Grow partner John Ellis a featured performer in “The Merry Wives of Windsor”

/in , , , , /by

Grow Community investment partner John Ellis is a featured performer in “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” now appearing at Bloedel Reserve as part of its fifth annual The Bard at Bloedel series.

Performances of this timeless Shakespeare farce, co-produced by Bainbridge Performing Arts, run Thursday-Sunday through July 23. Take your picnic blanket and head to Bloedel for an enjoyable summer evening of local theatre! Times and tickets are at www.bloedelreserve.org.

Longtime thespian John was featured in the most recent edition of the Bainbridge Islander, the weekly mail-out edition of Kitsap Sun. Read the story here, or watch the Sun’s video preview of the production online here.

A real sense of “neighborliness” in a community designed to foster closeness, connection and cooperation.

/in , , , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Amelia Parker had been following the work of Bioregional and its One Planet Living initiative for years, since the development of London’s famous BedZED zero-carbon community in 2002.

When she learned that there was another One Planet Community just a few miles away on Bainbridge Island – she was living in Bellevue at the time – she decided to visit and see environmentally friendly development firsthand.

She and her spouse found Grow Community. After speaking with residents, they made their move – to the Juniper building in the new Grove neighborhood.

It’s a real turn toward sustainability from her last home, a 1912 Craftsman bungalow. It was beautiful and twice the size of her current home, she says, but trying to modernize and maintain it was exhausting and expensive. Then there were the utility bills, which were through the roof. Despite making sure she was using cheap light companies, Amelia found that her bills were stacking up. Being such an old house, heating in particular was ver expensive.

“It’s lovely to be in a place where things simply work,” Amelia says of Grow Community, ” and if they don’t, maintenance is on it quickly, where good design minimizes utility bills – large, well-insulated windows make the space feel expansive and reduces the need for lighting – and makes caring for the space simple, so that time can be spent on other things.”

At Grow, she has found a simpler lifestyle, one that de-emphasizes the need for a car, with easy connections to local shops and merchants, and even travel hubs like the ferry system and regional rail.

“For the most part, I can walk to anything I need, including the ferry terminal,” she says. “My car is coming up on 193,000 miles, and I drive so little that I’m in no hurry to replace it. My spouse occasionally needs to travel to Vancouver for business meetings: before, he would have to drive to Everett to catch a train. Now he takes the ferry across and walks to King Street Station. Not having to deal with traffic does a great deal for our mental health!”

She also finds a real sense of “neighborliness” in a community designed to foster closeness, connection and cooperation.

“Last weekend I was out at the observatory with my next-door neighbors, after a thank-you dinner for looking after their cat while they were on holiday,” she says. “We will text one another: ‘I’m going to Silverdale, do you need anything?’ ‘I’ve got too much lettuce: can I bring you some?'”

She adds: “Seeing people from the yoga studio means stopping and chatting in the aisles of the grocery store. I lived in my previous home for 13 years and really didn’t have that sort of relationship with my neighbours; I’ve been here almost 18 months, and it’s very different.”

Does she recommend Grow Community?

“Yes, absolutely.”

 

Nearing Full Flower. A Construction Update – July 2017

/in , , , , /by

Summer is finally upon us, and it’s exciting to see our landscaping really taking off with the turn of another season. Grow Community is lush and green!

Our built environment too is nearing full flower. While we’ve wrapped up the Grove (with just a few units remaining), we are pushing toward completion of the Sage building in the new Park neighborhood.

The Sage will see its first residents moving in the latter half of July, with building completion in August. The exterior work is nearly done and all interior work is well into the last details. Landscaping comes right on the heels of exterior work and we hope to see all sides of The Park getting buttoned up.

The Lilac Townhomes have residents now moving in, and we are excited to see the community filling up in our final phase.

Our new neighborhood hub, the Community Center, is also taking shape with roofing nearly complete, siding soon, and interior work underway over the next week. Even the new planter beds are in place and nearly ready to let people get their plantings going! You’ll see the final site/landscaping work and solar canopy over the next several weeks.

