SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS
In the northeast corner of Florida, between Jacksonville and St. Augustine, the Houston-based Hines Company -- one of the largest privately held real estate development, investment and management companies in the world – has created the planned community of Palencia.
Palencia is built to conserve wetlands and other precious acreage around the homes and compact Village Center. Jackie Ross, a Realtor from nearby Ponte Vedra Beach, said lifestyle centers are a relatively new concept in the Jacksonville region, but they are rapidly growing in popularity.
“It is clearly evident people like this concept. Sales have soared, and appreciation has been wonderful in Palencia to this point. It is expected to continue. Buyers like the idea of walking or bike riding to neighborhood shopping and amenities.”
Realtor Cheryl Grieb, of Olde Kissimmee Realty in explosively-growing Osceola County, said Smart Growth embraces high density, so a community can preserve land for open space, water recharge and recreation.
“It’s a live, work play as a whole concept. It creates a stronger bond, a huge sense of community,” she said. With health in everyone’s mind, it’s great to (live where you can) walk to grocery store, the movies.
“With Smart Growth, you have a myriad of choices: the unit over a retail center, a townhouse, a single family home, a condo,” she continued. “Walkability, environmentally friendly, variety of choices, cutting down on use of automobile, public transit, revitalization -- that’s Smart Growth.”
Wright is an award-winning journalist who has written about growth, development, architecture, town planning and urban issues for two decades. He works in a traditional, walkable, sustainable community in a restored historic home in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana.
TOMORROW: Smart Growth Sidebar
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