Creating The Best Communities In America
In the early 1970’s Sea Pines Company founder Charles Fraser, a true industry pioneer and visionary, reasoned that if people liked visiting his world-renown and highly-amenitized resorts (Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head Plantation, Amelia Island Plantation, and Palmas deal Mar to name a few) wouldn’t they LOVE living full-time in such a superior environment year-round! After purchasing land surrounding a 1700-acre lake outside of Richmond in 1972, he sent a small team of young managers equipped with little but a passion for the Sea Pines lifestyle to make this dream concept of ‘residential resorts’ become a reality. And four years later this initial development, Brandermill, was selected as the “Best Community in America” by the National Association of Homebuilders and Better Homes and Garden magazine. Brandermill was one of the first financially successful planned communities to combine homes with offices, schools, churches, shopping, and a collection of recreational opportunities. The same “Best In America” distinction was subsequently awarded to two other East West communities: Woodlake (1990 by the Urban Land Institute) and Hallsley (2017 by the National Association of Homebuilders), both located outside of Richmond. East West is the only developer in the country that has EVER won three “Best Communities in America” awards!
In the mid-1980s, East West expanded into the Hampton Roads region of Virginia with the Gatling Pointe community near Smithfield. Gatling Pointe set the benchmark for community development in the area, and was a three-time Community of the Yearrecipient from the Peninsula Housing & Builders Association. The Riverfront, the developer’s second masterplanned community in Hampton Roads, continued to raise the bar in community development for the region and has received numerous accolades and awards. Soon after The Riverfront, East West opened Eagle Harbor and Founders Pointe, both in Isle of Wight County and both receiving multiple “Community of the Year” awards from the Peninsula Housing and Builders Association. Founders Pointe features resort amenities and waterfront lots overlooking Batten Bay and the James River. Riverwatch is another environmentally sensitive riverfront property bordering the Piankatank River in Gloucester, Virginia and the newest community, Liberty Ridge in Williamsburg features homes on beautifully wooded, estate homesites just 10 minutes from Colonial Williamsburg.
As a developer, East West Communities has accomplished what no one else has. Part of this reason for this may be because our management team has spent 90% of their homeownership years in our own communities. Simply put, we build the ‘ultimate community’ for our residents…AND our own families!
With each new community, we continue to build on our heritage of innovation and achievement. East West’s imaginative amenities, like Garden Golf™, FunHouses™, SportsGarden™, children’s water parks, Tom Sawyer Island playgrounds, skating rinks, bike tunnels, treehouse playgrounds, playhouse villages, and waterfront amphitheaters, continue to attract new home buyers, and sustain East West Communities’ leadership in the real estate development industry.
Consistent with our strategic approach to development is a commitment to the environment. East West Communities strives to protect the natural resources of the land by careful land planning. Methods we pioneered have now been adopted as industry standards. It’s true our environmental stewardship has garnered numerous awards – but, more importantly, it’s the right thing to do.
