Indianans plant deep new roots in Cordova the Town

Thanks to his job, Ben Gorsuch spent the past 10 years on the road. But he wasn’t traveling on business — he was commuting.

He said, “9-11 threw me for a curve. I worked for United Airlines for 17 years, but they shut down the Indianapolis facility in 2003. I had to find other employment.”

Ben, an aircraft mechanic, worked for a while as an Air Force contractor. From there, job opportunities led him to Cleveland, Ohio, then to Newark, N.J. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Karilyn, maintained their home in Indianapolis.

So even when another job opportunity led Ben to Memphis, he continued making the drive home to Indianapolis on weekends, renting rooms in “crash pads” during the workweek.

“I ended up down here with the intention of being here a little while and transferring back up to Indianapolis,” he said. “The challenge with that was because of the downturn in the economy, the company I work for vastly slowed down hiring. They didn’t hire a single mechanic in Indianapolis for a whole year.”

Ben knew he might be waiting a long time for an Indiana transfer. And after spending a decade in a long-distance marriage, he and Karilyn decided enough was enough.

The couple’s home search was also tough. For nearly two years, the Gorsuches studied the Memphis real estate market in hopes of finding a house that would equal the home they loved in Indianapolis. That house, an older home, was loaded with charm and character.

“I really liked East Memphis, those older homes,” Karilyn said. “We looked in High Point Terrace, in the Central-Poplar area.”

Ben searched in his spare time during the week, and Karilyn made a few trips to the Mid-South to view homes in person. During their hunt, the couple met Realtor Melody Bourell, of Marx-Bensdorf Realtors, at an open house.

With Bourell’s help, the Gorsuches viewed homes from East Memphis to Cordova to Collierville. One neighborhood in particular stuck in Karilyn’s head: Cordova the Town, a walkable community with homes that give a nod to nostalgia.

“Honestly, it was so far outside of our parameters,” Ben said. “It was the exact opposite of what we were looking for. We wanted something old, with character, small.”

When they initially viewed the neighborhood, Cordova the Town contained only existing homes that were too large and too far out of the Gorsuches’ price range to meet their needs. But they kept their eyes on it, and one day, they learned a firm was developing new lots in the neighborhood: J.T. Travis and Ken Klein of Sterling Gate Properties.

“I went in and, what the heck, I went into the model,” Ben said. “I was just amazed by the quality that J.T. puts into these places. Most builders want to get in, build it and get out. J.T. wants to make every home unique.”

They also love their new house — and they’ve put a lot into it to make it home. The couple requested several special features from the builders, including three sets of French doors that span the front faade, marble countertops in the kitchen and a marble master bath with a frameless shower.

“We wanted to put in our own personal touches,” Ben said.

The couple also requested a three-car garage, and Ben stained its concrete floors with eventual plans to turn it into his “man cave.” Between the house and the garage, a courtyard with multiple seating areas can be enclosed with a retractable screen by Southern Screens.

“At the beginning, when we were really starting to move in and get everything done, I spent a lot of time scoring and acid staining the concrete and working in (the garage),” Ben said. “Karilyn said, ‘If you love it so much, you can move your bed in there,’” he laughed. “I figured that was my sign I should spend more time inside the house.”

The home’s floor plan includes a first-floor master suite, a requirement for the Gorsuches, who plan to make the house their “forever home.”

“We’re not going to do this again,” Karilyn said. “We didn’t like the idea of moving; this was very hard on us. We wanted something easy to take care of.”

“That’s why there’s no carpet throughout the entire house,” Ben added.

In the living room, a fireplace flanked by built-in bookcases features a glass-tile surround in hues of gray, black and white. A breakfast bar divides the space from the kitchen, which has dark-stained, tall cabinetry and a marble backsplash the couple installed themselves.

In the formal dining room, the midcentury table, chairs and china cabinet were passed down from Karilyn’s family. Her mother did the needlepoint upholstery on the seats.

Also downstairs is a bedroom used as a home office, a guest bath and the master suite, which features a king-size bed dressed in blue and taupe paisley bedding. The en-suite bath has a retro marble-tile floor, a fully tiled bath and shower and gray and white marble countertops. Upstairs is a loft-style sitting area, a guest bath and two more bedrooms.

The couple have more projects they plan to complete: door screens, garage shelving and additional attic storage. But after a painstaking search and move, the couple are finally settled and happy in their new home.