Take Note: New Home Community and Builder News

FishHawk Sweeps Aurora Awards
FishHawk Ranch, the first certified green development in Tampa" target="_blank">Hillsborough County and the largest in Tampa, was recently awarded both the 2009 Aurora and Grand Aurora Awards in the Green Construction category for Residential/Mixed-Use Developments. The nationally recognized Aurora Awards honor building and design excellence in a 12-state region. FishHawk Ranch stood out in the Green Construction category for its numerous energy-efficient amenities.?

“Winning the Aurora reinforces that we are continually striving to create en-during communities,” says Rick Harcrow, senior vice president of operations for Newland Communities, the developer. FishHawk Ranch has numerous energy-efficient features, such as a sophisticated reclaimed-water system, low-maintenance landscaping and an emphasis on the use of native vegetation.?

Additionally, the community features a 25-mile trail system with interpretative signage, parks within a quarter mile of every home and community recreation centers that give residents access to swimming pools so they don’t need to build their own energy-intensive backyard pools. ?

Ashton Woods Opens Eco-Friendly Model
Ashton Woods Homes has acquired 34 homesites at Citrus Park Place, located off Gunn Highway north of the Citrus Park Mall in Tampa, and will soon start construction of a single-family model home that will open in November. Michael Roche, vice president of sales and marketing for Ashton Woods Homes in the Tampa Bay region, said the homebuilder will start presales of single-family homes at Citrus Park Place by September 1.?

Roche said the model home under construction—a four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath-room home with 2,506 square feet of living space and a two-car garage—will showcase Ashton Woods Homes’ PowerHouse Green energy-saving features, which meet Environments for Living performance standards as well as the EPA’s Energy Star program standards for new-home construction.

Luxury Sales Hold Up for Windstar
As some sectors of the residential real estate market stabilize and others continue to slog through the worst housing recession in memory, Windstar Homes is designing and building multi-million estate residences at a surprisingly strong pace. In fact, Tampa-based Windstar started construction of an 8,000-square-foot ?Italian Renaissance home and a 6,000-square-foot Tuscan manor home, both in St. Petersburg. And last month, a 7,000-square-foot Spanish-colonial revival broke ground in south Tampa, says Bobby Gross, who with partner David Lesser owns Windstar Homes.