Amenity-packed home is centerpiece of builders' show
Sunday, March 26 2006, 05:42 AM EST
Contributed by: Emmet Pierce
LIVING LARGE
INDERMERE, Fla. - Reaching for the deep pockets of affluent baby boomers, the National Association of Home Builders has created a dream house for the middle-aged in this suburb outside Orlando.
Billed as The New American Home, the demonstration dwelling was on display Jan. 11-14 at the International Builders' Show.
With America's housing market cooling, builders, designers and suppliers at the four-day exposition in Orlando spent much of their time talking about how to reach affluent members of the baby boom generation. Born between 1946 and 1964, the oldest boomers are approaching retirement age and many are inheriting their parents' wealth.
CENTERPIECE HOUSE
But at an anticipated sales price of $5 million, the 7,367-square-foot home is beyond the reach of most of even these buyers. The two-story dwelling, built by Hannigan Homes of Orlando, was filled with high-end amenities designed to charm buyers. Show organizers said between 7,000 and 8,000 housing industry professionals traveled 12 miles from the Orange County Convention Center to tour the home next to Lake Burden in Windermere.
Builder Alex Hannigan calls his project an "all-about-me" house. Frills include a spa, media room, swimming pool, game room and lakeside boathouse. Covered patios equipped with kitchens and plasma TVs blur the line between indoor and outdoor spaces.
The furnishings have an 18th century European look that ties in with the Caribbean colonial-inspired architecture, said interior decorator Donald Saxon of Saxon-Clark Furniture in Orlando. Saxon placed wooden furniture with a "heavy" look throughout the dwelling. "I used large-scale furniture and a minimal amount," he said. Many windows were covered with thick draperies.
From a distance, the large front facade and 30-foot-tall entry tower signal that this home is a mansion.
The entry leads to a winding grand staircase of Brazilian cherry wood with a crystal chandelier overhead. Hannigan said he was trying to create "a sense of arrival."
If stairs are an obstacle, visitors can take an elevator to the second level. Off the downstairs kitchen, abutting the outdoor swimming pool, is an open-sided, roofed gallery. The 44-foot-long pool separates the beige-and-white house from the lake and the boathouse. The dwelling has five bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths and garage space for four cars. A separate, one-car garage has been equipped with a workbench and cabinets to serve as a workshop.
The main kitchen features granite countertops and a large island work area. The color of most countertops is tan, but the top of the island is pale red. Saxon said he made it extra thick "just to give it a real beefy flavor, a real heavy look." The island countertop is supported by large, carved columns.
The kitchen features a tile floor of earth tones. Brown wooden cabinets have green accents.
One of the house's attractions is a combination laundry and hobby room on the second floor. It covers about 100 square feet and includes shelving and counter space. Saxon said he was proud of the colorful porcelain floor, which he fashioned in tiles of blue, rust, green and cream.
Hannigan equipped the home with plenty of space for reading, games, or just relaxing. The covered ground-floor patio next to the kitchen encompasses about 460 square feet, he said. It flows outside to a paved area of about 25-by-70 feet near the pool. Occupying a half-acre site, the house is surrounded by a lush green lawn. Among 15 mature palm trees is a 24-foot-tall Canary Island date palm near the front door. Flower beds of roses and gardenias provide color. Underground sensors measure the moisture in the soil and control the lawn irrigation system.
The house has other high-tech features. It's equipped for wireless communications, said Danielle K. Antoszeski, a spokeswoman for the designer, WCI Communities of Bonita Springs, Fla. "That means it has the highest speed Internet access available. It's wireless Internet and it's accessible throughout the house."
Despite its size, the house is relatively long and narrow. Hannigan said he wanted to make sure there was a view of the lake from almost every room.
When the home is sold, occupants will have nearly everything they need within the master bedroom suite. It's equipped with a small kitchen, laundry, bathroom and walk-in closets. There is a built-in stainless steel coffee machine made by Dacor. The GE refrigerator has a wood-faced door that allows it to blend in with the room's cabinetry.
A showpiece of the master bathroom is a Kohler Co. whirlpool bathtub. Water drops into the tub from a faucet in the ceiling. It doesn't splash the delicate draperies that hang nearby. "We tried it," Hannigan said with a laugh.
Next to the master bedroom is a "spa room" equipped with a massage table. There is no workout or exercise room. The first floor of the home features a large guest suite that was designed for aging parents or "boomerang" children who return home as adults. Isolated from the rest of the house, the suite would allow guests to live in privacy.
