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FLORIDA idea house
For Immediate Release
March 26 , 2007
Media Contact:
Helen Todd
205-445-5076
Helen_Todd@timeinc.com
SOUTHERN LIVING SELECTS ST. JOE’S NEWEST WATERSOUND COMMUNITY FOR 2007 IDEA HOUSE
WATERSOUND, Fla. and BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – (March 26, 2007) -- Southern Living magazine has selected The St. Joe Company to develop its 2007 Southern Living Idea House at WaterSound, the third and newest neighborhood within The Town of WaterSound. WaterSound is located just three miles from the white sands and emerald waters of WaterSound Beach on U.S. Highway 98, just north of famed Scenic Highway 30A in Northwest Florida.
Slated for completion in May 2007, the Idea House will open for public tours in early summer 2007 and serve as a public showcase for lifestyle and design ideas in the August 2007 issue of Southern Living and for those visiting Northwest Florida this summer.
Inspired by historic coastal maritime architecture, this Looney, Ricks, Kiss-designed Southern Living Idea House combines the comfort of a vacation home with thoughtful features that suit the versatile lifestyles—both social and private—of today’s families.
“We are pleased to be working with St. Joe again this year on what will be another interesting and innovative home design project,” said Bill McDougald, vice president and executive director of the Southern Progress Homes Group. “The location is great for anyone visiting the area or considering a move. They can see all the attributes of a family-focused community come together at WaterSound.”
“The Southern Living Idea House will be located near the hub of WaterSound, known as the Village Commons. This area will offer a family pool and a fitness center,” said Rod Wilson, president, West Florida Region, The St. Joe Company.
The two-story home sits on one of WaterSound’s premier lots, facing the community’s David Love III-designed, nine-hole golf course called “Origins” for both casual and seasoned players. The home’s 3,600 square feet of interior space includes three bedrooms and four baths, plus a bunk room. A spacious kitchen flows into the dining and living areas, which provide wide-open spaces for social gatherings and entertaining. Another 800 square feet is dedicated to an expansive, eight-foot-wide wrap-around front porch with deep overhangs facing open park spaces.
“The idea here is to create both public and private relationships with the outdoors, such as designing the living room to face outdoor park-like amenities, a breakfast room facing the golf course, while the first-floor master bedroom looks out onto a private garden and an alcove surrounded by windows to permit lots of sunlight and pine forest views outside,” said Chris Haley, project manager at Memphis, Tenn.-based Looney, Ricks, Kiss Architects, the firm in charge of the Idea House’s interior and exterior architecture.
The Southern Living Idea House was built by Ridgeland, S.C.-based Haven Custom Homes, a leading manufacturer of high-end homes since 1970. Haven Custom Homes Executive Vice President Stephen Bassett says the new home at WaterSound was produced and finished offsite in 150-180 days versus building it onsite, which would take up to 15 months.
“We can produce homes that are developed in sections offsite in a dry, climate-controlled, indoor environment, which protects the construction from possible inclement weather conditions,” said Bassett. “The entire process is cleaner, less invasive, and more environmentally friendly to build, since it’s mostly built offsite, except for the finishes. Our homes are also built to withstand up to 140 mile an hour winds.”
The Southern Living Idea House project and design team is composed of Greg Gardiner and Darrell White, two St. Joe project managers at WaterSound; Brian Stackable, St. Joe’s Director of Planning & Design, West Florida; Kent Findley, St. Joe’s Vice President of Planning & Design, West Florida; Stephen Bassett, executive vice president of Haven Custom Homes, Ridgeland, S.C.; Chris Haley, project manager, interior and exterior architecture at Looney, Ricks, Kiss Architects, Memphis, Tenn.; and Ann Nordeen Parker, interior designer, project manager of interior architecture at Looney, Ricks, Kiss Architects. The Idea House will open for tours from June 16 to September 30, 2007. More information will be available on JOE.com and SouthernLiving.com. For a complete list of sponsors, please see the August 2007 issue of Southern Living magazine.
About The Town of WaterSound
While not a municipality or an unincorporated “town,” The Town of WaterSound is comprised of three distinctive residential communities set along Scenic Highway 30A and Highway 98 on Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast with some of the world’s most beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. Located in the heart of the Gulf Coast between Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, and accessible from Highway 98 in South Walton County, the three communities draw upon traditions of early 18th- and 19th-century maritime architecture of Nantucket and Newport, with aspects of traditional American town planning: short walkable blocks, neighborhood common areas, scenic paths leading to community facilities, parks and open spaces – all with a style responding to the climate and to the sites’ natural features.
About JOE
The St. Joe Company, a publicly held company based in Jacksonville, is one of Florida’s largest real estate developing companies. We are primarily engaged in real estate development and sales, with significant interests in timber. Our mission is to create places that inspire people and make JOE’s Florida an even better place to live, work and play. We’re no ordinary JOE.
More information about JOE can be found at our web site at JOE.com.
About Southern Living
Southern Living, a premier lifestyle and entertaining magazine of the South and the eighth largest monthly consumer magazine in the U.S. (based on readership), reaches nearly 16 million readers each month and enjoys a circulation of about 2.8 million. Published 12 times a year, Southern Living celebrates the heart of Southern life.
A leader in lifestyle information, Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Progress Corporation (www.southernprogress.com) publishes Southern Living, Cooking Light, Health, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, Cottage Living, and Sunset magazines, and books through Oxmoor House. It also operates a direct-selling division, Southern Living At HOME. Southern Progress is a subsidiary of Time Inc.
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Copyright 2007, The St. Joe Company. “St. Joe,” “JOE,” “WaterSound” and the
"Taking Flight" design are service marks of The St. Joe Company.
“Southern Living” is a registered trademark of Southern Living, Inc.
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