Forbes.com, January 9, 2023.
As study after study confirms, there’s simply no end to the benefits humans derive from being close to nature. Exposure to greenery has been shown to lower stress levels, improve eye health, inspire greater creativity, enhance sleep, sharpen mental focus, provide more energy and engender in folks a deeper commitment to staying fit, among many other benefits. Add it up, and a home address proximate to frondescence has been found to deliver the greatest benefit of all: Those who live close to nature live longer lives, as compared to those residing a distance from natural surroundings.
It’s no great stretch, then, to find the newest status symbol among luxury home buyers may be the ability to live within steps of protected lands. Today’s luxury buyers not only seek high-end features and finishes and exclusive amenities, they also desire living experiences that aren’t found elsewhere, and will remain pristine.
Developers are responding with properties that deliver a “last chance opportunity” to live on last-of-its-kind real estate, offering unprecedented access or placed on previously undeveloped parcels of terra firma.
Panther National, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
Being unveiled late this year within the private high-end community of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. is the first modern, luxury South Florida golf course community of its kind. The development will be dotted with 218 custom estates designed by acclaimed environmentalist architect Max Strang, next to a Jack Nicklaus-crafted golf course.
Surrounding the development is the 2,400-acre preserve Avenir Conservation Area, which serves as a wildlife corridor linking a number of natural preserves extending from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Okeechobee.
Set aside as a preserve by the Avenir community, it’s undergoing a restoration that will bring back historical native Florida ecosystems. “Panther National’s vision puts environmental sustainability at the forefront of everything we do,” says Dominik Senn, founder and president of Panther National. “We’ve found many of our buyers appreciate this close proximity to nature, and consider the bordering conservation area a key selling point of the Panther National Community.”
