Tour One of the Most Innovative Communities in the Nation!
The National Sales and Marketing Council is thrilled to announce that our 2006 Fall Housing Tour, held Saturday, Sept. 16, during NAHB’s Fall Board, will be of the innovative Daybreak community in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Daybreak is a master planned community currently in development on 4,126 acres near the Oquirrh (pronounced “oh-ker”) Mountains on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley.

Of that impressive acreage, 1,200 are parks and open space — including hiking and biking trails, meadows, sports fields, and a community garden. An eventual 100,000 trees will be planted. Daybreak’s developer, Kennecott Land, says that their goal in creating the community was to make life better “for all kinds of people.”

“The vision of Daybreak is that it provides a place for people to live at every stage of life,” says Vicki Varela, Kennecott Land’s vice president of public policy. “We have homes in a range of prices, so you can move into a town home when you’re first starting out, and then move up as you raise a family, and then be an empty-nester.” The array of homes includes, as Varela mentioned, town homes and single-family homes, as well as custom homes and condominiums. At Daybreak’s completion, estimated to be in about 15 years, 13,000 homes will be built.

Kennecott took the concept of Traditional Neighborhood Design (TND) a step further by carefully studying Salt Lake’s most beloved historic neighborhoods. “We borrowed from the traditions of Salt Lake’s great architecture,” explains Varela. “We went into neighborhoods like Harvard-Yale, Sugarhouse, and The Avenues and borrowed a lot of their unique elements. It created a beautiful street scene.”

The homes are in a wide variety of styles, including Arts and Crafts, Colonial Revival, Victorian, English Romantic, and Tudor. “It’s a wide range of styles, but at the same time, really custom-fit to the Salt Lake market,” says Varela.

Sustainability is also at the forefront of Daybreak’s vision. It’s one of the first communities in America to make every one of its homes Energy Star-rated. It’s also designed to capture 100% of its storm water runoff. The eventual completion of the community’s 2.4 million square feet of retail space, 5.2 million square feet of office space, and 1.5 million square feet of industrial space will mean less reliance on cars, as will the planned development of light rail service and a new major highway.

Getting the word out about Daybreak was more about telling a story than just selling units. “Our marketing campaign resonates with the consumer at an emotional level,” explains Jennifer Hurst, Kennecott Land’s director of marketing. “We have a host of print ads and radio ads that each speak to a different element of the community to hopefully reach a variety of buyers.”

Because Daybreak’s homes are so diverse in price and style, Hurst says it was important to capture a variety of audiences. So not only did they place ads in builder and real estate magazines, but in lifestyle magazines as well. And Hurst says they made sure to look to future buyers.

“Real estate newspaper section ads are great for active lookers, but you need to also capture the attention of those who aren’t quite ready to buy yet, so that they’ll remember you when they are.” The strategy is working: Daybreak’s first completed village, Founders Park, sold 1,000 homes in its first two and a half years.

The NSMC Fall Housing Tour will begin at the Daybreak Information Pavilion (a bus will depart from the Little America Hotel at 8:00 a.m.) with light refreshments provided by Kennecott Land. A quick overview of the community plan will be followed by a short walking tour (about two miles) within the Daybreak community to observe the housing types in their first village, Founders Park. You’ll also see the variety of community amenities woven into the Daybreak Land Plan.

The walking tour will conclude at the new model home area for Daybreak’s second village, Eastlake, which just opened this past summer. All 22 models are located within a pedestrian area, making it efficient for attendees to visit the variety of housing types.

Located in the heart of the Eastlake model home area is a quarter-acre park. A tent will be set up with tables and chairs for attendees to enjoy their lunch and experience the atmosphere of Daybreak before heading back to their Board meetings at 11:45 a.m.

Register for NSMC’s 2006 Fall Board Housing Tour of the Daybreak Community today! It’s sure to sell out! [ return to top ]