Building Nevada - June 2007

Master-Planned Communities

Environmentally-Friendly Neighborhoods

by Doresa Banning

In its 1,953 acres, Inspirada, a new master-planned community developed in Henderson by Focus Property Group, is designed to incorporate residential, commercial and recreational areas, creating a live, work and play environment. It will be a high-density development (11,500 homes) that emphasizes walkability and connectivity, incorporates environmentally-friendly elements and provides diverse housing options and architecture. Inspirada is quite different from the master-planned communities of 15 to 20 years ago. It represents a new way of thinking when it comes to designing these communities.

“Planners are really studying the way people live and the way they want to live, and then building the community around that. It used to be the other way around – you’d build the community and then people would be expected to shoehorn their lives into it,” said Tom Warden, vice president of community and government relations for Howard Hughes Corp., the developer of the 22,500-acre, Southern Nevada community, Summerlin.

As master-planned communities have evolved over the past decade in Nevada, many new trends have emerged.

Definition and Benefits

What is a master-planned community? “It’s a community in which thought is given to the future needs of the residents who are going to live there,” said Paul Curtis, chief executive officer of Kiley Ranch Communities, the developer of Kiley Ranch, a master-planned community in Sparks. “The thought that goes into the communities allows them to work from a livability standpoint.”

Master-planned communities typically have elements that define them: landscaping, environmental graphics or signage, wall treatment, lighting and architecture. They have design standards by which builders must abide. They generally offer a way of life, with amenity packages, including everything from walking trails, open space to parks and recreation centers. Some contain public facilities – schools, libraries, performing arts centers, fire and police stations and even medical clinics and hospitals – along with retail and other commercial enterprises.

“At Somersett, a fee of $150 each month from every home maintains all the landscaping and recreation buildings, the trails and the nine-hole short course,” said Blake Smith, managing partner of the Somersett Development Co., the developer of the 2,800-acre, west Reno community. “You couldn’t do that with a 100-home subdivision.” While master-planned communities often incorporate many similar elements, they all are unique, expressing those commonalities differently. “Every community takes on a life of its own, has its own identity,” said John A. Ritter, chairman and chief executive officer of Focus Property Group, the developer of Mountain’s Edge and Inspirada. Master-planned communities tend to hold their value because structure and design standards are maintained. In Summerlin, for instance, all built structures must be approved by a design review committee. In the community’s garden neighborhood, homes must showcase color palettes suggestive of an English garden and utilize garden elements, such as trellises.

The inherent value in master-planned communities makes buying a home there a better investment than purchasing outside of them. The potential for investment appreciation is greater. “With a master-planned community, you understand what it will look like 20 years from now,” Smith said. The communities’ codes, covenants and regulations, how well they’re written and enforced, are what control the environment and protect real estate values.

Residents enjoy the sense of community that master-planned communities provide. “I think one of the things consumers are aching for is a return to communities that embrace neighborhoods and embrace social interaction as opposed to the post-World War II urban-sprawl neighborhoods that really were built more around the car,” Ritter said.

At Somersett, residents enjoy access to several places for social gathering, such as parks, golf courses and a 22,000-square-foot recreation facility. The homeowners association holds numerous activities for all ages, from potlucks, dances and parties to gymnastics and pottery classes. Mountain’s Edge, a 3,500-acre master-planned community in Las Vegas, promotes philanthropy to involve residents. It partners with service organizations, such as the Boy Scouts, on projects and offers its facilities for charitable events.

Opportunities for recreation at master-planned communities are a major draw, as well. Aliante, a 1,700-acre golf community in North Las Vegas, for example, contains 428 acres for recreational and public use. Facilities include an 18-hole golf course, 24 miles of trails, community parks, a library, picnic areas, sports courts and fields, tot lots, horseshoe areas and a 20-acre nature park, where community events take place. Construction has begun on a 200-room, 2,000-slot hotel casino, Aliante Station, complete with a bowling alley and movie theater.

