A friend up north pointed out an ongoing series by Bob Shaw at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Shaw is documenting -- in narrative fashion -- the changing of a century-old farm into a yuppie subdivision.
The tagline: "This is part of an extended series about the development of a $1.5 billion suburban community. The stories began in 2004 with the final harvest on the historic Brandtjen Farm in Lakeville and will continue until the first residents move in."
Here's his latest installment: Kim Berge didn't think she was doing anything important.
All she did was walk up some steps, take off her shoes and shoo her family into a model home.
But in doing so, she became the first prospective buyer to tour the first three model homes at the $1.5 billion Spirit of Brandtjen Farm project in Lakeville.
To please people like her, the builders developed houses unique to the site. They struggled to follow design rules for a new type of house: the modern luxury farmhouse. They plotted newfangled neighborhoods designed to bring neighbors together and spent tens of millions on the effort.
If Kim Berge — and the thousands who follow during this month's Parade of Homes — liked the houses, then the trailblazing project would be a success. The designs would be reproduced hundreds of times at Spirit and copied widely elsewhere.
But if the models bombed, sales would stagnate. Builders would be forced to build more ordinary houses in more ordinary neighborhoods.
"This is a scary time," said Rob Wachholz, project manager for Brandtjen's developer, Tradition Development of Edina. "We are nervously patient."
Find more from the series in the paper's archives (registration required).
Pretty cool idea, no?
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