Feature: Where Eagles Dare

Scott Kauffman

03/01/2008

Fifty years ago, when legendary developer Charles Fraser built Sea Pines Plantation on Hilton Head Island, the 5,000-acre project was one of the first communities that combined a golf course and residential development. Sea Pines was also one of the first to introduce covenants and deed restrictions as a means of protecting the environment.

Among Fraser’s innovative measures were building homes away from prime oceanfront land, designing houses so they blended with the native pines, implementing policies so alligators and other wildlife were protected and reducing the size of the yacht basin to save a single oak tree. In another forward-thinking move, Fraser designated hundreds of acres of parks and native land as open space and preservation areas.

Today, of course, these sustainable businesses strategies are commonplace in many upscale golf course communities as developers recognize the growing demand for eco-conscious projects. To be sure, blending the natural environment with a private country club or master-planned resort-style setting is a challenge, but the concept is increasingly embraced by some of the country’s leading developers.

Here’s a look at three new residential golf communities making compelling statements in the world of sustainable development.

Hampton Island Preserve, Georgia
An exclusive 4,000-acre private retreat about 35 minutes south of Savannah, Hampton Island personifies the spirit of the state’s rich heritage of island preservation. For those not familiar with coastal Georgia, a dozen or so of its barrier islands have been designated state and national parks, wildlife refuges, research reserves or heritage preserves, leaving a prime stretch of this coastline untouched.

At Hampton Island, managing member Ronald Leventhal, of Atlanta-based Tivoli Communities, is doing everything he can to keep this south Atlantic coast region unspoiled by development. Located in Riceboro, Ga., Hampton Island still resembles its pre–Civil War roots with its mix of maritime forest, marsh and pasture with lakes and winding limestone roadways—all surrounded by 12 linear miles of pristine rivers and tidal saltwater marshes.

Connected to the mainland by a single bridge, the golf course community actually had the approvals to go high-density. Instead, Hampton Island decided to develop just 20 percent of the island, dedicating a large piece as a conservation easement. Out of 450 memberships, 370 include homesites ranging in size from one-acre lots for $650,000 to expansive equestrian farms for up to $3.8 million. The current initiation fee is $150,000.

While taking extreme caution to preserve its ecosystem, Hampton Island does not shy away from luxurious amenities and services, featuring unique Treehouse and Farm House spa facilities, 24-hour concierge service and a brand new $2.2 million equestrian center. Ricefields, Hampton Island’s 18-hole course designed by PGA Tour star and Georgia native Davis Love III, is being created out of restored native rice fields and complements the overall eco-conscious land plan with such efforts as non-irrigated native grasses in the unpaved, natural cart paths.

Perhaps the most popular element, however, is Daron Joffe, or "Farmer D" as the Hampton Island members and staffers call him. This longtime "bio-dynamic" farmer oversees Harvest Lake Farm, a community supported agriculture farm that features a two-story barn built with reclaimed rustic wood and a brick-laden courtyard with rows of organically grown vegetables, as well as culinary and medicinal herbs and spices.

Harvest Lake farm is where Hampton Island’s manager of operations, Matthew Roher, gets all of his fresh produce, herbs and flowers, and members and guests seek a variety of education, recreation and therapy."I love the way it all comes together on Hampton Island," Joffe says. "The horses provide manure for the farm; the farm provides food for the community, and so on. We have our own herbs and vegetables, and down the road we might have a small dairy. It’s just the whole combination of the farm, fishing, hunting and the chef. You can catch fresh fish out of the river, lakes or ocean. There’s even hunting for wild game nearby.

"Imagine getting up in the morning and going fishing," adds Joffe. "Then coming to the farm with Farmer D and harvesting your own vegetables, and later having the chef prepare your meal at your peaceful, plantation-style home. So you have this truly emotional and physical process that you’ve been a part of. It’s a real cycle of sustainability."

Hampton Island Preserve, 912.880.8888, www.hamptonisland.com

The Cliffs at Mountain Park, the Carolinas
Ever since developer Jim Anthony founded the Cliffs Communities in 1991, his high-end private developments between Asheville, N.C., and Greenville, S.C., have been a true leader in sustainable development. Spread across an area called the Carolina Preserve, the Cliffs’ eight low-density communities feature 30 miles of completed/groomed trails and more than 1,300 acres of dedicated open space and conservancy areas, not to mention numerous other eco-conscious measures. Of course, this green-friendly philosophy befits the Cliffs, which is surrounded by more than 1 million acres of protected land, including four national forests and 14 state parks.

