A Graham-based developer is hoping to start construction an upscale tiny home community south of Graham along N.C. Highway 54 early this year.
The forthcoming tiny home community at Hidden Lake – a redevelopment of the former Hidden Lake Campgrounds – could eventually have 378 lots, or pads, for tiny homes on wheels, based on a preliminary site plan that the developer shared with The Alamance News. In addition to the existing private lake, the center of the site would feature a half-mile walking path.
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“We’re probably two or three weeks from [completing the] final design,” VennTerra founder and CEO Shawn Cummings elaborated in a recent interview. The next step would be to meet with Alamance County government officials to obtain approvals necessary to move forward with site work and construction.
“We hope construction [will] start in May, [and] then in early 2027 have the first people moving in,” the developer forecast. Plans to run utilities to the site – including internet – are still being tweaked, he said.
The project is being developed in partnership with J.M. Holt & Associates of Graham. The partners purchased two parcels that comprise the majority of the 147-acre Hidden Lake property in the spring of 2025. Cummings also purchased a separate 77-acre portion of the now-former campground around the same time. Alamance County tax records list the latest, total assessed value for the three parcels purchased by Cummings and J.M. Holt & Associates at $1.2 million.
The Hidden Lake tiny home community would be built in phases, with the first having about 60 lots (or “pads”) for future residents to rent and put their tiny homes on, Cummings told the newspaper, adding, “I call it a niche of a niche.”
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The tiny home community at Hidden Lake could eventually have amenities such as: pickleball courts and other athletic courts; a pool; a community garden and a lighted garden; an outdoor recreation area; a gym with a climbing wall; dog parks; and fire pits, based on project materials that Cummings previously shared with the newspaper.
To prepare the site for construction, the former campground property will need extensive cleanup, including overhauling an existing warehouse building; removing debris and abandoned campers; and repairing and resurfacing the private roadway that leads from N.C. Highway 54 into the heavily-wooded property.
The Hidden Lake development would be marketed as “a premier tiny home community centered around a secluded lake” and targeted to professionals who’d be commuting to jobs in Chapel Hill – UNC Hospital, for example, is an 18-mile drive down N.C. Highway 54 – and other nearby cities, based on the project materials Cummings shared with the newspaper this summer.
Most tiny homes span 400 square feet or less, according to the National Association of Home Builders, which showed that 26 percent of homebuilders began shrinking their floor plans in 2024 in an effort to appeal to consumers seeking smaller homes, lower prices, and little yard work.
For his part, Cummings said it’s part of his mission of making home ownership viable for buyers at all stages of their lives – from entry-level homes for first-time buyers, sprawling single-family homes for growing families, and homes with smaller footprints for buyers seeking to downsize.
“We think anything over $400,000 is not attainable for most people,” the developer explained. “For us to help with housing attainability we’ve got to figure out with counties and cities how to do attainable homes – you’ve got to have smaller lots, too.”
“This is not something we’ve discovered,” Cummings said. He cited a recent study for the realtors’ association which showed that the limited housing inventory – Alamance County is projected to have a deficit of 8,206 for-sale homes through 2029 – and rising costs are prompting many would-be buyers to delay buying their first homes until their early 40s.
“To the extent we can drive some housing [prices] down, we can help some families attain home ownership…that to me creates a huge financial platform to then enjoy retirement,” the developer said.
“You want people to be able to buy homes in their 20s and 30s. I think it’s going to take some builders and developers to say, ‘I want to help do that.’”
Meanwhile, VennTerra has dozens of single-family and multi-family housing developments – at varying price points and stages of completion – across Alamance and surrounding counties.
“We are trying to be creative with the marketplace,” said Cummings. “We don’t need to make a high profit. Personally, we have a responsibility to be good [to] our communities. In my mind, it’s almost a Christian thing, like tithing. We’re local and we live here. That gives me a lot of joy and excitement to see people be able to own a home; that is important to me.”
