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Nature Blossoms as an Amenity in the Southeast
 Amenities steeped in nature have become an integral part of master-planned communities throughout the southeastern United States.
In addition to amenity-rich clubhouses, fitness centers with spa-treatment rooms and championship golf courses, communities now are offering residents trails and bike paths, neighborhood parks and gardens and even paddling trails for canoe and kayak enthusiasts.
Connecting with nature is important in today’s deadline-driven society, according to Ellin Goetz, of Goetz and Stropes, a landscape architect based in Naples, Fla. who has created parks and natural amenities for several southwest Florida communities developed by Bonita Bay Group.
“Studies show that disposable time is really limited these days and, because of that, people are choosier about how they spend that time,” Goetz said. “People are looking for experiences that are a little different. They find spending time outside very engaging and more experiential.”
They are reconnecting with nature. Bird-watching and kayaking are on the rise and home owners are spending more time and money on their gardens and landscaping.
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River house at Verandah in Fort Myers, Fla. | Interacting with nature can provide instant stress release, said Goetz. By retaining a majority of a community’s land as open space, developers are creating unique lifestyle experiences for their residents. In many cases, they are also enhancing their community’s natural environment.
When Bonita Bay Group took over development of TwinEagles in North Naples, for example, it restored wetlands and a natural flow way ― creating a marsh, tree islands and deep pools that attract wood storks and other water birds.
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Storks at TwinEagles along the community's wildlife corridor | “The flow way improved the plant and habitat diversity for wildlife and created a healthy nature preserve for our residents’ enjoyment,” said Kim Fikoski, environmental affairs manager for Bonita Bay Group.
The developer also created a wildlife corridor that enables small animals to pass safely under Immokalee Road, a major roadway bordering the community, and studies by the University of Florida have show that lakes along the community’s two golf courses provide valuable habitat and are widely used by water birds.
Many of these nature-enhancing projects were accomplished with assistance from the Florida Wildlife Federation and Collier County Audubon Society and have been recognized by the Council for Sustainable Florida.
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Kayaking at Verandah |
A River, Meadow and Mountain — Oh, My!
When the Graves family set out to develop the 220-acre Cold Mountain community along the Blue Ridge Mountains and a half-mile stretch of the east fork of the Pigeon River near Asheville, N.C., one of their primary goals was to preserve nature.
“Half of the property is conservation easement,” said Amanda Graves. “We spent a lot of time working around the trees and working within the lay of the land to build roads and bridges. We went to great lengths building and designing the bridge over the river so as not to disrupt a trout bed.”
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Strolling through Parque Celestial at Mediterra in Naples, Fla. | Natural amenities at Cold Mountain include a river for swimming and trout and fly fishing, equestrian and nature trails, and hiking and biking paths.
The community also has a 150-foot organic garden with annuals, perennials and herbs and has an orchard with apple, pear and peach trees. Blackberries and raspberries are grown on site, as are grapes that were harvested last year for grape jelly, said Graves.
“We have a very unique mountain property,” she said. “Cold Mountain has a river, a meadow and a mountain.”
“The fitness center and clubhouse will be our last amenities developed,” she said. “People are here because they want to be outside. They’d rather be hiking or fishing.”
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The Esplanade walking and jogging path in Sandoval in Cape Coral, Fla. | The Quest to Include Nature
The master plan for Verandah, the Fort Myers community named Florida’s first green land development in 2003 by the independent Florida Green Building Coalition, was carefully designed around the site’s 1.75-mile stretch along the Orange River and its dense hammocks of moss-draped oaks and sabal palms.
Bonita Bay Group, said Fikoski, repeatedly reworked neighborhoods, infrastructure and amenities to fit in with the trees. Instead of a large clubhouse, smaller buildings were carefully fitted into a riverfront hammock.
The result is a four-building amenities village whose residents can soak up the scenery along riverfront terraces and at the community's Oak Park.
Since the creation of its first community, Bonita Bay, in the 1980s, Bonita Bay Group has worked within the natural palette of each property, weaving in walking paths, ample open space, parks and biking trails.
Several communities also offer waterways that are ideal for kayaking and are now part of the Great Calusa Blueway Paddling Trail, a 100-mile water trail in Lee County, Fla.
The Lodges at Eagles Nest, in Banner Elk, N.C. offers 600 acres of trails for horseback riding, hiking, biking and even four-wheeling, according to Yvette Travaris, the community’s broker for new development sales. The trails, marked by difficulty, meander past brooks and waterfalls and even include a ropes course and swinging rope bridge.
“One of our home owners will spend the day exploring the trails and big rock formations,” said Travaris. “His wife picks him up on the other side.”
The 1,400-acre property also has an undisturbed beaver dam and a teepee village of 300 guest rooms with electricity.
At Grand Arbors in TwinEagles, “boardwalks will lead to a wonderful wetland through a cypress head,” Goetz said, noting that interpretive signage will identify plants and their significance in the southwest Florida environment.
The interconnection between home and nature is important, Goetz said, and one that developers should explore. “Studies show that people don’t want to spend a lot of time getting to nature. That’s why neighborhood parks are great. A resident can get on a bike and go experience them as opposed to taking a car.”
“Parks and other natural areas within a community provide a calm, green place in the world,” said Goetz. “The more we can make these outdoor places more experiential and engaging, the more residents are going to enjoy living where they do.”
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Treehouse at Verandah | Photos by Bonita Bay Group.
Amy Gravina, vice president of sales and marketing for Bonita Bay Group, is responsible for management of sales and marketing initiatives for the company’s seven masterplanned communities. For more information, call her at 239-390-1258.
This article was originally published in NAHB's Sales + Marketing Ideas magazine.
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