obstruct the mansion's panoramic view of its surroundings. "Obviously, the competition's stiff up on the hill, and we want to maintain as good a view as we can," McPherson told planning officials. "We've done that with every lot." The mansion is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but does not have the more significant protection of being in an historic neighborhood. Cincinnati dentist Thomas Powell has maintained ownership of the mansion but has sold the land around it to Wiedemann Mansion Investment Properties LLC, of which McPherson is managing partner. City Manager Phil Ciafardini told concerned residents the city will take steps to make sure the mansion property, located on a slide-prone hillside, is not damaged. He said the city worked with Powell last year to make sure that a slippage in the hill was corrected. "Obviously the hillside is a concern," he said. The city will strive to "just make sure that this new development won't have any impact on the existing structure." Soil borings will be taken on every lot and along the development's proposed new streets. The area will be monitored for slippage during construction, city officials and developers assured area residents, who were concerned about impacts on their own properties. McPherson told city officials Powell had a contract signed for a bed and breakfast, although, "I don't think that's going to happen." Powell today agreed that particular agreement for a bed & breakfast may not happen. "The mansion is still available for sale" through Huff Realty, he said, for use as either a bed & breakfast or "a magnificent home." If anyone buys the mansion, "we'd certainly work with them," McPherson said. McPherson had hoped to attach a fee to each lot in his development and use that money to finance an agreement that could make part of the mansion a club house or a meeting hall for the development. "We're developing this as a high-end property," McPherson said. "We'd like to think it's going to be over and above anything that's been offered so far." Wrought-iron-type fences will be built along Park Avenue, with brick columns every hundred feet. That, together with a guard gate at the entrance and other touchesm, should enhance the upscale image the developers are trying to project, he said. The proposed development also involves three less extravagant homes near the mansion's carriage house. Those additional three houses would face Park Avenue and would be consistent with other housing on the street, officials said. McPherson, whose Signature Homes is the No. 1 builder in Boone County's Triple Crown development, said some large trees will have to be cleared from the hill to make room for the development. They will be replaced as required by the city's tree board, he said. The planning board approved the development plan this week. The City Commission now must consider it during two meetings, most likely on Feb. 10 and 24. Publication Date: 01-31-2003