Jackson's Grant

What made you decide to live in Jackson’s Grant?

Abbe: The location was the biggest thing. That’s what spurred our interest. We had already decided to build and there’s not a whole lot of places in Carmel where they’re doing new construction. I think, too, knowing everything that we wanted from a house; with the style and the quality of construction, Old Town had. I’ve always loved Old Town. Once we knew the house that we wanted to build could be built with Old Town, in this location; that was the biggest thing for me. We also had friends who were some of the first to build in Jackson’s Grant.

Danny: It was a perfect combination of accomplishing what we wanted. We wanted to build a house in Carmel. We were already familiar with Old Town; with their designs and how well built their houses were. It was within our price point and it’s in a perfect location. I’m a mile and a half away from work. It checked all of the boxes for what we work looking for, so to speak.

Could you describe the feeling when you both walked into your finished home for the first time?

Danny: Excitement. A sense of arriving because we had finally built our dream home.

Abbe: A sense of accomplishment and so overwhelmed with joy. It was everything I had hoped for and more. It’s fun designing your house and seeing the finished product it was wonderful.

What do you like most about your new home?

Abbe: Oh, that’s hard. Honestly, everything. From the design, the aesthetics and the details – it feels like home. It’s felt like home since day one. I think that’s in part because of the people at Old Town. We love our house and our neighbors. We just love this place.

Danny: I mean, there’s lots of things reflective of us in the design: the basement with a walk-up bar, the open concept with the living room-kitchen-dining room, I absolutely love our shower – I feel like I’m in a spa anytime I’m in there. But I think the one thing that makes our house unique, compared to other Old Town houses, is our front elevation. We basically took an already existing Old Town floorplan, gave them the renderings of what we wanted the front of our house to look like, and they were able to bring that to life. It was the perfect marriage of what we wanted the front of our home to look like and the floorplan we fell in love with.

What do you like most about living in Jackson’s Grant?

Danny: The neighbors. We have block parties. Back in the fall, we put cars out and blocked both ends of the street and everyone brought a side item. Another thing, in terms of why I like the neighborhood, is the greenbelt area with lots of paths. For me it’s first neighbors and second the greenbelt area and third would be location.

Abbe: Yeah, we do a lot with the people on our street. I’d say there’s a lot of energy, lots of active people – and at all ages. There are people in their 30’s like us and people in their 50’s and 60’s. It’s a good mix of age ranges.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Abbe: I think we’ve said this before, but everyone we worked with through the whole process was wonderful – but I can’t say enough about Jim. I know that he just works his tail off. It’s so nice to have someone that’s visible and a point of contact throughout the whole process.

Danny: Jim and our New Home Consultant were awesome. They always above and beyond and were always responsive. We’ve already recommended several people to build with Old Town.

The Fritz family found the home design and location that was right for them. Make the move and write your own building story with Old Town Design Group at Jackson’s Grant, in the heart of Carmel.

What made you decide to live in Jackson’s Grant?

Jes: Phil has been scouting out Old Town homes for a really long time, so even before Jackson’s Grant was established, he wanted to build with Old Town. He loved the craftsman home, he loved the builder. We lived at 96th and Meridian prior to this, which was such a great location, and when he saw that Old Town was building here, we jumped on the band wagon.

Phil: Earlier, driving through Carmel, I knew about this location; the farmhouse, the two big oak trees, that very long driveway and I just thought, “Wow, this is convenient,”. It doesn’t matter where you live in Indianapolis, you know where 116th and Meridian is. It’s such a convenient location. The neighborhood is lovely, but once you get on one of those [nature] trails, you really see what kind of neighborhood this is.

Could you describe the feeling when you both walked into your finished home for the first time?

Jes: It was just a relief. It was so cool to see it all come together. It was a relief in that we are finally done making decisions and we finally get to see it all come together. I loved the closing party because Old Town is a small enough builder that shows that they still care about the individual and the family. And it just kind of wraps it all up. So that’s a really nice closing touch to the [home building] process. Old Town is proud of their product.

