Milestones Icon: Prospect New Town

When construction on Prospect New Town in Longmont started in 1996, developer Kiki Wallace and others billed it as Colorado’s first New Urbanist community.

What that means, in simple terms, is that neighborhoods are built to reflect an era before suburban sprawl, with homes that have porches that face the street, alleys and garages behind the homes, and shops, offices and parks that are located a short walk from all of the homes.

And the eclectic mix of architectural styles of homes and businesses sets Prospect apart from the rest of the city’s neighborhoods.

Wallace bought the former 80-acre tree farm from his family to build the neighborhood. He read about New Urbanism in the Wall Street Journal in February 1993 and was intrigued enough to hold a charette in 1994 to share his ideas with the community.

Following that intense period of design discussions, Wallace hired Duany Plater-Zyberk to realize the New Urbanist vision he had for the property. The planning firm, based in Miami, has been nationally recognized for its work in other communities such as Seaside, Florida, and Kentlands, Maryland.

After a little more than 15 years as a neighborhood, Prospect is about two-thirds done. The neighborhood is eventually planned to have up to 585 units of single-family homes, town homes, lofts and condominiums on 340 lots.

The community’s town center includes a grassy park surrounded by shops, restaurants, offices and a swimming pool.

In 1996, Prospect won the Governor’s Smart Growth Award. Houses face other houses across the street in the neighborhood, townhouses face townhouses and stores face stores – just one aspect of why Wallace thinks the neighborhood has been successful. That planning detail is important because it makes people who live in such a community feel secure and comfortable both socially and economically, according to New Urbanist planners.

There’s no shortage of “big personalities,” in the neighborhood. There’s also a broad variety of income levels, and price ranges of homes, and that’s by design, too.

Probably 800 to 1,000 people now live in the neighborhood, and many of the businesses are thriving. Residents can walk to a coffee shop, a sushi bar, a barbecue restaurant, two gift shops, a home décor shop and a liquor store, among others.

on Facebook on LinkedIn