Feb 14 2008
Hampton Lake and Fraser Construction Company of Bluffton, SC received the 24th Annual "Best in American Living Award" (BALA) for the community's Lakeside Village.
The BALA Awards (considered the "Oscars" of the homebuilding industry) are awarded by The National Association of Homebuilders and Professional Builder Magazine. The Platinum Award-winning project, Lakeside at Hampton Lake, earned the top honor in the category: "Best Community Facility, 151 Units and Above". Judges made their selections on six basic criteria including effective use of design, innovative use of products and attention to detail.
John Reed, owner of Reed Development Company, Hampton Lake's developer. Pointed out that Hampton Lake originally had been initially conceptualized as a golf community when research indicated a market saturation of golf communities in the Southeast -- thereby prompting a strategic management decision to move the project in a new direction.
"In essence Lakeside Village and the body of water it serves is our golf course," said Gary Sandor, a partner with Reed Development Company. "The research we did to come up with the various components of the community at large and Lakeside in particular is all due to the invaluable insights we received from interviewing dozens of couples and more than 100 women who were already living or thinking about moving to the Southeast with regard to what they would like to have as an amenity facility if golf wasn't an option."
Perry Wood, President of Wood & Partners, the community's land planner agreed that the entire project was an exceptional feat. "What we did was take a piece of land that was already permitted as a traditional golf course community and re-designed the entire community around a 165-acre, man-made, freshwater lake and a 340-acre nature preserve with a cohesive amenity complex that outdoes most destination resorts."
Joe Fraser, Jr., president of Fraser Construction, who has been involved in building major commercial, residential and recreational facilities in the Carolinas, Georgia and Virginia for more than 30 years, calls Lakeside at Hampton Lake "the finest family-oriented amenity we've ever constructed." Fraser noted that the construction aspect of the project took 13 months, and was completed in May of 2007.
The real heroes of Lakeside at Hampton Lake were, however, according to Sandor, the hundreds of women who gave their input. "Without their candid commentary about the needs of their families and the kinds of things they wanted to experience and enjoy with their grand-kids, we wouldn't have achieved what is now in place."