New Design

High-density developments that incorporate all the necessities to live, work, shop and play within the community are on the rise. They’re referred to as New Urbanism, Smart Growth or Traditional Neighborhood Design communities. These communities balance the community feeling of traditional city neighborhoods while offering modern-day conveniences and de-emphasizing the need for cars. Their high-density design conserves land, utilities and other resources. “What’s kind of ironic about the term New Urbanism and these new designs that have been developing over the last 25 years but are just now taking off is that they emphasize a return to classic neighborhood design,” Ritter said.

To foster connectivity among its projected 26,000 residents, Inspirada’s streets will be narrow, walls between neighborhoods will be eliminated, 20 miles of trails will run throughout, all homes will be sited within five minutes’ walking distance to a community park and pool, and garages will be de-emphasized, moving homes closer to the streets and allowing for porches and picture windows. Civita, the town center, will feature restaurants, shops, cafes, entertainment venues and more. Other amenities might include a casino, schools, sports fields and courts, and police and fire stations.

Kiley Ranch, the new, 808-acre master-planned community in the Spanish Springs area of Sparks, is slated to incorporate 3,000 to 4,000 residential units within about 323 acres. Twenty-seven percent of the total acreage is slated for commercial use and 25 percent for public facilities, such as schools, parks, trails and open space. Linear parks and trails will link the neighborhoods to three activity centers: The Town Center (the entertainment hub, with restaurants, coffeehouses, bookstores, movie theaters and professional offices); The Business Park (various types of professional and commercial space); and The Marketplace (with retail stores, grocery markets, restaurants and local shops and boutiques).

“What we’re hoping to create is an environment where you can get up in the morning and wander down to the bakery, have a croissant and espresso, and then go across the street to work. Then you have lunch down the street, and after work, have some friends stop by and go to a piano bar,” Curtis said.

Southern Nevada’s Summerlin is adding a high-density urban village to the community, a concept that was not part of the original master plan. In its 200 acres, the as yet unnamed walkable village will incorporate many types of urban residential homes, including row houses, walk-ups and mid-rise towers, some with office space, as well as streetside retail.

Environmental Focus

More and more master-planned communities are integrating green, or environment-friendly, features. Water and power conservation are at the forefront of that movement. “More people are coming to the conclusion we have to take care of the environment and we have to live our lives in a more resource-responsible fashion,” Curtis said.

Mountain’s Edge prides itself on being water efficient and promoting the use of drought-tolerant landscaping. Year-round it maintains an on-site Desert Demonstration Garden that showcases several native plants. With help from the Boy Scouts, the community harvested 10,000 native plants on Exploration Peak, a mountain at the community’s entrance. The community’s developer, Focus Property Group, published a book, Legendary Landscapes, that is given to homeowners to help them create water-smart yards.

“Originally when we first decided to do the [Mountain’s Edge] project this way about five years ago, there was a lot of resistance and a lot of people said it wouldn’t be successful because homeowners want palm trees and lawns,” Ritter said. “What we found is quite the opposite.” In fact, Mountain’s Edge was the third fastest-growing master-planned community in the United States in 2005, according to RCLCO, a Bethesda, Md.-based, real estate advisory firm. Last year, the Las Vegas community ranked second.

Summerlin’s green efforts include protection of the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, incorporation of natural landscaping and topography, preservation of natural drainage areas and arroyos, golf course water recycling and use of pollution-minimizing light fixtures. Developers are investigating alternative ways to generate power. A new community center and the regional retail center will meet the standards for some level of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Residential builders at Summerlin are constructing almost all energy-smart homes, and Pulte Homes plans an entirely green village. “Instead of just talking about homes or singular buildings, we are now looking at green urban villages or residential suburban villages,” Warden added. “That’s a huge step forward.” Common efforts include the use of native landscaping rather than lawns, and preservation of open space, wildlife corridors and arroyos.

