Remember the kind of neighborhood where everyone’s grandmother seemed to live, at least in the movies. You know, the one with the tree-lined streets, big front porches, and sidewalks where the neighbors would be out strolling. There was a park down the street, and the houses were comfortable, not impressive. Within a few blocks walking distance there was a nice Main Street with shops owned by people that all seemed to know your name. Well that kind of place doesn’t just live in Jimmy Stewart movies; in fact, construction is underway in a traditional neighborhood that is the culmination of the vision of developer Don Rodgers, Sr. and his Creative Development Co. The neighborhood is Park Place, in Cranberry Township.

Over the past two decades, Americans have had an appetite for bigger and bigger when it comes to housing, driving the construction of housing that was in suburban subdivisions rather than neighborhoods. In Western PA, the poster child for this kind of suburban sprawl was Cranberry Township, so it’s ironic that it is Cranberry Township’s municipal leaders and planners who have developed the first residential zoning overlay that specifically encourages the development of traditional neighborhoods.

Park Place is a traditional neighborhood development that is located on 195 acres that lies north and east of the intersection of Rochester and Powell Roads. While the major boundary roads are busy, the location is accessible to a number of side roads that allow access to all parts of the Cranberry commercial district, and the neighboring communities, without having to use Route 19 or Freedom Road. Living in Park Place will be convenient to the hustle and bustle without necessarily having to be drawn into it. And there’s also that park at the end of the street.

Beginning in 2007, Cranberry Township has been giving the former Graham Farm along the Pennsylvania Turnpike a makeover into Graham Park, a community park large enough to serve the sports and recreational needs of all the township’s residents. For Park Place residents, the best part about Graham Park is that the western entrance of the park will be in the Park Place neighborhood, and that the entire eastern boundary of the neighborhood is adjacent to the park. Residents will have direct access to the park’s lake and green space, and then into the ballfield campus via Park Lane, without having to leave the neighborhood. Within the Park Place community itself, there will also be parklets, smaller playgrounds that will literally be in the front yards of some of these homes.

Don Rodgers felt this sense of place was missing in this market. “The beauty of Park Place is its affordability. Typically, new custom home construction in Cranberry is $700,000, but we’re providing a custom home at $299,000,” he said. “We thought there was a niche, particularly in Cranberry, for this kind of affordable style of community. It’s a throwback to the small towns of the 1940’s and 1950’s. It will have more of a village feel instead of a suburban feel.” That village feel has driven the growth of traditional neighborhood development (TND) as planned communities. Perhaps as a reaction to the sprawl and massing of the ‘McMansion’ subdivisions, demand for traditional home architecture and more human scale of construction has blossomed.

Traditional neighborhoods have also benefited from the growing awareness of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable design in new development. These developments put residential lots in close proximity to each other, and generally include attached units and condos. They also have commercial development integral to the neighborhood, often adjacent to housing, and frequently sharing the same building. This proximity allows for comfortable walking to many of the daily stops the residents require, regardless of weather. And residents don’t mind the higher density because the buildings, even the commercial ones, are residential in scale. In fact, surveys of TND neighborhoods consistently show that homeowners feel comforted rather than cramped by the architecture and proximity.

Architecture is playing a prominent role in the single-family phase of Park Place. In Phase One of the community, 56 detached homes and four townhouses will be built by Deklewa Homes and Distinguished Builders. Each of the builders used architects to design homes that were appropriate to the neighborhood and to the characteristics of the lots. “I’m not sure how it will be received in Cranberry, but I really wanted to bring Southern architecture into the homebuilding in Park Place,” says Distinguished Builders partner Dennis Moran. “I enjoy the European Romantic style of architecture as well, so there are lots of arches, and architectural details, and we’ll mix stone into the exterior of most of our homes.”

Moran explained that he had nine different plans designed by a variety of southern U. S. architects. The plans are for units varying from 1,800 to 2,800 square feet. “The lots are narrow and long so we had to work hard at developing floor plans that make use of all the space available,” he said. “What we ended up with are plans that are cozy and comfortable.”

John R. Deklewa is President of Residential Development and Construction, the parent company of custom builder Deklewa Homes. “I think this is the right way to do residential development,” he said. “Devlin Architecture (in downtown Pittsburgh) really put a lot of thought into designing homes that have the amenities today’s buyers want in a 1,800 to 2,400 square foot plan. And the exteriors are just classic American architecture: Italianate and Craftsman bungalows.”

One of the elements that isn’t classic Americana, but is offered in three of Deklewa’s eight plans, is a first floor master suite. Another non-traditional aspect of the Park Place homes will be the energy efficiency. In Deklewa homes, the builder is using insulated concrete form basement walls and one-inch Dow insulation board that is made from recycled materials and provides R-19 to the exterior. The carpeting is 100% recycled material, compact fluorescent lighting is installed throughout the home and low-VOC paints and fabrics are used.

Dennis Moran also modified his early designs to accommodate changes he saw in buyer’s attitudes. “When we had the kickoff for Park Place at Cranberry Highlands, it seemed like half the people we talked to were interested in a house with a first-floor master, or a ranch-style floor plan, so we revised our designs,” he said. Distinguished Builders now offers first-floor master suites in four of his nine plans.

The combination of updated floor plans and traditional architecture are part of what gives Tom Hosack, whose Northwood Realty Services is marketing the community, optimism about Park Place’s success, even in a slower market. “Park Place is so unique to this market in that it’s the kind of place that some people will move to just to be there,” he said. “The breadth of the appeal of the community is what makes it so likely to succeed. The kind of homes and community will appeal to eight or nine demographic groups, so we don’t have to attract a high percentage of any one group.”

Park Place will offer a variety of lifestyle options. In the total of 777 units that are ultimately planned, there are more than 300 multi-family units, 19 live/work units (which will be living over first floor retail or office), 42 townhouses, and more than 400 single family detached homes. Throw in 12,000 square feet of retail space and you have an ambitious development.

Hosack noted that he had a list of interested buyers that exceeded 150 names, and he wasn’t concerned about the economy in the long term. “Don’t forget that this is such a large project that it will take eight years or so to complete, so we knew we were going to encounter the ups and downs of the business cycle in there somewhere.”

Don Rodgers would probably rather be launching Park Place during a boom, but he also sees a silver lining in the downturn: the new home tax credit. “That $8,000 tax credit is going to help get people buying homes again. I know not everyone understands that yet, but the $8,000 is a tax credit, not a deduction,” he explained.

“The thing that’s really going to attract people to Park Place is that it wasn’t done halfway,” says Tom Hosack. “Once Don decided he wanted to do a TND he did it the whole way.”

John Deklewa agrees. “The traditional neighborhood is a great place to raise a family. It’s the right way to establish a strong sense of community from day one.” Deklewa also thinks it’s smart business. “Strong communities are the ones which have lasting value. In 50 years, Park Place will be one of those neighborhoods like Deerfield Manor or Schenley Farms, where everyone wants to live, and where your house sells in five days.”