BLACKSBURG -- A gut feeling guided Jill Hendershot and her family to their new neighborhood.

The family from Pennsylvania was preparing to relocate to Blacksburg and looked at a home in the Village at Tom's Creek subdivision.

"Actually, it was the first house that we looked at in the fall," Hendershot said.

They liked the two-story home, but also took a look at other options in the area. Still, they kept thinking about that house in the Village at Tom's Creek.

"The development just seemed family-friendly and family-oriented," said the mother of two daughters and a son. "Mostly, it was just one of those gut feelings. ... We all just felt like it was the right place for us."

The family moved to that first and unforgettable home on June 8 and have already enjoyed dinner with a neighbor and received cookies from a group of kids.

"Everyone has been really welcoming and making us feel at home," Hendershot said.

The arrival of new neighbors is just one cause for excitement right now in the subdivision. Another is the anniversary of the year that the development started to take shape.

The investors and builders involved in the subdivision celebrated Friday, the 10-year anniversary of Blacksburg Town Council's approval of the zoning to allow for the development off Toms Creek Road. Residents, stakeholders and town officials were invited to the party, which included food and musical entertainment.

Developers say they are thrilled about how the subdivision has become a tight-knit neighborhood.

A goal with the development was to create a "beautiful, safe, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood" where people would have access to their neighbors and the outdoors, said Joyce Graham, managing member of Tom's Creek Investors L.C., the development company.

Graham said she thinks that goal has been accomplished.

The development encompasses 120 acres now and has 144 completed homes that are a mixture of houses and townhouses. The neighborhood also emphasizes green space and features open meadows, springs and bike trails and walking trails, said Eric Sallee, one of the partners in the development.

Sallee is also president of the homeowners' association and president of the building company Progress Street Builders, the primary builder for the subdivision. The other building company for the development is Kraft Builders Inc.

Sallee estimates that about 400 people live in the subdivision that features six architectural styles of houses on five lot sizes.

Blacksburg's planning and building director Anne McClung said developers have done a nice job of creating a mix of housing types, while also providing open space and a nice trail system. McClung also said the neighborhood has worked to foster and create a sense of community.

Sallee wasn't just involved in the development of the subdivision, he also moved there in April 2001.

"It was the kind of neighborhood that I wanted my kids to grow up in," said the father of four daughters and one stepson.

Sallee said one of the objectives for the development was to create a unique subdivision in the town, and he thinks that has been achieved.

"We wanted to make a great neighborhood that also set a great example."