Sunrise over open farmland — Cadiz Road corridor
Density Ladder & Highest-and-Best-Use

Cadiz Road
Hopkinsville, Kentucky

33.68 acres on the US-68/KY-80 workforce-housing corridor — level, Flood Zone X, city water & sewer available. The current plan is 202 single-family lots. But the same land, stepped up the zoning ladder to R-4 or R-5 multifamily, delivers two to five times the doors into a city that needs 3,000 homes. This brief lays out every rung — and which one keeps the P3/TIF incentives.

33.68
Acres · Parcel 207-00 01 001.00
$3.03M
$90K/acre
R-1
Current Zoning
~900
Doors at R-5
The Density Ladder

One Tract, Four Rungs

The parcel is zoned R-1 today — low-density single-family, the base you rezone from. Hopkinsville's code (Ch. 158) then steps up: R-3 one/two-family at 7,500 sf/unit, R-4 multifamily at 2,170 sf/unit, and R-5 high-density multifamily at 1,240 sf/unit. Your current 202-lot plan sits at R-3 single-family density delivered through a PUD. Move up to R-4 or R-5 and the door count multiplies. Every step is a rezoning (map amendment) — not a variance.

R-3 / PUD · Single-Family (current plan)~202 lots
R-4 Multi-Family · realistic~540 doors
R-5 High-Density MF · realistic~900 doors
R-5 Ceiling (density max)~1,183 doors
RungDistrictDensity basisUnits / LotsPer acre
Single-family (your plan)R-3 / PUD7,500 sf/lot~202 lots6.0
Multi-family · mediumR-42,170 sf/unit~540 (676 max)16–20
Multi-family · high-densityR-51,240 sf/unit~900 (1,183 max)27–35

Realistic figures net of parking (~2 spaces/unit), setbacks, detention, and internal roads on 33.68 ac (1,467,101 sf). Ceilings are the raw density maxima (÷2,170 and ÷1,240). Actual yield requires an engineer's test-fit and confirmed utility capacity.

Land Basis Per Door

The Higher You Climb, the Cheaper Each Door

$90,000/acre is a commercial land price — a deliberate 23% discount to the Dollar General comp ($117K/acre) on this same tract. Spread across residential density, the per-unit land basis is low at every rung, and it drops sharply as you step up the ladder:

PlanUnits / LotsLand Basis Each @ $3,031,200
R-3 / PUD — 202 SF lots202$15,006 / lot
R-4 — realistic~540$5,613 / door
R-4 — ceiling676$4,484 / door
R-5 — realistic~900$3,368 / door
R-5 — ceiling1,183$2,563 / door

✓ The Read

At R-5, land is roughly $3,368 a door — extraordinary for a Fort Campbell-adjacent rental market. But cheap-per-door isn't the whole story: single-family at $15,006/lot is what the city wants and will incentivize. The ladder is a menu, not a verdict — the right rung depends on product strategy and which path keeps the P3 stack intact.

Toward the 3,000-Home Goal

How Much of the Gap Each Rung Closes

Hopkinsville has a documented shortage of ~3,000 single-family homes (per ComDev director Tom Britton, AICP, who has escalated the P3 proposal to the Mayor — discussion-stage, not an executed commitment). Here's what this one 33.68-acre tract contributes at each rung:

202
SF Lots · 6.7% of goal
~540
R-4 Doors · 18% equiv.
~900
R-5 Doors · 30% equiv.
~15 mi
To Fort Campbell (35,000+)

Important nuance: the documented need is single-family. Multifamily doors add far more total housing, but may not count toward the SF-specific goal and could sit differently with the city's stated corridor priority. Confirm whether "workforce housing" includes rental/MF before assuming the incentive support carries over.

Highest & Best Use

Single-Family vs. Multifamily

On-Thesis · What the City Wants

Single-Family (202 lots)

  • Aligns with the documented 3,000 single-family home need
  • Unlocks the P3 / TIF stack ($7M+) and city partnership
  • Validated by Echo Ridge: $282K–$297K new builds closing in 23 days
  • Land basis $15,006/lot; gross revenue potential $57M+
  • Zoning path: R-1 → R-3 / PUD
Density Play · Maximum Doors

Multifamily (R-4 / R-5)

  • ~540 (R-4) to ~900+ (R-5) doors — 2.7×–4.5× the units
  • Land basis $3,368–$5,613/door — taps Fort Campbell rental demand
  • Zoning path: R-1 → R-4 or R-5 (a two-step jump on the ladder)
  • May diverge from the SF-specific goal — confirm P3 eligibility for MF
  • Best as a PUD hybrid: SF core + a multifamily parcel

The Hybrid Move

A single PUD can carry both — a single-family core that satisfies the city's SF goal and keeps the TIF, plus a multifamily parcel that captures Fort Campbell rental demand and drives total door count up. That threads the needle: more housing toward the 3,000 target without trading away the incentive stack.

