Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/833937
I n this instance, that mind belongs to Kim Saunders. After a 30-year tech career, Kim set her sights on bettering the way we live, complete with smaller footprints and bigger spaces in which to plant those footprints. Saunders speaks with cool conviction, her passion evident as she describes what drew her to such a noble pursuit: "I want to do something that brings value to the community; something that allows more people to enjoy the benefits of this incredible environment we live in. And have a place that feels like home that I can share with other people, as well." Saunders wants more people to get out and enjoy their surroundings, while at the same time helping to protect those chirping birds and beautiful lake-view vistas we too often take for granted. And hey, having a bigger shared backyard may just get more people to know each other, to hang out and eat and laugh and live together. You know, like an actual community. On a once unassuming tulip farm now sprouts this new and exciting community-minded complex. It's cool, it's green, and it's right in the middle of it all. "It all" being one of the most in-demand locations in a region that can't expand fast enough, in a state destined to be the epicenter of cool and candescence. Tech is still king around these parts and that, in part, continues to feed into many of our new transplants looking for homes anywhere they can find and afford them. Saunders knows the language of these worker bees looking for a place to call home. "I look at this like the second startup that I've ever started," Saunders says, her background sneaking into the thought process. Her Farmhouse elevator pitch includes unloading expensive and annoying maintenance issues and getting away from a philosophy of more is always more. As she puts it, "You can have a bigger space when you need it, but you live…in a much smaller footprint, which is the reality of the way we live today." Sounds perfect for generations both new and established, tired of not finding what they're looking for. 29 SUMMER 2017 master builder