The Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit education and research institute that focuses on land use, said the decline of interest in golf and the increase in abandoned farmland are driving the trend toward communities that are built around a community farm. The proposed Ahwatukee Farms in Phoenix, Ariz., includes single-family homes, a 5-acre farm, a Montessori school, farmers’ market and a café.
The proposal to convert the closed golf course at Ahwatukee Lakes Golf Club In Phoenix, Ariz., into a multi-use development with homes, a community farm and other features is part of an accelerating global trend in the development of what the Urban Land Institute (ULI) calls “agrihoods,” the Tempe, Ariz., Ahwatukee Foothills News reported.
ULI, a nonprofit education and research institute that focuses on the use of land to enhance the total environment, said the decline of interest in golf and the increase in abandoned farmland are driving the trend toward communities that are built around a community farm, the News reported.
True Life has proposed Ahwatukee Farms, which includes single-family homes, a 5-acre farm, a Montessori school, farmers’ market and a café. There are about 200 agrihoods in the U.S., ranging from communities like Agritopia in Gilbert to an exotic 1,500-unit in the Hawaiian island of Kauai built by Scottsdale-based DMB Associates, whose portfolio in the Valley includes Verrado in the West Valley, Eastmark in east Mesa and DC Ranch in Scottsdale, the News reported.
Called Kukuui’la, the DMB development’s “gardens offer vacation-home owners a chance to get their hands dirty while picking fresh decorative flowers and tropical produce that’s also used at local restaurants,” ULI said.
It isn’t cheap. The bungalows at Kukuui’la start at $1.6 million and, ironically, the resort includes a Tom Weiskopf-designed golf course. “We spent a fraction of our amenities budget on the farm, but it was clear to us very early on that we had hit a nerve,” said Brent Herrington, DMB’s executive vice president.
Kukuui’la is an exception in terms of golf course-equipped agrihoods. ULI magazine reported last year, “The idea of building residential developments in the United States around golf courses is being rethought as demand for golf facilities continues to fade.”
One reason is generational. ULI quoted Matt Powell, an analyst for SportsOneSource: “Millennials do not appear to be [taking up] the game. It takes too much time and expense to play and to buy the equipment…Older people are going to continue to play, but there will be fewer of them.
“With the recession, a lot of people saw their retirements, their nest eggs, diminish, so they will have to work longer,” Powell said. “If they’re working longer, they don’t have the time to play golf. And if they’re trying to accumulate money for retirement, they probably won’t have the money to play golf.”
Ed McMahon, a ULI senior fellow, said, “When developers figured out that golf courses helped them sell houses at premium prices, the rush to develop golf course communities was on. They could get 10 to 25 percent more for a house than (for) an exact house not next to a golf course.”
But now, “developers are looking for amenity options other than building golf courses,” said Florida golf course architect Bobby Weed. “Developers drove the industry to the heights it achieved by building 400-plus golf courses a year. Now, we’re closing more than we’re opening.”
Pennsylvania-based Toll Brothers, a major home builder throughout the Valley of the Sun, is sticking with a golf strategy, but updating it to appeal to the whole family, the News reported.
ULI quotes David Richey, president of Toll Brothers’ Golf and Country Club Division, explaining why his company is actually buying golf course communities that fell into bankruptcy before most planned homes were even built.
“Today, golf events are important, but you’ve got to have events for all the other people in the family,” Richey said. “Food and beverage, fitness, and wellness programs are all part of the mix. There is no lack of people who want to live on a golf course fairway where you have a million-dollar view and you don’t have to maintain it.”
Bobby Weed Golf Design repurposes clubs by reducing courses from 18 to 9 holes. “There is often tremendous political and emotional resistance to removing a golf course completely. A partial conversion circumvents that resistance,” Bobby Weed executive Chris Monti told ULI.
But not all agrihoods are replacing golf courses. Many also are springing up on deserted farmland, the News reported.
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