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CLOSE TO HOME: BECKETT RIDGE
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Suburb is home to many homes
BY RANDY McNUTT
UNION TOWNSHIP -- On a hill near Beckett Road, the action starts about 7 a.m. Suburban warriors head out on their daily commutes, leaving the streets of Beckett Ridge all but empty, like a 1950s movie in which the people were evacuated to fallout shelters.
When it started in the mid-1970s, builders bought farmland and erected homes on about 1,800 acres. Since then, development has rippled across the hills, new subdivisions abutting Beckett Ridge's older subdivisions within subdivisions.
"These days, it's hard to say when you leave Beckett Ridge and enter it," said Jeff Wright, a township planner.
Houses everywhere. Brick. Wooden. Ranch. Two floors. Tri-levels. Large. Small. They come in all designs and color schemes and prices. The architecture runs together, too -- a blur of rock and vinyl.
Cookie Caposela, of the Beckett Ridge Homeowners Association, said the development appeals to people of all ages and incomes. She said prices range from $69,000, for a smaller condominium, to homes as expensive as $500,000.
The community's focal point, an 18-hole golf course, sits atop a hill, surrounded BY houses. From the Beckett Ridge Country Club, you can see houses popping up on the hills like fruit on distant trees. Named for a farm once owned BY the Beckett family, Beckett Ridge Country Club and Golf Course is about the only "landmark" left in the development.
"We used the original barn and silo for our tennis shop and pro room," said Donna Myers, country club membership director. "We also have another original silo on our No. 5 fairway. People like the idea of living near a country club, and it's a nice little tool for Realtors.
"So I work closely with them. We enhance each other. You see, this is a very transitional area; people move in and out. Our average tenure is six years for the country club."
The course, 6,867 yards long, is ranked No. 5 in the area for difficulty among private golf courses, Ms. Myers said.
A mile or so away, on Beckett Road, real estate salesman Sandy Fram works in a building with an aerial map of the area. It is covered with houses and streets on the left and right, but surprisingly vacant down the middle.
He pointed to the new Union Center Boulevard interchange at the end of the vacant area and said it will attract people to the center. "There will be a lot of rich farmers," he said.
The colonization will resume.
The interchange, which opened in December, gives residents of Beckett Ridge, Providence Manor and Deer Run subdivisions an option in their daily commutes. They might save 15 minutes each way.
Ohio transportation officials project that 30,000 vehicles will use the exit ramp daily. BY 2000, they say, 93,970 vehicles will travel daily on I-75 between Union Centre Boulevard and I-275. Union Township officials say the interchange is probably the most significant thing that has happened to the township since I-75 was built in the 1960s.
They predict that development will spread west to Ohio 747 and east to Cincinnati-Dayton Road, bringing 250,000 to 500,000 square feet of office space every year for five years.
At Beckett Meadows on Beckett Road, where everything is called Beckett something, Mr. Fram sells new condominiums starting in the $70,000 range and ranches for $130,000. He said Beckett Ridge is similar to Landen, another well-known planned community in Warren County. Landen is built around a lake; Beckett Ridge around a golf course.
In the next few years, Beckett Ridge's growth will come mostly in condos and town homes, Mr. Wright said. Houses have taken up the available space.
Many of the residents will continue to be from other areas.
"Companies from other states call us and say they want to send people here to live," said Paul B. Strigle, owner of Mail Boxes Etc. at Beckett Commons shopping center, 8216 Princeton-Glendale Road. "Sometimes we feel we're in an airport. People move in constantly. For us, Christmas and Easter are unbelievable sales times because everyone is sending something to some other place."
In August, artist Loren Long, 33, his wife, Tracy, and their two children moved to Beckett Ridge from Middletown. Mr. Long's illustrations often appear in national publications.
"We moved here because of the location," he said. "My wife works in Monroe, and I work out of the house, and we love Cincinnati. But we didn't want to move into the heart of Cincinnati because of her drive. We used to live in Hyde Park, and the drive to Monroe took her 45 minutes. So eventually we relocated to a happy medium -- Beckett Ridge.
"It's really accessible to Cincinnati. When traffic is light, I can make it to the Ohio River in about 20 minutes."
Salesman John Mosley, 31, who lives in a condominium, says he moved to Beckett Ridge to be near his family in West Chester.
"I was looking for someplace close to home and convenient, and Beckett Ridge looked good," he said. "Property values have really gone up, and the community is getting popular. Another plus is the new interchange. Since it opened in December, it has saved me five minutes each way, and when you're always on the go, that's huge."
He said his commute to I-75 has dropped from 2.7 bumper-to-bumper miles on Cincinnati-Dayton Road to less than one mile.
In a few years, officials predict regional corporate headquarters, motels, restaurants and other commercial ventures -- connected through a system of boulevards, bikeways, trees and pocket parks -- will fill thousands of acres near the interchange.
"With the interchange opening, I think the area will grow immensely over the next five years," said Andy Temmel, vice president of sales and marketing for Hills Communities. "In the recent past, the area has grown because of the excellent housing values and school system.
"The location will spur unbelievable growth because of the access to employment centers. I think we've only seen the tip of the iceberg for Beckett Ridge."
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