By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

MT LAUREL—Natural beauty, community spaces, walkability and front porch friendliness are all hallmarks of Mt Laurel, and the new limited collection Homes at Olmsted Park take advantage of all of them.

Located on Olmsted Street, the 15 lots are directly across from the town’s pool, basketball courts, playground and Olmsted Park. They are also just steps away from the Mt Laurel Library and the restaurants and shops of Mt Laurel’s town center.

“It’s location, location, location for sure,” Mt Laurel Vice President of Sales and Marketing Ray Jackson said. “It’s going to be a new location for us, it gives us our first offerings of homes across from Olmsted Park.”

Mt Laurel architect Michael O’Kelley designed four floor plans exclusively for the Homes at Olmsted Park. Each features large front and back porches and spacious, open living spaces.

“They all have open floor plans, which people are really interested in right now,” Mt Laurel Marketing and Community Relations Manager Julianna Vance said. “They flow very well.”

The homes were designed with families in mind, Vance said, with a private master suite on the first level and two or three bedrooms and a den on the second floor. Unfinished space above each home’s rear-facing garage allows for expansion and can easily be turned into another bedroom, Vance said.

In addition to a large kitchen and sweeping, open living space, the each home’s first floor also includes a library or home office space, a feature Vance said has become popular in the housing market.

“A lot of people work from home so there was (a demand),” Vance said.

The homes’ exteriors will compliment the area’s natural beauty and blend in with Mt Laurel’s existing homes, Jackson said.

“The homes are craftsman style,” Jackson said.

“These are really timeless,” Vance added.

Originally the 15-lot space was designated to hold a 48-unit apartment complex, however after a growing request for houses instead of apartments, the space was rezoned for single-family dwellings.

“These were supposed to be multi-family lots,” Vance said. “We saw what people were wanting and we rezoned them.”

Two of the Homes at Olmsted Park are currently under construction and are expected to be complete in April. Visitors and perspective homeowners will get a chance to walk through one of the homes during the Birmingham Parade of Homes in late April.

“It’s really what we’re about, having this walkable, front porch community,” Vance said of the Homes at Olmsted Park. “You have that sense of community.”

For more information about Mt Laurel and available floor plans, visit Mtlaurel.com