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Wednesday, April 01, 2009
HARWOOD INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR HARWOOD LUXURY HOMES DIVISION
HARWOOD INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR HARWOOD LUXURY HOMES DIVISION
DALLAS, March 30, 2009: Dallas-based Harwood International has launched Harwood Luxury Homes, a new residential division offering custom home building expertise. President Chad Lavender and COO Bob Pavlis have teamed with Dallas-based architect Boerder-Snyder to create elegant homes of substance and refined taste in the newest niche luxury location in Sunnyvale, 15 minutes from Harwood District in Uptown Dallas. The public is invited to join the groundbreaking ceremony at 12 p.m., Saturday, April 4, for the new division’s first development, St. James Park, located in Sunnyvale, Texas (100 Rebecca Road 75182).
The ceremony starts at noon, with presentations by Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, Harwood International CEO and founder, and chairman of Harwood Luxury Homes; Harwood Luxury Homes president Chad Lavender; Harwood Luxury Homes COO Bob Pavlis; architect Will Snyder; and project manager Terri Bowerman.
Family-friendly festivities will start at 1 p.m., ending at 4 p.m. Activities to include: entertainment by 99.5 The Wolf; pony rides; door prize giveaways every 30 minutes, including a giveaway of five Dallas Mavericks tickets at 3:30 p.m.; and light refreshments and barbecue.
For those interested in traveling by car, boat, or bike, Land Rover of Dallas will have the new 2009 Range Rover on site; Bass Tracker Boats will have the new TAHOE Q8i to preview; and four classic cars will be on display. Richardson Bike Mart will display road and trail bikes, as well as maps and additional information about the Hubbard Loop Bike Trail, which runs by St. James Park.
Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce will be in attendance to educate the public about Sunnyvale. Rockwall Harbor, the newest destination for retail, restaurants, and entertainment, will display the master plan model of the Rockwall Harbor amenities at the event.
“With over 20 years of experience in developing exclusive residences, luxury Rolex buildings, and office towers, our superior design and architectural excellence will transfer well into our homes,” said Barbier-Mueller. “And in the midst of the economic downturn – but less than five months inventory in the Sunnyvale niche market and nothing to compare with our quality and design – we’re pleased to announce our new addition to the Harwood family.”
St. James Park, Sunnyvale’s first luxury development, offers two-plus acre estate lots on 124 acres of the managed estate. The development of the home sites began with consideration of the natural environment – pastoral ranch lands with diverse and numerous stands of mature trees, creeks, and lakes. The lots are priced from $270,000 to $400,000, and the homes range in price from $1 million to $2 million.
“With the addition of the Texas Regional Medical Center and the Sunnyvale High School this fall, Sunnyvale will continue to grow, as well as Harwood Luxury Homes,” said Lavender. Currently the largest land owner in Sunnyvale, Harwood’s long term plans are to expand from its present 124 acre development to The Gold Coast which is comprised of 2,500 acres, five minutes from Lake Ray Hubbard.
“Harwood International is a contrarian in the market; we identify underserved niche markets in premium locations such as Beverly Hills, the West End of London, Harwood in Uptown Dallas, and now Sunnyvale,” said Barbier-Mueller. “Harwood started the Centex building ‘spec’ in 1993, in an emerging location, Uptown, when there were 65 million square feet of commodity office space available in downtown Dallas. We saw an opportunity to build quality space with gardens and high-end architecture. The original building plans were to develop 120,000 square feet; but, due to market interest, we doubled the building size, resulting in a 100 percent lease rate.”
Since 1982, Harwood International has committed to the design, construction, and maintenance of socially responsible buildings and greener environments. From energy efficient buildings to pocket parks on future development sites, Harwood maintains green initiatives across the board. In order to continue these efforts, St. James Park was designed to remove the least amount of trees for the footprint of the roadways.
The trees that were removed were recycled to create mulch and to protect the 650 new live oak and magnolia trees that were planted. The central pond and two wells are designed to retain runoff water to recycle for irrigation of the natural landscape. The irrigation systems were designed with a rain sensor technology that uses water in the most efficient manner possible while providing the necessary moisture for landscapes to thrive and grow. Architectural guidelines were implemented to insure that the architecture and landscaping work within the topography of St. James Park’s natural palette, with each home having the ability to incorporate sensible siting and massing, efficient systems, rain water harvesting and eco-sensitive design and landscaping. Harwood Luxury Homes will continue these efforts throughout each development.
ABOUT HARWOOD INTERNATIONAL
Founded in 1988 by Swiss-born Gabriel Barbier-Mueller, Harwood International is a niche real estate developer and value-add investor with offices and projects around the globe in select niche markets in London, Zurich, Geneva, Beverly Hills, and Dallas. Today, Harwood International’s success extends globally with more than $3 billion in ongoing developments. For more information, see www.harwoodinternational.com.
The corporate headquarters is located in the Harwood District in Uptown Dallas. Home to such companies as Rolex, Jones Day, Centex, and Harwood International, the four-building office complex currently showcases more than one million square feet of premier class office and retail space set within a park-like campus with gardens and art-filled lobbies. The last high-rise development was Azure, the 31-story luxury condominium which will share marketing and sales representatives with Harwood Living. Now a 17-city-block district, Harwood District will continue to grow in 17 phases to include over seven million square feet of condominium, office, retail, and residential development. For a guide to Harwood, see www.harwooddallas.com.
