By now, trees should have been removed and grading started on a development that would transform East Coweta and West Fayette forever. Instead, the land just across the county line in Sharpsburg that is slated to be McIntosh Village looks like every other undeveloped tract in mid-winter.

Developer Tom Reese confirmed last week that construction on the billion-dollar project won’t start until the end of 2008 at the earliest.

“We’ll continue to do engineering work, but we’re waiting for this economy to turn around,” Reese said.

Reese had originally planned to have dirt moving by the end of 2007, but the dramatic downturn in the housing market ended that idea.

“I think this downturn really started in the summer of 2006, and has just gotten worse,” Reese said.

Reese does expect the housing market to start picking back up this summer, but said it will be a small, incremental uptick.

The 1,500-acre development, located on McIntosh Trail in unincorporated Coweta County, would be one of the region’s biggest developments with more than 3,100 homes and 600,000 square feet of office space.

The proposal set off a firestorm of controversy before a development agreement was signed between Coweta County and Reese. In the agreement, Coweta County specified the property will be built in an “accordance to a 10-year plan” and include a mix of housing sizes.

One of the key provisions stipulates that no more than 1,000 residential units of the projected 3,164 and 150,000 square feet of commercial space cannot be built until the TDK Boulevard Extension is completed.

“If these thresholds are reached prior to the completion of the Vernon Hunter Parkway and TDK Boulevard Extension, an analysis of the transportation and traffic flow patterns for this development shall be re-evaluated and submitted to the county before any additional residential units or commercial/office space is constructed,” the agreement says.

But Peachtree City officials have backed off building the road. In August, a judge decided the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority can require Peachtree City to build a four-lane bridge for the extension of TDK Boulevard into Coweta County.

In July, the Peachtree City Council voted to halt the TDK Extension. Peachtree City Attorney Ted Meeker explained that if the McIntosh Village subdivision were located in Peachtree City, the City Council could vote to override GRTA’s conditions, which officials have said would disallow the agency from withholding future funds.

“Because the DRI is not located in Peachtree City and despite the fact that we have conditions opposed on us for that DRI, Peachtree City in this instance doesn’t have the same override ability that Coweta County has,” Meeker said.

But Reese is not the only developer holding his breath during the current economic downslide.

Earlier this year, Fayette developer Bob Rolader appeared before the Senoia Planning Commission to seek approval for a new subdivision on Ga. Highway 85 and delivered the same message.

“We’re not moving any dirt in any of our developments right now. We’re just making sure that all the paperwork is done and we’re ready to go when the housing market comes back,” he said.

In late January, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods went into the realm of money-off sales to try and generate business.

From Jan. 25 through Feb. 3, new home buyers got between $10,000 and $100,000 off their new Wieland homes. Plus, they will get a lifetime structural warranty. Wieland officials said the sale helped increase home sales by 100 percent.

Wieland builds throughout the Atlanta area, including Fayette, south Fulton, Clayton and DeKalb counties.

The marketing move comes as the area is experiencing an economic slump in particular for new home sales. Experts have placed much of the blame on the sub-prime lending crisis in which home buyers defaulted in mortgage payments with high interest rates and other contract terms that were difficult and in some cases near impossible to meet,

“The economy will come back. It always does,” said Reese.