This year's New American Home is the first in the program's 23-year-history to be almost entirely wheelchair accessible, Hannigan said. The home has a zero-step entry, which means wheelchair users don't have to navigate stairs. Doorways were made wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs. Countertops and showers were not adjusted for use by wheelchair users, however.
Hannigan said he wanted to give the house a "wow" factor. Perhaps that's why some amenities are less practical than visually appealing. An example is the home's office, which has a 22-foot-high ceiling and a loft library that is reached by a narrow spiral staircase. Some windows in the room are located near the ceiling, making them difficult to reach for cleaning.
During a tour, Jesus "Chu" Nova, one of the architects, called the library "an element of curiosity we built into the home." Hannigan acknowledged that having a loft library seems to contradict his effort to make the house accessible to people with physical disabilities.
"That is the only area of the home that you will not be able to get to" in a wheelchair, he said. "We envisioned this as the new breed of baby boomer. They aren't ready to sit in a rocking chair. We wanted a sanctuary where they could go and read, a nice secluded area. "Because of high energy efficiency, the home was certified as "green," or environmentally sound, by the Florida Green Building Coalition. The windows are impact-resistant, meeting wind ratings for hurricane areas. They are coated to filter out ultraviolet light, allowing in sunlight without sending indoor temperatures soaring. The walls are made of concrete masonry that insulate and reduce temperature swings. The shallow depth of the house improves cross-ventilation when the air conditioning is off. After it is sold, the house will become a working laboratory. During its first year, the temperature and humidity will be closely monitored by Integrated Building and Construction Solutions of Pittsburg. The research will be used to shape future homes, Hannigan said. No single house can include every innovation. Despite the abundance of sunshine in Florida, the home was not equipped with solar power. "We never really thought about that," Hannigan confessed. "We were trying to display products for different manufacturers. The home is kind of a committee-built type thing."
If the house seems overloaded with design features, there is a reason, the builder explained.
"There is a cultural change" among affluent buyers, he said. "People are now more inclined to spend their money on a detailed home. They are called jewel boxes."
Although Hannigan was the builder, dozens of companies contributed products, materials and supplies. Head architect John Orgren of WCI compared a visit to the house to checking out futuristic cars at an automobile show.
"It has all the bells and whistles," Orgren said. "Like a car show, a lot of those features will trickle down and make their way into the production line. I work for WCI Communities, a big production builder. This was a chance for us to show off what we do every day in a custom setting. A lot of the technology you could put into a smaller home. It gets you thinking. You see the possibilities."
High costs and over-the-top features are part of the reason people visit such homes, said Denver architect Michael Kephart, an expert on home design who lectured during the conference. "People enjoy touring those large expensive homes that most of us can't afford." The display house served as the centerpiece of the builders' show. The massive exposition drew more than 105,000 housing industry professionals from around the nation, organizers said. Those who weren't interested in home tours found plenty of other attractions. Many people crowded into large display halls to check out home products ranging from no-slam toilet seats to the latest in audiophile gadgetry.
The toilet seats were equipped with dampeners to slow their descent. Visitors to the Kohler Co. exhibit lined up to drop the lids and watch them land silently.
At the Sony booth, sellers talked about "Wall Station," a remote-controlled device that includes a radio and a CD-DVD player. About the size of a portable CD player, it was designed to be installed on walls to replace larger electronic devices. Its faceplate can be painted to blend in with home decor.
Tim Sullivan, a real estate consultant based in San Diego, said the show had something for every niche of the housing industry, from corporate executives to "the guy in Kentucky who is building 10 homes a year out of the back of his truck."
Some attendees focused on professional development, taking part in seminars. Topics included tapping into the boomer market, addressing the spiritual needs of buyers and making homes more visually appealing.
Newport Beach, Calif., architect Jeff LaFetra, who came to the show to lecture on homes that are both attractive and functional, said affluent baby boomers are more likely to downsize than buy sprawling dwellings like the New American Home.
Many favor the type of high-rise condominiums that are reshaping the skyline in many areas, he added. It's all about keeping things simple.
"I think you are going to see a new generation of accommodations," LaFetra said. "Cut the maintenance. Try to live on one level. Simplify life."
Hannigan, 57, who proudly proclaims himself a boomer, holds that his generation isn't ready to scale back. "We're an active group of people," Hannigan said. "We are going to go as fast and hard as we can for as long as we can."
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