The Incentive Stack

A City Ready to Co-Invest

The horizontal infrastructure for the 202-lot SF plan is ~$2.16M ($650/LF × 3,325 LF, per Suiter Surveys). Kentucky's P3 tools — under active discussion with the City — are sized to close that gap:

ToolValueMechanism
KY Tax Increment Financing$7.0–7.9MKRS 65.7041–65.7083 · 80% of increment, 20 yr · >3× infra cost
Infrastructure Cost-Shareup to $2.36M+City/utility absorbs trunk water, sewer, road-base directly
City Land AcquisitionAvailableCity buys at appraised value, developer agreement — cuts land carry
IDB / PILOTEvaluatingKRS 154.50 authority under review — PILOT during development

⚑ Status — Discussion, Not Executed

ComDev director Tom Britton, AICP has not formally committed to the P3 framework, but has escalated the proposal to the Mayor of Hopkinsville — a response is pending. Every incentive figure above describes a tool under active discussion, not a signed agreement. Underwrite the base case without P3; treat the stack as upside until executed.

Market Validation

Demand Is Proven. Supply Is the Gap.

$235K
Median Closed Price
37
Median Days on Market
23
Days to Close · Echo Ridge
$297K
New-Build Ask · Echo Ridge

The nearest new-construction comp, Echo Ridge, is closing 1,300–1,595 SF homes at $282,900–$296,900 in a 23-day average — Lot 16 closed at $217.45/SF. The market is absorbing product fast; the constraint is infrastructure, not demand. Land pricing is anchored below the strongest comps:

TransactionDateAcres$/Acre
Dollar General — same tractJul 20232.265$117,000
Allen Road large tract · ClarksvilleAug 202488.89$101,249
Subject — Cadiz Rd asking202633.68$90,000

Asking price is a deliberate 23% discount to the Dollar General comp on the same parcel and 11% below the Allen Road regional precedent. Source: RealTracs CMA, March 2026.

Growth Is Converging on This Corridor

Buc-ee's breaks ground at I-24 Exit 89 in 2026 (~11 miles). A $19.8M KYTC road project is already underway on US-68/KY-80, directly serving the site. Fort Campbell's 35,000+ personnel sit ~15 miles out with consistent, largely unmet workforce-housing demand. And Hopkinsville is 65 miles north of Nashville — squarely in the path of middle-Tennessee spillover.

Entitlement Path

R-1 → R-3, Then Up — The Path of Least Resistance

Per Tom Britton (ComDev), the smart route is not a direct R-1 → R-5 jump — the commission is likely to shoot that down. Instead: take the easy, incremental step to R-3 first (a single rung up, aligned with the single-family need), then layer the higher multifamily density on through a conditional-use / PUD approval. Staged beats a big leap. (Every step is a map amendment or use approval — not a variance.)

Step 1

Confirm Current Zoning & Jurisdiction

Verify R-1 of record (the listing also references B-2 potential) and the Hopkinsville-Christian County planning jurisdiction, with parcel 207-00 01 001.00.

Step 2 · Easy Win

Rezone R-1 → R-3

The low-resistance step: a single rung up to one/two-family. Supports the 202-lot SF plan, aligns with the documented single-family need, and is the kind of incremental amendment the commission approves. KRS 100.213 comp-plan conformance is on your side.

Step 3 · Density Layer

CUP / PUD Toward R-5 Density

Once R-3, pursue the higher multifamily density through a conditional-use / PUD approval rather than a direct up-zone. Britton flags this as the path of least resistance vs. an R-1 → R-5 rezone the county commission may reject outright.

Step 4

Test-Fit, Utilities & P3

Engineer's test-fit sets the real door count; confirm city water/sewer capacity; then execute the TIF / cost-share / land-acquisition structure with the City before closing on the density basis.

✓ Britton's Read

Staged, not direct. R-1 → R-3 is the easy approval; the R-5-level density comes second through CUP/PUD. A direct R-1 → R-5 request risks a flat rejection at the county commission — the incremental path keeps momentum and preserves the city-partnership goodwill that underpins the P3 stack.

Before You Underwrite

The Honest Checklist

⚑ Verify Before Relying On

1. Product vs. stated need — the city's documented gap is single-family; confirm MF qualifies for the workforce-housing priority and P3 support before pricing to 540–900 doors. 2. Sequence the rezoning — go R-1 → R-3 first (the easy approval), then layer R-5 density via CUP/PUD; a direct R-1 → R-5 request risks a flat rejection at the county commission (per Britton). 3. Utility capacity — "available" ≠ sized for 900 doors; get a capacity letter. 4. P3 is unexecuted — underwrite base case without it. 5. Density wording — §158.059 reads "2,170 sf per three units or more"; confirm the per-unit reading with the Planning Commission.

Schedule a Conversation →