THORNBLADE DESIGNED TO FIT DIVERSE ACTIVITIES, RESIDENTS

Robert and Cheryl Young found themselves empty nesters in the Thornblade home they moved into about two years ago.

   “Realistically, we need one half its size,” Robert Young joked.  It’s not because their kids moved out: They knew that was coming, Young said.

     The couple designed the 9,000-square-foot home so their respective mothers could live with them.

   “But our mothers don’t want to live with us,” Young said.

   The home has two large porches, a four-car garage, and is at the upper end of Thornblade’s homes, which range from 2,500 to 10,000 square feet.

   “It’s too big,” Young said. “The strong point of this house is that it’s actually four homes in one.”

   The Youngs are asking about $900,000, Young said.  While some Thornblade homes top $3 million, most of the 400 homes fall in the $500,000 to $600,000 range, said Marie Crumpler, a Realtor with the Prudential C. Dan Joyner Co.

   She said most of the homes she is selling are priced between $550,000 and $615,000.

   But in the $500,000 price range, buyers are taking longer to decide, Crumpler said.  “It’s been slow in this market everywhere in Greenville,” she said.  “As the economy picks up, it will pick up.”

   While some homes are changing hands, the site remains one that’s sought after because of its proximity to all the modes of travel – air and Interstates 385 and 85.

   The layout of Thornblade varies to accommodate walkers, joggers, skateboarders and bicyclists in the hilly, landscaped setting.

   “It’s a wonderful place to live and it’s so convenient,” said Patricia Calder, general manager at the Thornblade Club.  “It’s such a diverse group.”

   That’s one of the aspects Steve and Denice McGehee said attracted them while they were relocating from Dallas a year ago.

   The McGehees, who have two youngsters, say they studied Greenville before deciding on a roomy 5,000-square-foot house when they relocated with their two children to Thornblade from Dallas a year ago.

   “I’d say the landscape in the subdivision is settled in and you don’t have to guess what it’s going to look like.  We like the fact that there was a golf course that is convenient,” McGehee said.

   “I was commuting for a while, so I had a chance to look at existing neighborhoods and I kept coming back to Thornblade,” the marketing executive said.

   The McGehees said they liked the fact that the homes are different.  Denise McGehee said she particularly likes the people who live in Thornblade and its proximity to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, a 10-minute drive on I-85 from the 13-year old neighborhood.  The communities share a zip code with French tire-maker, Michelin North America.

   “I think it’s a good neighborhood,” Mrs. McGehee said.  “We’ve got great neighbors.   I think we got very, very lucky.

   “When you live in Dallas, it takes an hour to get to the airport,” Mrs. McGehee said.  “Texas is so spread out.  And, there’s something to be said for a small town, especially when you have small children.”

   Many residents say they like the Thornblade Club, which includes an 18-hole golf course, a swimming pool and tennis courts.

   Forty-nine is the average age at the club, which costs $26,500 to join, Calder said.  The Youngs say their home might have gotten too big for them, but that doesn’t mean they have to leave the neighborhood. 

   Once they sell their home, Robert Young said they plan to buy a home half as large, but remain in Thornblade.

    “It’s so convenient,” he said of their home which is a 15-minute drive downtown to his office in the Bank of America building.

   “I hope to move down the street,” Young said.