Cracker-style living

CRYSTAL RIVER — Workers are clearing a parcel of land near the heart of downtown that will become a quaint neighborhood of old Florida Cracker homes, sidewalks and leafy landscapes. Developers hope the 1920-to-1930s-style bungalows will appeal to people who love to have their amenities within walking distance and a have a hankering for “front porch living, Nature Coast style.”
 

Matthew Beck

Barbaron Inc. architect Terry LaGree, left, and general contractor Chris Ensing, with Southern Exposure Inc., display blueprints for a new housing community in Crystal River. The land to build Crystal River Station is being cleared.

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An artist rendering of one of the bungalows illustrates the small, quaint houses.

The Crystal River Station is planned for nine bungalows.

The group behind the project — Crystal River Station — is hoping that with the national economy showing glimmers of growth, their gamble to remake a 1.5-acre slice of an increasingly vibrant downtown core will pay dividends. The new development will be near the Historic Old Railroad.
 

“The investors, Tony and Donna Athens, are in California, but they love Crystal River and think this type of neighborhood will be ideal here,” said Terry LaGree, one of three people who are the project’s faces in Citrus County. Crystal River City Council member Ron Kitchen and Chris Ensing of Southern Exposure Construction are the others.
 

The plan is to build nine homes of varying sizes with granite countertops and garages, according to LaGree.
 

The front of the homes, he said, will prominently feature porches families can use to watch their children play or just sit outside and take in the neighborhood.
 

“The homes themselves will be open concept plans. They may look small on the outside, but the insides will be open and the rooms will be large with cathedral ceilings,” LaGree said. Floor choices are also available.
 

Last month during a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, Ensing and LaGree presented renderings of their plans.
 

LaGree called it front-porch living, Nature Coast style.
 

“It will be a great asset to the area. It will help add to all the other things that are happening in the downtown, and the future homeowners can easily walk to all the amenities in the area,” he said Tuesday.
 

Ensing told the panel despite the current economic times, the project is workable and they planned to keep the home prices affordable.
 

The project has already been permitted and is set for construction to begin. The group went before the CRA, which comprises the Crystal River City Council, to share developments with the panel and not to ask for any favors, Kitchen interjected during the presentation.
 

Other members of the panel were all happy to see new additions to the percolating downtown core. Work was completed last summer on a portion of Citrus Avenue, transforming it into a walkable area of businesses, cobbled sidewalks and decorative street lights.
 

The new pocket neighborhood will be bounded by Crystal Street, N.E. 2nd Avenue and N.E. 9th Street.
 

Chronicle reporter A.B. Sidibe can be reached at 352-564-2925 or asidibe@
chronicleonline.com.

CRYSTAL RIVER STATION
*WHAT: A pocket neighborhood of nine old Florida Cracker-style homes.There are three floor plans: 1 bedroom/1-car garage; 2 bedrooms/1 1/2-car garage and 2 bedrooms/2-car garage.
*WHERE: Bounded by Crystal Street, N.E. 2nd Avenue and NE 9th Street.
*SIZE: 1.5-acre parcel getting prepared for construction.
*COST: Homes will start in the $160,000s to low $200,000s.
*CONTACT: Call the office: 352-795-9010, cell: 352-302-6319, or visit crystalriverstation.com.