IT'S ABOUT MORE THAN THE HOME

These Days, It’s Over-the-Top Amenities That Buyers Demand.

By Mike Candelaria

Buying a new home is no longer just about the home. It’s about the community and the increasingly lavish recreational perks that developers are offering. These aren’t your parents’ community amenities. They’re newer, bolder, grander and more plentiful than ever.

Last February, as part of the National Association of Home Builders’ Best in American Living Awards, “out-of-the-box amenities” were cited as a leading trend among the winners. 

So the hottest communities are offering features such as posh spas, concierge services, communal kitchens for cooking classes, pools with added wow factors such as “lazy rivers,” electric-car charging stations, and amazing outdoor spaces, particularly dog parks.

Shifting demographics are driving the trend. A review of national surveys from early 2014 reveals that today’s prospective buyers are drawn to communities that offer convenience, social interaction, walkability, and health.

In fact, buyers value proximity to services and retail outlets above all other community amenities, according to a new survey from John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif.

Even when preferences are broken out by age group — Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979) and Generation Y (born between 1980 and 2000) — having grocery stores and restaurants nearby are the No. 1 and No. 2 most-desired amenities among a list of 25.

Next for Boomers and Gen Xers is walking trails, then fitness centers. (The order is reversed for Gen Y). And while people parks are de rigueur, buyers also appreciate places that offer romping room for their canine companions. 

What buyers want, of course, they get. Builders listened, and throughout 2014 they delivered.

The result: Like never before, “placemaking” is a buzzword in the development industry. In the recent past, after the economy tanked and building ground to halt, many buyers were resigned to accepting less than they really wanted. 

Not anymore. 

“Our most popular amenities revolve around the community pool, which often includes a water slide and/or a splash pad for children,” says Vishaal Gupta, CEO of Park Square Homes, whose well-appointed communities include Bella Vida and Reunion Resort, both in Kissimmee, among others. 

“We’ve also been outfitting our clubhouses to enhance the vacation experience, featuring things like cyber cafés, fitness centers and lounge areas.”

Outdoor recreation facilities are popular, too, Gupta says, including basketball, tennis and sand volleyball courts. Not many new golf course are being built, but plenty of buyers like living in golf communities even if they don’t play the game.

“People enjoy outdoor activities that provide them fitness and overall well-being while allowing them to interact with Mother Nature,” says Shad Tome, area president of David Weekley Homes. 

Indoor fitness centers are on most buyers’ must-have lists, adds Tome, whose communities include Laureate Park at Lake Nona, Spring Lake at Celebration and Randal Park in southeast Orlando. 

But, he adds, buyers are also looking for alternative open-air activities that provide similar health benefits, such as gardens, passive parks, and jogging, hiking and biking trails.

Jim Hall, director of planning and urban design at VHB, a firm that consults with builders, developers and municipal land planners, says the increasing emphasis on amenities is simple trickle-down economics: build more, sell more, earn more. 

“It’s even getting to the point where [real-estate development] is almost like hospitality,” he says. “If you have a clubhouse, then you put a restaurant in the clubhouse. It’s like what Disney tries to do — keep you [in the community] for as long as they can.”

Water as a way to enhance real estate development never goes out of style. Communities that don’t have ponds or lakes onsite sometimes dig their own. But the region is dotted with thousands of natural lakes, along the shores of which homes and amenity centers are built.

For D.R. Horton at Waterleigh near Walt Disney World, beautiful Hickorynut Lake is a prime selling point. 

“We found that today’s buyers live active lifestyles and seek amenities that might typically be found in high-end resorts,” says Donna Pope, division president. 

“Our goal was to develop a community that was centered around the beauty of the lake, and to provide a host of social activities that build community togetherness within our recreational and educational amenities.” 

Waterleigh amenities include a 5,000-square-foot clubhouse with a fitness center and a multipurpose room; a 2,000-square-foot resort-style pool with a beach lounge area, grilling and picnic stations, a beach volleyball court and interactive exercise stations; two fishing and observation piers; a nature trail; a dog park; a community garden and a miniature golf course.

Similarly, across the board in at least five new communities offered by KB Home, outdoor amenities are emphasized. For example, at Etowah in Tavares a community pool and cabana are complemented by a children’s playground and tennis and basketball courts. At Gramercy Farms in St. Cloud, there’s a dog park and a pavilion with picnic tables. 

“KB Home recognizes the importance of creating a neighborhood that has a sense of community, which includes providing our homeowners with great amenities,” says KB spokesperson Cara Kane. 

Lake Nona in southeast Orlando is ranked among the fastest-growing communities in the country. The burgeoning Medical City complex is one reason. But amenities in Lake Nona communities are over the top.

Case in point is Laureate Park, a Lake Nona neighborhood in which David Weekley Homes is joined by Ashton Woods Homes, Minto Group and Taylor Morrison Homes. 

A village center is highlighted by an aquatic complex encompassing two large pools, lounging areas and a sand volleyball court. One pool — for families with children — is a zero-entry design with deck jets, water cannons and a 25-foot-tall dumping bucket. The other pool — just for adults — has private cabanas, freeform areas and four Junior Olympic lap lanes.

In another Lake Nona-area neighborhood, Randal Park, where Mattamy Homes snapped up 560 lots in 2012, there are miles of biking/hiking paths, nature trails and boardwalks along with a 5-acre central park and 300 acres of nature preserves. There’s also a pool, a splash park and a fitness center. 

Much of that same leisure-time panache is evident ChampionsGate, southwest of Disney, where 36 holes of championship golf and a 35,000-square-foot clubhouse instantly put the community on the map when it opened in 2000. 

But Lennar Homes his pulled out all the stops in its five ChampionsGate neighborhoods, where you’ll find everything from a splash park and sport court to an aerobics studio and biking trails. At Summerlake in west Orange County, another community in which Lennar is building, there’s “summer line,” a kid-friendly version of a zip line.

Not far away at Festival, Minto’s newest community, an assortment of amenities will include a heated swimming pool, private cabanas, a water park, a putt-putt golf course, volleyball courts, a fitness center, an arcade and a restaurant, among others. Plus, it’s just five miles from Disney, perhaps the world’s largest amenity.

At Watermark, located in Winter Garden near S.R. 429 and C.R. 545, Meritage Homes is making its own mark with such amenities as a clubhouse with viewing deck, an extensive pool compound with an interactive splash pad, an amphitheater, a fitness center, a playground and tennis courts.

The list goes on. But here’s the best news for homebuyers. Hall, the land planner, concludes there’s no mistaking intent and no end in sight: “The homebuilders are [incorporating amenities] because they’re trying to sell homes, and then they each try to one-up the other.”