Phil: As corny as it is, I really like how Old Town does the closing parties. There’s a lot of decisions, big financial decisions, but I felt good about it and to have Old Town who’s proud of it as well. Everyone bought into it and felt good about it.  The owner of Old Town, Jeff, came to the closing and said, “Oh I like what you did there!”, or “Oh there’s a touch up spot there,”. They had ownership and accountability in the home rather than just trying to knock homes out. Area Manager, John really pushed that we’re a part of the family and we won’t be left hanging. We had a big box builder home before and if anything went wrong, well that’s just on you.

What do you like most about your new home?

Phil: My favorite thing is the built ins, the trim, the woodwork – just the craftsmanship. We used to look at a lot of model homes, but they just don’t compare to Old Town. The first house we looked at was the green house on the Monon, the Cobblestone model, and that is the exact same built-in that we have. We walked in there and we just said, “That’s what I want!”. Craftsmanship isn’t a good enough term, it’s the care and character that these houses have.

Jes: I like the big open floor plan that we have, and we went with Everything Home to help decorate the house and that’s really what made it a home. It’s cozy. When you walk in it’s not cold, it’s very welcoming.

What do you like most about living in Jackson’s Grant?

Jes: I love the neighbors! I love that it’s a brand-new neighborhood and that everyone is new. We’re all starting at the same point. Every time you go for a walk, everyone says hello because they’re all trying to meet each other. I like that about Jackson’s Grant. We can all share our building stories and that’s fun.

Phil: I like the trails. I like the unbridled elegance. I know it’s corny, but I drive through the neighborhood and annoy my wife saying, “Unbridled Elegance”. I love that it’s all custom homes, I love that no one else has our house but us. We’re also a big fan of walking down to The Bridges.

Would you recommend us to a friend?

Phil: I think that we have a unique story, in that after we decided to build with Old Town, we listed and sold our house in a day. We ended up having to go with our back up plan which was to move in with my parents. We lived with my parents for 10 months, while we were building the house. So, my parents were able to see and hear the discussions, the disagreements, the excitement, the trials and tribulations, the change requests and long story short, after we moved in they loved our house so much, that my parents are now building in the back of Jackson’s Grant. I think that kind of explains itself. Not only would we refer it, but the people that I’m closest to, my parents, are building in the same neighborhood.

The Van Schaack family found the home design and location that was right for them. Make the move and write your own building story with Old Town Design Group at Jackson’s Grant, in the heart of Carmel.

What made you decide to live in Jackson’s Grant?

Jennifer: It’s four minutes from his work, which was our main goal. But we have great neighbors and the green space for the dogs.

Ron: My perspective is that we really liked the green space, the trails. We liked the homes, the community pool. It’s a great location.

What is your favorite thing about your home?

Ron: That’s tough. We had a more traditional house before, so we like the 10’ ceilings, the transoms, the beams, the oversized island. I like the fit and finish of Old Town.

Jennifer: All of it. We designed it to be exactly what we wanted. Our friends asked us last night if there was anything that we would do differently – we honestly couldn’t come up with anything.

What was the building process like for you?

Ron: We really like when the mudroom, flows into the laundry room flows into the master closet into the bathroom. We really liked that. We picked a [predesigned] plan that featured that and made changes. We’re people who really trust the process. Buildertrend was really good, our Construction Manager Jim was good with daily reports and weekly emails. We had a little anxiety early on about allowances and understanding it, but we worked through that.

Jennifer: Communication was really good. We could always find someone to answer our questions if we had one. The [vendor] reps were really good about letting us know when we were getting close to our allowance.

Share with us the thoughts and feelings you had when you walked into your completed home for the first time.

Ron: We were surprised by how big it was. It looks smaller from the outside, but inside it’s so open. We loved it.

Jennifer: For as close as we are to our neighbors, it’s very private. We could almost reach out and touch them, but we never see them because of the way that the house is designed. Our New Home Consultant asked us, “Is it starting to feel like home?”, and I said “Yeah, because we were with it for the whole process. Everything about it we picked out. Once everything together it felt like home.”

The Daggett family found the home design and location that was right for them. Make the move and write your own building story with Old Town Design Group at Jackson’s Grant, in the heart of Carmel.