BusinessTN

About two years ago, Giles County Mayor Dan Speer began hearing rumors that someone was interested in the old Milky Way Farms. Once the county's prized jewel and largest employer, the 2,800-acre cattle-and-horse farm—the home of candy bar king Frank Mars—had fallen into disrepair during the decades following the death of Mars' widow, Ethel. The property had since been purchased and passed through a handful of families, each with ideas about what to do with the bucolic expanse, but all lacking either the inclination or investment capital necessary to maintain Mars' estate.

Not until Charles Ausburn.

"When a survey engineer came into the old records office about two years ago," Speer recalls, "I knew there was something going on then." What was going on was the planning stage of a $400 million development that will have the largest economic impact on Giles County since the original founding of Milky Way Farms in the fall of 1930. Milk Way Farms was an economic refuge for surrounding communities during the Great Depression, and county leaders are not shy about expressing expectations that Ausburn will make it so again. The Greenville, S.C., native's New Horizons Communities plans to finish developing and renovating some 1,100 acres of the original property into a bedroom community for the Nashville elite and a vacation/retirement community for the region's well-heeled, would-be gentlemen farmers. The development touts a Jay Haas-designed golf course and an equestrian club replete with horse track and regulation polo field, not to mention the resplendent 25,000-square-foot Mars manse, which, restored to its original grandeur, serves as a restaurant as well as a lodge for the property association.

Comfort in Every Bar

Frank Mars, a self-made magnate, created two of the most devoured candies in the world—the Milky Way and Snickers bars, the latter being the most popular candy bar in history. Mars remains an international goliath in the candy industry and consumer branding, with brand recognition comparable to Coca-Cola and even McDonald's.

Though it may be a surprise to some to learn how smitten Mars was with the Volunteer State, by the time restoration on the former candy bar king's estate is completed, developers feel it will be hard not to associate "Mars" with Middle Tennessee.

In parts of Giles County, it's anathema to think otherwise.

"Back in the '30s, the Milky Way had a life-saving impact on our community," Speer explains. In the depths of the Great Depression, Mars employed nearly 1,000 people to build Milky Ways Farms, including its racetrack, 70 cottages, 30 barns and 21-bedroom mansion. Many lived on the livestock farm with their families while employed. Stories abound of Mars' paternalism—be it in financing home appliances or providing commissary goods—but none are as prevalent as reports of the never-ending stacks of free Milky Way bars.

Mars, who died in 1934, didn't live long enough to see the farm's prized herd of Hereford take shape or its most vaunted equine product, thoroughbred Gallahadion, take the Kentucky Derby in 1940. But he lived long enough to establish his hallmark in the farm's construction: a shrewd eye for quality. From the idiosyncratic Tudor Revival-style mansion to the Spanish-inspired barns and the way in which the overall architecture contours into the landscape, Mars' aesthetic is apparent.

"We preserved many of the buildings, stone walls and passive parks we found on the grounds," says Ausburn, who purchased the property for just over $10 million last year. "We'll have to rebuild some, but it's a big concern to preserve as much as possible."

"If only all good things could last this long."

Ausburn's affinity for naturalist development isn't the only reason for his preservationist proclivities. Speer explains he expects the housing development can capitalize on the property's historical bona fides—it's on the National Register of Historic Places—to draw buyers from farther afield than Nashville, about 60 miles away.

Ausburn projects the development to have about 750 owners and should be finished in less than the originally estimated 20 years. By the time this article is published, New Horizons should have closed on most if not all of Phase One's 39 1-1.5 acre lots (ranging from $250,000-plus to $500,000-plus) around the 18-hole golf course. Future phases include a retail village and arts-and-crafts facility totaling about 145,000 square feet of commercial space and a 120-room conference center with spa.

"All the roads and lot sales should be complete in seven years, but the build-out of the houses will take much longer," Ausburn admits.

That project might have moved along faster, but county commissioners rejected a special TIF proposition Ausburn and Speer say would have sped up funding for infrastructure, community services such as emergency rescue, fire protection and EMS, and high-speed communications. Locals were concerned the tax break would only benefit the Milky Way's million-dollar homeowners and consequently hamstring current residents to make up the difference, which Ausburn denies. "There's never been any TIF stuff done in Giles County. I think it didn't pass because no one really understood it," he says. "What we were trying to do would have been for the whole community, not just Milky Way Farms." Though Ausburn allows that the development will boost county property values, perhaps dramatically, he points out that "the property-tax revenue of roughly the top-ten homes will produce the same amount as the whole property produced in past years." "I think county commissioners just didn't have enough time to consider TIF financing," Speer adds, "which was certainly geared to help Giles County. I do hope it is reconsidered."

Really Satisfies You

All seem to agree that Milky Way Farms will give Giles County a much needed influx of tax revenue, not to mention a much needed influx of excitement and expansion. Such an infusion will be fitting given Mars' legacy, though Ausburn is the first to admit that the parallel is just happy coincidence.

"I didn't know anything about Frank Mars until I came to look at the property," Ausburn admits, "but he's a very interesting character who kept the county out of the depths of the Depression."

Ausburn is not doing anything of such magnitude, but in the end, he will have provided the means by which the county's most admired address, and with it the area's most renowned history, is preserved.