BusinessTN

Three Carter County educators spent their summers redefining the three “R’s”—reading, writing and real estate—and are now sitting pretty atop their $90 million resort in the Smokies.

Retired principals, Lynn Scott and Walter VanHuss, and science teacher, Mike Williams, developers of Sherwood Forest Resort, have broken ground on or completed 70 high-end, luxury cabins with amenities that bring a price anywhere from $300,000 to $700,000 each. Situated on 73 acres, Sherwood Forest is the only gated resort community in the Pigeon Forge planning district. Its 8,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art conference center is slated to open this month.

The academic triumvirate may be natural born teachers, but when it came to real estate development, they had homework to do.

Scott cut his teeth close to home when he purchased 10 lots on Roan Mountain ten years ago. VanHuss and Williams joined in the deal, and after building cabins, Scott sold the entire property for about $1.3 million.

Later, he purchased 12 lots in Pigeon Forge, and again, VanHuss and Williams took a slice. That development brought $2.3 million.

“We do not come from wealthy families. We had a vision to develop the most upscale development in Pigeon Forge,” Scott says.

In 2003, the three dipped into their nest eggs and turned to hometown lender Elizabethton Federal Savings Bank to raise the necessary capital to turn acres of undisturbed mountainside into a lucrative investment—and a substantial compliment to their retirement pensions. What had begun as a spare-time project soon turned into a full-time job.

Word of mouth has become the trio’s best friend, with cabin owners hailing from 17 states—some have never visited the site. Cabins are being sold a year before they are built.

Scott, VanHuss and Williams have succeeded in constructing a resort with aspects unique to the area, says John Jagger, community development director with the City of Pigeon Forge.

“The meeting space gives them more flexibility in terms of the groups that they can attract and the markets they can go after,” he adds.

The developers will have 175 total units once the entire property is built out.