How two urban developers became western North Carolina’s biggest fans
Robert Ullmann and Hardy Smith joined forces for over a decade creating upscale residential neighborhoods in the urban environment of Atlanta. About five years ago, they started talking about changing gears and started to make their first trips to western North Carolina in the Smoky Mountains. Fairly quickly, they were both falling in love with the natural beauty and restorative lifestyle of the region.
Before long, Ullmann and Smith decided to change the focus of their working relationship from the city to the mountains. Their long-time passion for excellence was leading them in a new direction. The result is Ultima Carolina, an affiliate of Atlanta-based Ultima Holdings and Real Estate Services, which Ullmann founded in 1983, and Smith’s RHS Holdings.
The newly formed company began to explore the possibilities of creating full-amenity, environmentally sensitive Smoky Mountain communities planned and built in harmony with their natural surroundings. The pair knew from the start that they must provide more than simply North Carolina mountain land for sale.
“There’s a reason people are drawn to these mountains,” says Robert Ullmann, who built a new home for his family in the Ultima Carolina community of Wildflower. “The wrong kind of development can destroy that; the right kind can help to preserve it. This is not just about higher elevations. It’s also about higher standards.”
Backed by principles the principles of green building practices as well as financially strong and fiscally conservative principals, and assisted by an executive team with decades of experience in real estate development and marketing, what started as a dream soon became a reality: Ultima Carolina’s first five premier communities breathtakingly incorporated into North Carolina’s mountain land.
Avalon – private and secure with panoramic views high above Lake Junaluska.
Black Bear Falls – nestled in a secluded ridgeland forest near Cherokee.
Fontana Trace – on the edge of the Nantahala National Forest overlooking Fontana Lake.
Wildflower – a family-friendly community in Franklin, just two hours north of Atlanta.
After launching the highly successful communities in western North Carolina, Ullmann and Smith set their sights on the wondrous foothills of East Tennessee. They discovered year-round pleasant weather, majestic mountains and picture-perfect scenery. Land rich with history and natural surroundings provides the ultimate setting for their first waterfront lake community in eastern Tennessee.
Rivermyst- sits on Watts Bar Lake, a 39,000-acre reservoir with over 722 miles of shoreline in the heart of the Tennessee River Valley.
Each Ultima Carolina community has a private gated entrance, private paved roads, underground utilities, hiking trails and common areas, and additional amenities tailored to its specific size, topography and personality. Every community is just a few minutes from excellent highways, with area attractions and top-quality health services nearby. And each offers unbroken, high-elevation views of the national parks and forests that form the very heart of western North Carolina. Five more communities are underway, two on the North Carolina coast and a first lake community in eastern Tennessee.
“We aren’t building communities for people who want to escape from reality,” says Hardy Smith, whose own mountain home overlooks Fontana Lake. “We’re building them for people who have decided it’s time to escape back to something real. What we set out to create are the kinds of communities our own families would want to live in. I think that says it all.”
