B

Cherokee Bay is the Lakeway area’s newest luxury lakefront living community and it has been a journey in the making.

Developers Paul Tambe and Micah Jones were neighbors before they were business partners, now they are also friends.

Tambe, who originally hails from Buffalo, New York, says he and his wife Christy came to East Tennessee following his retirement. Jones came with his family looking for a place to raise his kids.

Tambe says when he and his wife were looking for a home in East Tennessee, they wanted to find a home that didn’t need any additional work and struggled to find any lakefront property with high end housing that was move-in ready.

Tambe says they looked for property on seven different lakes before they finally found what they were looking for.

When Denise Bowlin of Crye-Leike sold Tambe and his wife their home, they were thrilled with their new property on Cherokee Lake, but it didn’t take long for them to notice some property for sale across the lake.

“We noticed this property for sale across the way and my wife said, “hey let’s build condos over there,” Tambe said, and that’s all it took for the seed to be planted.

Tambe said he never saw himself doing something like this, but as he discussed the idea with his neighbor, he discovered Jones had done work like this before, albeit on a smaller scale, so together they began combining ideas to bring this idea to reality.

“I really wanted to retire-retire, but this seemed like such a good idea and a cool project,” Tambe said.

Cherokee Bay rests on 29.5 acres of lakefront property. Its homes are nestled into the shores of Cherokee Lake and their picturesque windows offer waterfront views that contribute to those peaceful vibes of lakefront living.

It is decidedly upscale and unique to anything else offered within the Lakeway Area with offered amenities such as walking trails, a fitness center, clubhouse, a firepit area and 82 private boat slips.

Jones said he and his wife fell in love with East Tennessee back in 2006 after visiting for their honeymoon and anniversaries. They moved here with their daughter and began growing their family and now have five children.

“It’s been a family endeavor, my son even comes and helps me some. We just saw an opportunity to make a community that you can’t find anywhere else,” Jones said.

Jones said that this experience has been eye-opening for him because while he’s been involved with many development projects before, he’s never been involved with undertaking anything of this magnitude.

“This is by far a lot more complex, but I’ve enjoyed it, it’s exciting,” Jones said.

Tambe and Jones say their hope is to build a community for families where they can enjoy life and build lasting memories.

Cherokee Bay is located in Jefferson City and has both condos and single-family homes available. To schedule a home tour call Denise Bowlin or Lisa Brown at Crye-Leike Premier Real Estate.