Seaside, New Zealand?

After touring Seaside, Florida, a New Zealand developer is taking inspiration back home and developing two master-planned communities with garden parks and communal areas. Plans are underway to bring New Urbanism to New Zealand.

1 minute read

July 13, 2006, 6:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg

Developer Patrick Fontein liked what he saw in Seaside. He liked it so much, he's going to build a couple in his home country of New Zealand. The New Urbanist town and other master-planned communities in the United States have given Fontein a wide array of suggestions for the two master-planned communities he is developing. Overall, his trip to Seaside left him most impressed with the "commitment to creating community."

"Hundreds of houses will be built on one site at Orewa (north of Auckland) and another at Taupo. Fontein is developing the two huge plots simultaneously in a scheme which will be one of the country's largest housing programmes."

"Before plans were completed, he hunted through the US to find the best master-planned housing estates and examine the feasibility of bringing the best aspects of those estates here."

"Of the sites he visited in Los Angeles, Florida, Colorado and Oregon, the resort community of Seaside on the Florida panhandle interested him the most."

FULL STORY: Florida township inspires $500m estates

Wednesday, July 5, 2006 in The New Zealand Herald

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