Now, one of Anthony’s newest developments, the Cliffs at Mountain Park, is positioned to take the company’s green initiatives to its greatest heights yet with several unique endeavors. Partnered with renowned golfer Gary Player’s new real estate group, Mountain Park calls for just 1,500 homes within the 5,000-acre property, including up to 1,000 acres of green space connected by a managed trail system, a nine-acre organic farm that serves all Cliffs communities and a "Green House"—an environmentally friendly home built by local experts Johnston Design Group that will serve as a model for members building at Mountain Park. Lots in the Gary Player Estates are expected to start in the mid-$300,000s.

Once the Green House opens, an environmental services coordinator will be based there to educate Cliffs owners, members and prospective buyers on living green. It will also be used as a resource for all Mountain Park owners who wish to build their own green homes.

However, one of the most exciting measures introduced by Mountain Park is the Cliffs Center for Environmental Golf Research. Unveiled in October in conjunction with dozens of private-sector turfgrass companies and Clemson University, the new research center is the first-of-its-kind "living laboratory" located adjacent to the future Gary Player– designed golf course. Its goal: produce an environmentally friendly golf course and establish green space management and maintenance practices within the Cliffs’ communities and beyond, setting an example for golf course development.

Located in Travelers Rest, S.C., the 5.6-acre research center includes laboratories, two experimental organic par-3 golf holes grown with both warm- and cool-season grasses, 40,000 square feet of turfgrass research plots, and office, meeting and living space for administrators and students.

One of Mountain Park’s more ambitious projects is the ongoing restoration of the Saluda River, which borders the golf course. Entailing some 11,813 linear feet of creek, the $5 million project will be South Carolina’s largest creek restoration, according to Daniel Brazinski, who oversees maintenance for the Cliffs’ eight championship courses.

"In five years, I’d like this center’s findings to prove that, with a team of highly trained professionals, a golf course can be managed in a way that actually serves to enhance the environment," Brazinski says. "It is our hope to share the knowledge that we uncover along the way with those who are interested in using these new techniques to improve their property management practices, whether they be golf courses, athletic fields, green spaces or private lawns."

The Cliffs at Mountain Park, 877.254.3371, www.cliffscommunities.comRainmakers, New Mexico
There are plenty of environmentally friendly measures being implemented at this golf course community just north of Ruidoso, N.M., but partner and general manager Mike O’Brien is clearly passionate about one specific initiative: the polymers.

"It blows your socks off," says O’Brien, referring to the process of using natural polymer crystals that look like garlic salt. "All you do is add water to the polymers and they expand to about 500 times their original size, trap-ping the water and cooling it down by 10 to 12 degrees in the process."

O’Brien is applying this science throughout Rainmakers’ Robert Trent Jones Jr.–designed golf course scheduled to open this year, resulting in a brand-new course that not only requires less water because it maintains cooler temperatures, but it is also healthier because the turfgrass gets established more quickly. In the drought-laden Southwest, it’s a discovery that’s putting Rainmakers on the leading edge of water conservation.

"Grass roots like it when its cool, and bacteria doesn’t," says O’Brien, who estimates that the polymers cost his course $100,000 to $125,000. "When the bacteria is gone, there are more carbohydrates for the grass to thrive on. By amending the soil’s temperature, it stays cool and there are rarely brown spots. Plus water tends to set and less water goes into the ground. So we use less water from the aquifer as a result."

O’Brien estimates that the polymers conserve as much as 30 percent of typical water consumption on his 1,023-acre development.

The polymers may be Rainmakers’ most interesting water conservation plan in effect, but it’s not the only one. Additionally, all the Pueblo-style town homes in the development are required to use a rain catchment system that stores rainwater in nonevaporation basins. According to O’Brien, this system alone, when working at full capacity, could collect as much as 1.5 million gallons of water per year.

O’Brien notes that Rainmakers’ green-friendly approach adds up-front cost to the homes, but he is experiencing no sales resistance from consumers. "Buyers want to do their part in protecting the environment," he says. "These advances are so great, I think all of this should be mandated for all new developments and subdivisions. We’ve got to protect our resources and this is a great way to do it."

Rainmakers, 866.700.8439, www.rainmakersusa.com