“Live, create, play.” Those words, perhaps heralding the future of New Urbanism, began to have a life of their own on April 22 as hundreds of people poured onto the property of the Pinewood Forrest development in Fayetteville for a community event highlighted by the first 50 homesites going on sale.
Each of the homes will be outfitted with geothermal heating and cooling. That translates into a 40-70 percent reduction in cooling and heating costs and no outside units to add noise to the immediate environment, said Rob Parker, president of Pinewood Forrest.
“This will be the first all-geothermal community of its scale in the United States,” said Pinewood Forrest Project Director Bill Lynch.
“We now have a live, create, play community to go along with the world-class studio across the street,” said Pinewood Forrest Chief Visionary/Developer Dan Cathy at the site on April 21. Cathy is also the CEO of Chick-fil-A Corp.
It was on April 21 at the new Pinewood Forrest development on Veterans Parkway where several updates were announced and the first wall at the first homesite was raised. It was the first of 700 homes, along with 600 apartment flats, to be located on the 234-acre development that will feature a unique mix of retail, office and other commercial offerings.
The heavily-attended April 22 event included virtual reality home tours for the initial 50 lots that went on sale at noon. The event also included products supplied by local farmers, mercantile products, facepainting, live music, food trucks and the likes of Spiderman and Captain America spending time with families.
Phase 1A comprises 50 residences, with floorpans designed by nationally-renowned planner Lew Oliver. The homes will range from 1,214 – 3,880 sq. ft. and are priced from $349,900 to more than $1 million, according to Pinewood Forrest.
A team of four custom home builders from the Atlanta area – 10/23 Construction, Brightwater Homes, McKinney and Son Builders and Redwood Homes – will manage the construction.
Homebuyers can experience the lifestyle and housing options available at Pinewood Forrest even before residential construction begins through virtual reality. Pinewood Forrest is the first large scale mixed-use community in the nation to use virtual reality home tours to bring floorplans to life for buyers across all home types and price points. Enabled by Atlanta-based TRICK 3D’s Floor plan Revolution technology, the Pinewood Forrest Real Estate website offers life-like photo-real virtual walk throughs and video tours of every available home plan, as well as greenspaces and gardens, according to Pinewood Forrest.
“No other residential development of this size and scope is utilizing virtual reality to showcase all their properties at all price points. This is just one example of our commitment to fully leverage technology to build one of the smartest, sustainable communities in the country,” said Parker. “Home shopping by nature is an immersive, interactive experience. It should be that way online too.”
And there is more to Pinewood Forrest than residential offerings. Also announced Friday, Pinewood Forrest will partner with the Capstone Companies, Comer Companies and Woodford Capital, instrumental in developments such as Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach, to develop the urban town core that will come complete with four-story buildings which will house retail on the first floor, a variety of apartments, and price points, on the upper floors and parking in garages behind the buildings and screened from view.
“We are enthusiastic about the vision of Pinewood Forrest. Our team is very market-focused, so we tend to design product types to match the creativity of the environment and the people that will inspire it. Being located in the shadow of Pinewood Atlanta Studios gives us a tremendous amount to work with. I know these flats will bring an experience that is unmatched in Atlanta today,” said John Acken, executive vice president of Pinewood Forrest Multifamily Partners.
The first phase of multifamily flats is currently under design and will be delivered in 2019.
In all, Pinewood Forrest will be home to approximately 250,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, including 90,000 sq. ft. for restaurants and retail centrally-located in the Village Square.
“It’s our responsibility to deliver on Dan Cathy’s vision,” said Acken, who described the first phase of apartments, and the accompanying retail downstairs, as an environment designed to generate a dynamic urban feel.
Also coming in 2018, and previously announced, will be the first of two hotels on the property. It will be a 95-room upscale, independent boutique hotel. In total, the two hotels will provide 300 rooms.
And in terms of walkability and recreation, Pinewood Forrest will provide 118 acres, more than 50 percent of the total acreage, of public greenspace.
The development in the future also includes a state-of-the-art community wellness center and an arts center.
Not lost in the buzz of activity is the green building program that is integral to the upcoming construction.
Pinewood Forrest,in partnership with its Builders Guild and the Coweta-Fayette EMC, has developed a set of best-in-class green building standards more stringent and streamlined than existing national certification programs, according to Pinewood Forrest.
All homes in Pinewood Forrest are required to meet the rigorous components of the program, which include ground source heat pumps, total zip sheeting insulation, whole house mechanical ventilation and other criteria designed to improve indoor air quality and reduce energy and water consumption, according to Pinewood Forrest.
“From day one we’ve been focused on creating a community that we hope will ultimately produce more energy than it uses,” said Parker. “We will continue to focus on this initiative, seeking out new resources and building practices that will set Pinewood Forrest up as a model for sustainable, livable communities nationwide.”
The Pinewood Forrest Sales and Experience Center is located across the street from the community in the Pinewood Production Centre at 461 Sandy Creek Road.
For more information on Pinewood Forrest visit https://pinewoodforrestrealestate.com.
