Feature: Where Eagles Dare
March 1, 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.
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