A former CEO of one of Georgia’s most prominent companies has placed his sprawling hunting abode south of Atlanta on the market.
Allen Franklin, chief executive officer of Southern Company from 1999 until his retirement in 2004, has listed his 850-acre Whitewater Farms property near LaGrange, seeking $5.5 million. The price includes the expansive wooded property, a 7,400-square-foot mansion, a 4,500-square-foot guesthouse and several other on-site amenities.
Located about an hour southwest of downtown Atlanta and an hour north of Columbus, it’s within a portion of west Georgia known for upscale hunting properties. Hunter Brant, president and broker at Oakwood Realty Group, is the property’s listing agent and called it “one of the finest recreational properties” available in Georgia.
“When you’re there, you don’t know anything else in civilization really exists,” Brant said. “It’s very quiet. There’s no light pollution, no sound. It’s just a really secluded place.”
Franklin, born in 1944, climbed the ranks within Southern Company’s subsidiaries, including Alabama Power and Georgia Power. In 2002, he was named as Georgia Tend Magazine’s “Most Respected CEO” and made the list of Georgia’s 100 most influential personalities.
He’s moving to his home state of Alabama with his family and decided to sell Whitewater Farms after owning it for more than 20 years, Brant said. The property was placed on the market in March at $6.9 million, but the listing has been readvertised at $5.5 million — 20% lower than the original listing price.
The property runs along Whitewater Creek and features swathes of timber, internal roads and a maintained wildlife habitat. The land is under a conservation easement with the Georgia-Alabama Land Trust, which excludes 35 acres surrounding the mansion that Franklin had built in 2008. Three more houses can be built within that portion of the property.
The main home includes six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, and its listing notes “custom woodwork, hand-hewn Tennessee stone and orchard stone, composite shake shingle siding, copper accents, outdoor fireplaces, redwood trim and many other custom features.” The home is being offered fully furnished.
The guesthouse, which was built under prior ownership, was used as a guest lodge with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. A 3,000-square-foot pole barn and multiple equipment sheds are also located on the premises.
More information on the listing is available at theoakwoodcompanies.com/listing/whitewater-farms.
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