Kiley Ranch developers are establishing green building standards for the community. Also, they plan to preserve within the community, an endangered species habitat and create a series of related trails, pathways and interpretive signs. Additionally, to educate home buyers, the welcome center will display green elements, including patio pavers, recycled water features, recycled barn-wood flooring, bamboo counters and on-demand water heaters – and explain their benefits.

In the future, we will likely see more use of weather-controlled irrigation systems, photovoltaic cells, energy-smart appliances and on-site water recycling.

Greater Diversity

Today’s master-planned communities are incorporating a greater selection of home and neighborhood styles than ever before, in terms of architecture, income level, and residents’ ages and lifestyles. The residential units at Inspirada range from condos for the first-time home buyer to executive, move-up homes. The community boasts an eclectic blend of Spanish, American, Traditional, Tuscan, Italiante, Monterrey and Craftsman elevations. Architecture, colors and materials vary from home to home. “It looks like an old-fashioned classic city that you might find in Europe or America, or one of those areas that developed organically over time,” Ritter said.

Kiley Ranch, with a similar array of housing products, is planned to include in each neighborhood four or five architectural themes – Farmhouse, Ranch, Craftsman, Cottage and Victorian. To achieve greater design diversity, Summerlin changed its approach three or four years ago. “It used to sell whole, 12- to 35-acre parcels to single builders, now it’s selling home sites in one neighborhood to three or four different builders,” Warden said.

Technology Integration

Demand for greater technology in master-planned communities is increasing. “The home buyers of the future, as well as businesses today, require large bandwidth access to technology,” Curtis said.

Kiley Ranch’s developers plan to provide fiber optic cable to every premise, home and business, in the community. Similarly, at Somersett, all homes are wired for various high-tech applications, such as high-speed Internet access, energy management and home automation.

Public Transportation

Access to public transit within master-planned communities is a growing trend. At Inspirada, developers are considering building transit stops so that if Henderson

develops a mass transit system in the future, it could be easily integrated into the community. Somersett is built for public transit, with bus stops peppered throughout it. Kiley Ranch also plans for park-and-ride facilities and/or bus stops.

Fewer Golf Courses

Golf courses are no longer a given amenity in new master-planned communities in major metropolitan areas in Nevada. Yet, they still may be built in areas outside of major cities, such as Mesquite. Neither Kiley Ranch, in Sparks, nor Inspirada, in Henderson, will contain golf courses. Summerlin, originally planned to have 15 courses, now has nine, according to Warden, and will likely only develop one or two more. Once profit centers, golf courses have become too expensive to build in Nevada considering land values and water costs. Southern Nevada has become saturated with golf courses.

Down the Line

The near future will bring changes to Nevada’s master-planned communities. This year at Aliante, work will continue on Aliante Station for a late 2008 opening. General Growth Properties, the parent company of Summerlin’s developer, is building a 100-acre regional retail center called Summerlin Centre, scheduled to open in early 2009. It will contain $1.5 million square feet of retail space, office space, residential units, a non-gaming boutique hotel and four department store anchors, including Nordstrom.

In Northern Nevada, a new shopping plaza with a mix of shops, restaurants and services – the Town Center – is under construction at Somersett and slated to open this month, Smith said. Two city parks and the Somersett Fire Station are under construction, which will be donated to the city of Reno.

Master-planned communities, in general, will continue to evolve, experts say. “In a major metropolitan area, I think the tendency is going to be towards mixed use, density, verticality, much more green building, more outdoor recreation and gathering spaces,” Ritter said. Conversely, communities in rural areas or on the outskirts of metropolitan areas likely won’t change much, he added. Future communities will feature more diversity. More socioeconomic groups, residential products and architecture will be represented within one community. Amenities will be tailored to different stages of life. Overall, master-planned developments are expected to grow in popularity. “I would say that you will see very strong, planned communities continue to capture more and more of the buying public,” Warden said.

Doresa Banning
Doresa Banning is a freelance writer based in Northern Nevada.