Celebrate with us as we host a “soft opening” for the Community Center, with all-day events on Thursday, July 20. We’ll host a lunchtime BBQ for the construction team, have the building open for those who wish to swing by, and host an evening event celebrating the history of the Grow site and how it will be honored within the center. We truly look forward to sharing our history with the Bainbridge Community.

Sharing our History + Celebrating our New Community Center

/in , , , , , , , , , , , /by

Grow celebrates the progress on our new Community Center with daylong events on Thursday, July 20.

We will be hosting lunch for the construction team, followed by an evening potluck and sharing of the Grow Community site history through many generations. Special guests will share family and neighborhood stories, including a visiting descendent of the pioneer Grow family.  This event will focus on history – no tours of the center or its features will take place, but see our schedule of upcoming events for future opportunities.

11.30am-1pm – Construction Worker Lunch
1pm-5pm – Feel free to walk by and see progress
6pm to 8pm – History Sharing and Potluck

LOCATION: 395 Ambrose Street, in the Park at Grow Community

 

UPCOMING EVENTS:

August (DATE TBD) – Neighborhood meeting on Community Center operations: This discussion will focus on answering questions about the center, understanding its availability, use and operating budget, and hopefully celebrating the certificate of occupancy!

September 14th – Community meeting on Emergency Preparedness. Grow residents are invited to a potluck dinner and discussion of community emergency preparedness. Guest speaker will be Scott James, author of “Prepared Neighborhoods” and Bainbridge Island resident

October (DATE TBD) – Community Harvest & Solar for the Community Center Celebration. Join us for a celebration of the harvest season, pumpkin carving, cider pressing, and official commissioning of the Community Center’s rooftop solar array!

May 2017 Construction & Sales Update

/in , , , , /by

That’s a wrap! With the singular “tall-skinny” unit in the Tsuga now complete, Grow Community transitions away from the Grove neighborhood and into our final phase. But if you’ve not seen that unit – a unique three-story layout, with a spacious outdoor deck on every level, a loft area for a home theater or den, and a private elevator to every level  –  stop in and see what make it so distinct.

Meanwhile, at the Park: The Lilac townhomes have earned occupancy certificates from the City of Bainbridge, with touch up work just wrapping up.  Our first owners will be in by the end of this month –   more amazing people joining Grow, whose homes all front the Park’s signature greenway.

The Sage condominium homes are on pace for completion from early July to early August. Interior work is underway, while exterior siding will be wrapped up by early June.

The Community Center will be taking shape through June with completion of the roof, windows, exterior siding and interior fixtures. We hope to host an event in the building in mid-June as a “soft opening” of the space, and transition control of the building to the homeowner association later this summer.

Landscaping and grounds items are also taking shape in the Park, and a little sun goes a long way. Watch the carpet of green roll its way south toward the Shepard Way end of the project, with construction of our final buildings there soon to follow.

With all these great units coming online, we’re still missing one thing: You. Six beautiful condos are now move-in ready in the Tsuga and Salal, and five townhomes including two spacious 3-bedroom units.

Not ready to buy? Experience Grow Community living in a 2- or 3-bedroom rental unit, now open in the Juniper.
Contact our sales office and see these outstanding units today, and join our community for healthy, happy living.

Urban Land group visits Grow

/in , , , , , , , , , , /by

The prestigious Urban Land Institute held its Spring Conference in Seattle in early May, and Grow Community was both hot topic and host.

Grow welcomed thought-leaders in spheres ranging from development to investment, planning and design, as they came to Bainbridge Island for site visits throughout the conference.

Grow has been part of the ULI conversation since the project began, our community being a case study for creating healthy places, promoting intergenerational living, and integrating sustainability at scale.

Discussion threads running through the week included:

Creating a legacy. Pooran Desai, founder of the organizations BioRegional, which established the One Planet Living Principles, described effort at Grow as a legacy – both for the region, and in changing the conversation around the way we develop future communities. While the project has had many twists and turns, its consistency around creating a place for all ages to be comfortable and live in a more sustainable way is a profound achievement.

