Greenville Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 61)

Clair Ray, director of marketing for Griffin Park, says it’s come about as parents want their children to experience a way of life they had growing up. “I think we went through that trend of the past 15 years, and we’re coming back around because we see what we’re missing,” she said. “This is a new concept for the Upstate area. It’s a desperately needed concept as well because we’re in the South, and the small towns of the South are what we need to get back to: that feeling of safety, of neighborhood, of community. We don’t see it enough, and we don’t feel it enough.” Hollingsworth Park is taking shape within the Greenville city limits off Verdae Boulevard. Six homes are now under construction and will be ready at the end of the summer. The 300-acre property eventually will include 750 single-family homes and 250-300 townhomes and condominiums with a price range from the low $200,000s to over a million dollars. Hollingsworth Park is part of a larger Verdae plan, 1,100 acres of commercial and residential development billed by planners as a city within a city. Ironically, Hollingsworth Park is located close to Woodruff Road, Greenville’s subdivision central. Within three miles of Hollingsworth Park are both major hospital system campuses, public and private schools and many shopping venues. At the heart of the neighborhood will be a 20-acre park connected to a 15-acre commercial area containing a wellness facility, restaurants and at least four buildings with retail shops on the ground floor and offices above, all within a five-minute walk of anyone living in Hollingsworth Park. The shops are expected to attract not just Hollingsworth residents but people who live and work nearby as well. That,Yeager said, is key to the success of commercial tenants. “The whole premise is to combine work, recreation, home and retail all within one community,” she said. “But the challenge is if you put these neighborhoods outside a city, it’s very difficult to get the commercial to attract great tenants if the only thing they can draw from is within the community.Your quality commercial coffee shops, restaurants and dress shops can’t come if they are sustained only by the community and not the wider area. From Verdae, we feel like we’re uniquely positioned so the commercial core of the neighborhood will be a very viable option because of where we’re located.” Griffin Park is a traditional neighborhood design taking shape on West Georgia Road in Simpsonville. Eighteen homes have been completed on 321 acres, and seven more are now under construction. Eventually, 1,062 single-family homes and townhomes will be available in the walkable community master planned by the well-known Duany Plater-Zyberk team, based in Florida and responsible for I’On in Charleston and Habersham in Beaufort. Features will include a 26 ½-acre town center with Main Street-style shopping, a 45-acre community park system including 10 miles of trails and homes in a wide range of sizes, prices and looks. A community building will include a post office and café. Opportunities for recreation will include a Junior Olympic-sized pool along with a kiddie pool, changing areas, kitchen and outdoor fireplace. Two open-air amphitheaters will provide entertainment venues for the neighborhood. Current homes available range from the high $200,000s to the low $700,000s, and home sites range from $90,000 to $185,000. Developers Joe Jelks and Bryan Little, veterans of such projects as Sycamore Ridge and Kilgore Plantation, see the concept as something like the Augusta Road area, where houses are closer together, sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate strollers, streets are designed so there’s more than one way in and one way out and neighbors can be an extension of the family. Construction has begun on the neighborhood’s first LEEDs (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) home, which adheres to a national green building standard and certification system. Called the Poet’s Cottage, the model will be offered for $489,000 and will feature synthetic sheet rock, a tankless hot water heater and Energy Star certification. Ray says Griffin Park will cut down on the isolation promoted by suburbia. The Griffin Park concept includes houses sitting close to tree-lined streets where neighbors call to each other from porches, and people congregate in parks or meet to walk or run on trails. Acadia is a walkable community taking shape seven miles from downtown Greenville on a 340-acre tract along the Saluda River. Plans call for 500 singlefamily homes and 200 condominiums, town homes and gated homes with onethird of the total land area preserved as green spaces and common areas for all residents to enjoy. According to Teryn Traynham, Acadia sales manager, what sets Acadia apart is the amenities. These include 14 miles of trails – some paved and some left natural for hiking and walking dogs, three pet parks near the trails, river and creek frontage, a soccer field, an open air pavilion, a river house, a paddle house, a pool house along with two swimming pools, a victory garden, pocket parks, botanical gardens, a wildlife preserve, orchards, storage facilities and a non-denominational JULY 2008 | GreenviLLe MaGazine 61

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Greenville Magazine - July 2008

Greenville Magazine - July 2008 Contents Editor's Letter My Greenville Alone At Last Watercooler Romance Greenwood Tourist in Your Own Town One-Tank Trips In The Lead Keeping Students In-State After Hours From the Pros A Look Back Walk this Way If These Walls Could Talk Viewpoints Attorneys The Bulletin Around Town Parting Words

Greenville Magazine - July 2008

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