June 28th, 2018

If You Care About Where Your Food Comes From, South Florida’s First “Agrihood” Could Be For You

Arden is a 2,000-home planned community based around a shared farm.

Original article by Meghan Overdeep for Southern Living

Say hello to South Florida’s very first “agrihood!”

Arden, a 1,200-acre planned community that integrates agriculture into a residential neighborhood, is currently under construction in Palm Beach County, and families are already lining up for their piece of the farm-to-table pie.

The 2,000-home project from Freehold Communities in the town of Loxahatchee will feature a 5-acre working farm that will grow fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

Arden is one of a growing number of “agrihood” communities to pop up across the country in recent years. Like other similar models, it will boast a pool, community barn, exercise facilities, a lake, 450+ acres of open fields, shops, restaurants, hiking trails and more—and it’s all within driving distance of bustling downtown West Palm Beach.

“It’s the perfect fit for us,” Carolina Jaramillo, who lives in Arden with her husband and three children, told The Sun-Sentinel. “We want [the children] to be able to grow up free, outside, where they can play, go to the farm. The freedom of the outside, the fresh air.”

“And we’re very excited about the vegetables and fruit,” she added. “We can eat what we grow.”

A community representative told Southern Living that the single-family homes at Arden range in price from the mid-$300,000s to the $900,000s.

The first homes closed in October 2017, The Sun-Sentinel reports. About 115 homes have been sold so far among the four permitted builders (Ryan Homes, Kennedy Homes, Lennar, and Kenco Communities).

“It really is intoxicating,” Christopher Leimbach, vice president of sales and marketing for Lennar’s Palm Atlantic Division, told The Sun-Sentinel. “Enter through the gates and you are in this destination place.”