Intergenerational living. Visitors from the ULI appreciated Grow’s commitment to developing a community with many varied home types, to give people at every stage of life a comfortable place to live. It marks a change from development patterns often seen in the United States, where we tend to segregate generations, versus other communities around the world that embrace keeping mixed generations together.

Sustainability. Many of the ULI visitors came from places where a push for sustainability is just beginning, compared to the Seattle region where it is becoming the norm. Visitors were impressed by the range of areas where Grow challenged the norm: energy, materials, solar, and open space. Built Green standards allowed us to use a local certification program and consider our efforts from a neighborhood level, integrating our sustainability goals through One Planet Living. Grow gave visitors a model they can follow and incorporate into their own communities.

The Grow Community development team and investors thank residents for continuing to allow for guests like ULI to visit. These visits and conversations plant the seeds for other communities to come. They also provide the inspiration for others to take on the challenges of sustainable growth and living – allowing others to take what we have learned here, and spread the best of what we have for our One Planet.

Grow sponsors new ‘terrestrial’ podcast on KUOW

/in , , , , , , , /by

Grow Community is all about making smart choices for the Earth – how we build and how we live.  Now we’re proud to sponsor the new podcast “terrestrial” on local radio station KUOW, exploring “the choices we make in a world we have changed.” Host Ashley Ahearn travels the country — from ranches in Oregon to churches in Colorado — to bring listeners stories about people making personal choices in the face of environmental change.

Subscribe to “terrestrial” through Apple podcasts, or listen online at here.

Unique 3-story home in the Tsuga now on the market

/in , , , /by

One of our most striking and unique residences is now on the market and move-in ready. The three-story layout offers a majestic vaulted ceiling and loft space over the main living room, with a spacious outdoor deck on every level and a more-than-generous area for a home theater, workout room or den. The home offers 1,700 sf spread over three floors, with its own private elevator for convenience.

View flooplan

Click here to learn more about homes still available to purchase in the Tsuga

April 2017 Construction Update

/in , , , , /by

Spring has sprung at Grow Community, and our second and third neighborhoods are bursting forth.

First, at the Grove: Our last unit (D103) in the Tsuga is a very cool home, is now on the market, and move-in ready. With only five homes left in this building, the time to visit is now! Outside we’re doing some landscaping touchup and tree replacement – after one of our more memorable (read: cold and wet) winters, our plants are taking a bit more time to bud, but they’ll get there soon.

Next door at the Park: The Lilac Townhomes are in the finishing stage with prep for move-in now underway. All major work items are complete, with only cosmetic work left before the final clean. We’ve filed with the City of Bainbridge Island for occupancy, and we should see our first residents here by May!

The Sage remains on schedule for a summer completion. Elevator work, drywall and exterior siding installation are in process, while finish work on the inside (including cabinets) is expected to begin at the end of April. Landscaping throughout the Park will continue through summer.

Linking them all is the Community Center, where framing should be completed this month; roofing and windows will follow soon. You’ll see more activity around the center with the addition of new walks, planters and landscaping. We hope to host an event in this great new space (even during construction) to celebrate its importance as a new hub for our community – watch for an announcement in May!

the Lilac Townhomes bloom for spring

/in , , , /by

Plenty of projects promise a “park-like setting.” Grow Community offers you an actual park. Now selling for spring 2017 move-ins, the Lilac townhomes are designed in harmony with the beautiful outdoors. Each unit opens onto an expansive community greenway, bringing the signature Park right to the threshold of your cozy, covered front porch.

Spacious 2- and 3-bedroom layouts are available (1,320-1,653 sf.), offering open floor plans downstairs and comfortable living spaces above. Homes are rich in natural light thanks to generous windows and thoughtful layouts.

Broad, inviting backyard decks give you plenty of room for summer barbecues, outdoor dinners or just enjoying the sunset. And a solar option is available for all units, letting you harvest all that sunlight for sustainable living.

All parking is tucked away underground (with added storage space), leaving the area around your home open for more natural features, more Northwest landscaping, more quiet pathways … more Park.