Urban Infill: Recycling our Communities
Oct. 05, 2015
Call it gentrification or land recycling. Or, call it urban infill. Whatever you call it, Brandywine Homes is making it easier for first-time home buyers to afford the California Dream and be closer to all the urban amenities you want to use.
The pattern of urban development in the United States is undergoing a rapid transformation. For decades, metro areas have sprawled out into increasingly far-flung suburbs. The old center gets neglected, decay sets in, so even more people move away.
But in the last 20 years in Orange County, Brandywine Homes has been changing the pattern with a system of urban infill. Urban infill converts land that isn’t being used to its fullest potential to something new and useful. Whether it’s a strip mall that closed a decade ago or an apartment complex that has seen better days, the land is losing value and destroying the city’s image and tax base. At Brandywine’s Renaissance Plaza in the city of Stanton, the challenge was to take decaying commercial property and create a new residential community.
Urban Infill to Increase City Services
One of the less obvious things that happens when a city center starts decaying is that property values drop. For city and county governments that rely on property tax dollars to pay for basic services like police and fire departments, the loss of revenue either means raising other taxes or cutting back services.
So when a company like Brandywine Homes comes in and creates a new housing development, they are not only offering affordable homes for first-time buyers. They are also making it easier for the community to provide services to all its citizens.
Urban Infill to Clean Up Old Messes
Another benefit of urban infill development is environmental mitigation.
At Cardfiff Glen in San Diego County, Brandywine worked to create a housing development at the site of an old nursery that incorporated local wetlands into the design.
Cleaning up previous environmental issues adds to the development cost. But by removing old buildings that may have environmental hazards, rodent issues, the new development makes the surrounding area a nicer place to live.
Urban Infill to Make Housing Affordable
In Orange County and many other areas of the country, suburban homes are outside the price range that many first-time home buyers can comfortably afford. Brandywine Homes creates communities that are more affordable to first-time and moving up buyers.
With shared amenities ranging from parks and playgrounds to swimming pools, the neighborhoods created with Brandywine Homes are designed for families looking for a place to put down roots.
For more information about urban infill and how it can help you afford a new home, contact us.