Despite ongoing efforts to end the pandemic and challenging times ahead, real estate experts have seen increasing interest in amenities geared towards outdoor living, with water amenities, such as those created by Crystal Lagoons®, toping rankings by industry leaders as well as being highly valued by homebuyers.
During these last weeks, the real estate industry worldwide has been rethinking the vital role of amenities during times of social distancing and how they will accommodate new demands for social connection and lifestyle choices once the pandemic and current measures are lifted.
In an extensive article published by Wall Street Journal reflecting on current real estate trends, the feature reveals how real estate developers have long lured homebuyers with houses along the rolling greens of golf courses, and while some still do, as golf slips in popularity, many are replacing the sport with other attractions such as biking and hiking trails or trendy amenities like food-truck courts, lifestyle directors and innovative water amenities.
In 2019, 90% of the 50 bestselling master-planned communities in the U.S. included significant water-based amenities, according to California-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting. These can range from fishing ponds to monumental crystalline lagoons powered by sustainable technology surrounded by white sand beaches such as those created by Crystal Lagoons.
“Water is a big draw and developers are creative in how they use it,” says research manager at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, Devyn Bachman. A point Craig Singleton, President of the Metro Development Group picked up on at an Urban Land Institute conference back in 2016.
“This is a complete game changer in terms of amenities,” said Craig Singleton, when announcing Crystal Lagoons Epperson project in Florida. Just 40 minutes outside Tampa, the nation’s first Crystal Lagoons amenity has seen constant success since day one, and quickly switched from a resident only lagoon to a Public Access Lagoon™, also known as PAL™ to accommodate local demand for beach life.
In fact, when referring to Crystal Lagoons Epperson lagoon in a recent article by Miami Herald, industry expert, Devyn Bachman, described it as “easily the most discussed major master-planned community in the last decade.”
This revolutionary PAL business model, which allows for countless activities in and around these lagoons, has proved to be a catalyzer for a wide array of revenue streams and is getting noticed by developers in countries on all five continents.
Corporate news