Castle & Cooke's Oakland Park will be the Orlando area's first certified 'green development'
The Florida Green Building Coalition has certified Oakland Park as a "green development." Every home built in Oakland Park also will be certified as "green." The green designation reflects Oakland Park's commitment to standards that create a sense of community, connect neighborhoods, preserve open space, protect the natural ecosystem and maximize energy efficiency. Oakland Park's pledge to a green future has been written into the community's covenants and deed restrictions.
Winter Garden, FL - April 26, 2007 - Castle & Cooke Florida, a subsidiary of Castle & Cooke Mainland Communities, said today that Oakland Park est. 1844, a new community of traditional homes on the south shore of Lake Apopka, has been officially designated as a "green development" by the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC). Additionally, Castle & Cooke also said that each home built in the community will be required to be certified as "green" according to FGBC standards.
Oakland Park's green-development designation is a first in Central Florida, according to FGBC records. Six other communities in Florida have received the designation since the FGBC was founded in 2000.
The formal recognition of the green-development certification will take place at the Winter Garden City Council meeting on April 26 at 6 p.m.
The green certification program is a voluntary process that documents and verifies a community's commitment to environmental stewardship, said Rob Vieira, an FGBC board member who evaluated Oakland Park's application. Communities seeking a green designation must submit documentation using six-category checklist. The checklist awards points for features ranging from plans for wildlife habitat preservation to the design of "green" traffic patterns to the use of drought-resistant landscaping. Communities must achieve a minimum of 200 points to receive the green-development designation.
"Communities that achieve this designation demonstrate a commitment to sound principles in a spectrum of areas that relate to environmental benefits," said Vieira, who serves professionally as buildings research director for the Florida Solar Energy Center.
"Oakland Park has been sensitive to the restoration of Lake Apopka and the lake shoreline," Vieira added. "The developer also has demonstrated a commitment to create a mixed-use pedestrian-oriented community that will reduce the use of fossil-fueled transportation."
John Rinehart, vice president of Castle & Cooke Florida, said that achieving the green development designation requires more than a documented commitment to environmental protection.
"It's a mind-set," Rinehart said. "We have tried to build green principles and green thinking into Oakland Park's DNA. It's not only a commitment on our part, but ultimately it's going to be a commitment on the part of our residents who will make their homes here."
The construction of green-certified homes will be required by Oakland Park's covenants and deed restrictions. Similar to the green development designation, the green-home designation requires builders to document each house's features using a checklist that awards points for environmentally friendly features. Each home must achieve a minimum of 200 points to receive a "green" certification.
Castle & Cooke Homes, one of four builders in Oakland Park, will offer a number of features that will enable each home to reach the 200-point minimum standard, said Robert Hennen, director of sales and marketing. For example, performance-engineered air conditioning systems; energy-efficient, double-paned windows; tankless water heaters and next-generation foam insulation are just some of the features home buyers can choose.
The other three builders in Oakland Park - Bradford Building Corp., Brentwood Custom Homes and Goerhing & Morgan - each will offer a unique package of features that achieve the green certification, Hennen added.
Site development at Oakland Park began in the fall of 2006. The 258-acre community is designed to ultimately contain 750 residential units, 35,000 square feet of neighborhood retail services, additional civic facilities and a marina.
Oakland Park is a Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) community that will
evoke a sense of history through its community layout, Florida vernacular architecture and amenities. Home building will be guided by an architectural pattern book drawn - in part - from the heritage in the neighboring communities of Winter Garden and Oakland.
Prices in Oakland Park will begin in the $400s. Sales are expected to begin in May.
In TND communities, houses of varying sizes are built side-by-side on each street, enhancing the feeling of growth over time. Homes will be predominately serviced by a rear alley, keeping streetscapes beautiful and inviting for walking, jogging or biking.
The principles for TND encourage the art of "place-making." Place-making emphasizes the design of civic spaces that serve as community gathering points. In Oakland Park, place-making features include:
- McKinnon Square. A traditional town square that will be surrounded by thirty-five thousand square feet of neighborhood retail space, providing room for a general store and other retail services. McKinnon Square will be accessible via pedestrian pathways and will lie on Oakland Avenue.
- Union Club. Lying along the shore of Lake Apopka, Union Club will serve as a neighborhood gathering spot with a community pool, wellness center and a lakefront grill/eatery. Castle & Cooke also will seek regulatory approval for a community marina on Lake Apopka.
- Meadowmarsh. The Oakland Park community includes the 130-year-old former Tilden family estate home that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Meadowmarsh will be one of the civic buildings in Oakland Park.
- The West Orange Trail. This Orange County linear park traverses Oakland Park and will put residents within easy biking distance of neighborhood schools and with downtown Winter Garden and Oakland.
- Lake Apopka. The fourth-largest lake in Florida, Lake Apopka is currently being restored by state and federal authorities after years of environmental degradation. Oakland Park will support the restoration of Lake Apopka by restoring its one-third mile shoreline in conjunction with a 26-acre community park. Much of Oakland Park is situated on a bluff that lies 30 feet above the lake shoreline, providing the community with outstanding views of the 30,000-acre lake.
In addition to the community's signature natural features, Oakland Park will be dotted with 14 small parks and civic spaces that will create a broad and diverse public
realm within the community.
Additionally, Oakland Park will feature downward-focusing street lights that illuminate the community, but help prevent "light-pollution" at night.
Michael Bollhoefer, city manager for the City of Winter Garden, said: "We are energized about the quality development that Castle & Cooke is bringing to Winter Garden. Oakland Park's certification as a Green Development will provide economic as well as social benefits to our historic community. Preserving and protecting our natural resources are a priority for our City, and this development will put us another step closer to reaching our goal as the best small city in the State of Florida."
To reach Oakland Park, take Plant Street west from State Road 429. Follow Plant Street through downtown Winter Garden until it becomes Oakland Avenue. Go past Tildenville School Road. The sales center, scheduled to open in MayJune, is on the right. Additional information is available by calling 407-905-5667 or visiting www.oaklandpark1844.com
About Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke is a privately held company owned by our chairman and CEO, David H. Murdock who controls the company's diverse portfolio of businesses. Our greatest assets are our land holdings as well as, real estate developments and ownership, including resorts, residential communities and commercial properties. Castle & Cooke's 150 years of success is best summed up by Mr. Murdock's credo, "to do the impossible, you must see the invisible." For more information about Castle & Cooke, please visit our Web site at http://www.castlecooke.com.
