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Rosaire Elias' Vespa makes a short (less than two miles)
commute to work. |
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By Holly O’Brien
You leave your house to get some eggs, walk a short distance past
a windmill, smile at your neighbor, and stroll to the local farm.
Think you’re living in 1804? Actually, this is what some people
are calling the neighborhood of the future—already built
and thriving in St. Charles County.
Call them the new urbanism, master planned communities, or just
traditional neighborhood developments. But by any other name, experts
say “instant towns” such as WingHaven—and soon BaratHaven and New
Town—are here to stay.
The idea is simple: offer all the upsides of city living, but in
a suburban setting. So instead of rambling, homogenous subdivisions
built away from city centers and local amenities, places like WingHaven
are zoned for commercial, retail and residential mixed use enjoyment.
Just like Boston or San Francisco, residents here can jump on a
trolley or walk to the office, the park or the store.
Paul McKee, Glenn Mitchell and Leland Swartz of McEagle
Properties LLC pose on the WingHaven Trolley. |
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“These communities are a cutting-edge concept,” says Kent Bausman,
assistant professor of sociology at Maryville University. “Developers
are taking clues from the gentrification of the 1980s. Simultaneously,
there’s a profit motive for developers to build these types of communities.”
Bausman says modern Americans are social creatures by nature who
have become isolated by technology. “There’s a desire to tap into
the communal aspect of old city living, where there’s a real sense
of neighborhood and the things you need are within walking distance.”
Paul McKee Jr., co-chairman of Paric Corp and CEO of McEagle Development,
says people in different stages of life are coming together at WingHaven.
For example, McKee says it’s not unusual for an “empty-nest” couple
to live next door to a single career woman in her first home. “People
learn from intersecting with different people, and we’ve planned
these communities to facilitate that exchange on every level,” he
says.
McEagle’s WingHaven comprises 1,200 acres in O’Fallon, and is located
along Highway 40, just east of the Interstate 70 intersection. Started
in 1998, the 10-year project is more than halfway complete. Now
its future neighbor, McEagle’s BaratHaven, is set to open this summer
on 200 adjacent acres.
“These communities offer very economically diverse housing,” McKee
explains. “There are [at WingHaven] 1,697 housing units, including
apartments, condos, row houses, and homes of varying sizes.”
WingHaven enables its 2,100 residents to “live, work, learn, play
and pray,” all in the same development. Besides the various housing
options, WingHaven includes 2.5 million square feet of office, service,
retail or institutional space; a library and, eventually, four schools;
a semi-private, Jack Nicklaus-designed, 18-hole golf course (McKee
and his wife, Midge, have a condo on the 8th hole); and several
churches and parochial schools.
For those who may not be able to (or wish to) walk, a free trolley
operated by Tour St. Louis shuttles people from their homes to the
nearby Hilton Garden Inn, the Boardwalk Market Place, WingHaven
Country Club, and one of three St. Luke’s medical facilities.
Although exact figures are difficult to track, the number of residents
who both live and work inside WingHaven is certainly in the hundreds.
Two thousand people work at WingHaven’s and MasterCard’s Global
Technology and Operations Headquarters, says Linda Locke, vice president
of communications for MasterCard. “We know of 245 employees whose
ZIP codes are the same as that of the office.”
One of them is Rosaire Elias, who used to commute from elsewhere
in the region to her job at the MasterCard campus. After a while,
she noticed the odometer in her newly purchased vehicle was rapidly
reaching the mileage warranty cap. “I decided the stress and lost
time were not worth it,” she says. Now that she’s made the move,
she owns a Vespa motor scooter and enjoys life less than two miles
from work.
“I like the small-town atmosphere, as well as the sense of security,”
Elias says. “The faces are familiar and people greet you as if they’ve
known you forever. I love WingHaven because it’s like living in
the country, yet you can walk to the boardwalk and get caught up
with the shopping bustle.”
“We bought our house in WingHaven on impulse,” admits Ashley Radke,
a realtor who sells property in WingHaven for Prudential Patterson
Realtors. “I was visiting a friend, and happened into the model
home. On the spot I loved it, and realized that many of the things
that were important to us as parents of two young children were
right here. We can walk to the grocery store on foot, enjoy the
nature trails, and experience this deep sense of community. Time
is so valuable, and this is how I’d rather spend mine.”
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Seamus
McDaniels Restaurant, a Dogtown transplant, attracts
regulars from the WingHaven neighborhood.
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For Pam and Dan Liston, owners of Seamus McDaniels in WingHaven
and former partners in the Dogtown location by the same name, the
decision to come to WingHaven was easy. “Dogtown is a real neighborhood,”
Pam Liston says. “People are walking around, things are happening
day and night. The same is true here. We have an atmosphere where
people are regulars and their names are practically on the bar.”
Though WingHaven was the first, it will soon have company. Whittaker
Builders is preparing to open the 638-acre New Town in St. Charles
later this year. New Town—located at North Highway 94 and Highway
B—will feature 4,300 residences, a town center, four individual
neighborhoods (each with its own neighborhood center), lakes, canals,
26 parks, commercial buildings, an amphitheater and, eventually,
schools.
“New Town at St. Charles will evoke the atmosphere of the towns
of yesterday with classic city architecture, where everything is
within walking distance,” says Greg Whittaker, president of Whittaker
Builders. By design, every unit of housing is no farther than a
five-minute walk from each neighborhood’s town center. As in any
city neighborhood, residential lofts or apartments will occupy floors
above places of business. Similarly, restaurants and other businesses
will occupy the first floor of office buildings.
For living space, New Town will offer town houses, cottages, one-
and two-story homes, row houses, lofts and detached row houses,
all ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. Lots are smaller because
people are willing to trade large yards for the lifestyle they want,
Whittaker says. Garages will be tucked behind houses that are interconnected
by an alley system, and mailboxes will be located at each neighborhood
center (so people will bump into their neighbors while grabbing
their mail).
“I foresee a lot of small businesses coming to New Town,” predicts
Patti York, mayor of St. Charles. “This is a great opportunity for
a whole new lifestyle. Some people have always liked city living,
but they don’t want to live in old houses.”
Holly O’Brien is a freelance writer based in St. Louis.
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