‘The Blufftons’: Here’s how Palmetto Bluff inspired a private community 450 miles away

On a 21.74-acre site about 450 miles away in Richmond, Virginia, it’s starting to look like the Lowcountry.

There’s a southern live oak and the homes under construction have spacious porches, high ceilings and open floor plans.

Allison Ramsey Architects, the South Carolina-based company that designed many of the homes in Beaufort County’s Palmetto Bluff, is partnering with a Virgina-based construction company to build a community of 29 Lowcountry-inspired homes called “The Blufftons.”

“We’re really trying to deliver the modern version of Lowcountry architecture,” Eagle Construction President Josh Goldschmidt said. “We use Palmetto Bluff, but really that region a whole (as inspiration).”

He said they’re not trying to replicate historic southern homes, rather it’s based off what modern Bluffton homes look like today.

The community will have a private entrance, like Palmetto Bluff, but unlike the South Carolina gated community it is simply a neighborhood without the added amenities like golf courses, pools, spa and fitness centers.

Buyers can choose from 10 home styles predetermined by Eagle Construction and designed by Allison Ramsey Architects, and Goldschmidt estimates they will sell for anywhere between $1.5 million to $2.3 million. The styles are the exact same as some homes in Palmetto Bluff and range from 2,700 to more than 4,000 square feet.

The set designs will help alleviate “part of the nightmare of the home building process,” by ensuring Eagle Construction already has the materials they need for the designs.

“I think most of the people who are going to buy our homes would be the people who would buy them if they were already standing,” Goldschmidt said. “They want high quality, but they don’t want to have to go create it themselves.”

While they haven’t opened sales yet, there’s already a 425 person VIP interest list, and the first homes will be ready to move in to this fall.

Goldschmidt thinks part of the reason the community resonates with potential buyers is because Virginia is a move south for many people on the east coast.

“The migration we saw from the Northeast during the pandemic was huge,” he said, adding that while these homes may be expensive for Richmond, they’re a more cost-friendly option than Palmetto Bluff.

The prices are slightly less expensive than Palmetto Bluff, where the median home sales price was $2.14 million in 2022, according to the Hilton Head Area Realtors.

They would be more than four times more expensive than the $325K median listing price in Richmond and $295K selling price, according to Realtors.com.

Goldschmidt said they’re still experimenting with some Lowcountry stylistic elements, like incorporating oyster shell concrete, sometimes called tabby or coastal concrete.

And, as for the southern live oak, “we’re right at the edge of our winter climate, but it seems to have done well,” Goldschmidt said.