The Next Big Thing In Housing: The "citizen Vacationer"

Citizen vacationers are in search of second homes that let them feel like they're part of something bigger. Not only don't they want strangers for neighbors, they want to live in a place where-shades of "Cheers"-everyone knows their name well enough to say "hello" in the morning.

It's a concept developer Neel Bennett has long understood. He's been turning beachfront property held by his family into a new vacation community in Florida's Emerald Coast, called The Towne of Seahaven. When complete, this community will have a distinctly villagesque feel to it with a mix of architectural styles evocative of Key West, magnolia plantations, Florida cracker and the South Seas.

"The site has been in our family for three generations," says Bennett. "When my great-grandfather bought the land, people told him he was crazy. Why would anyone want to buy sand?"

But it seems his great-grandfather was on to something. Nestled safely in a hurricane-free alley in Panama City Beach, The Towne of Seahaven features about a quarter-mile of white sand beachfront along the emerald green Gulf of Mexico.

Vacationers to The Towne of Seahaven will soon be able to wander the intertwined pedestrian walkways that will lead them from their homes to the town center. There they'll mingle with neighbors, visit a bistro or boutique or relax in the spa. There will even be wine festivals and other events planned specifically to help the citizen vacationers get to know one another-even if they live there for just part of the year.

The community's first beachfront-view occupants are expected in late 2007. When totally complete in the coming years, as many as 4,000 units-many of them beachfront property-are slated to have been built. Somewhere between those times, one local expert is predicting we'll surely see another hallmark of the citizen vacationer proved right: "It could easily be their preferred address," says Calvin Kilpatrick of Playground Destination Properties Inc.

For more information, visit www.ownseahaven.com or call (877) 636-6550. "Citizen vacationers" covet village-like communities to serve as their second homes.

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