Urban sophistication, small town charm.
Prairie Trail is a 1,031 acre planned community built on the tradition of Iowa’s great neighborhoods. It’s a tapestry of diverse and distinctive homes, neighborhood stores, nearby offices, schools and parks. It is designed to be a walkable development with less traffic, more sidewalks and trails that connect the entire development to the City of Ankeny.
New Urbanism, Planned Urban Development, Traditional Neighborhood
Each of these terms could be used to describe Prairie Trail. Before the explosion of suburbia in the post-World War II era, most people lived in neighborhoods in the bigger cities. These were places where kids could walk to school and you could get a good cup of coffee or go to the grocery store without going too far. These neighborhoods grew to be defined by the people who lived there. In 1962, the term Planned Urban Development first appeared in the San Francisco code of ordinances to describe the way we use the term today, to mean the intentional planning of a development that seamlessly and collaboratively integrates residential, business and municipalities with a professional planning staff and common open spaces. Then the term New Urbanism became popular to describe walkable neighborhoods with a ranging of housing and types of businesses. New Urabanism is strongly influenced by the design styles that were popular before the dominance of auto traffic, sometimes referenced as Traditional Neighborhood Design. Examples include: Stapleton, CO; Mount Pleasant, SC and Celebration, FL.
Prairie Trail is one of a kind.
During the early stages of Prairie Trail, the planning group visited several of these communities to learn more about the process and see how each community had developed.
The group was made up of representatives of Prairie Trail Development, the city of Ankeny, and the Architectural advisor group. Bringing the Prairie Trail vision to life meant determining the unique attributes that would be relevant to this planned development. They wanted to highlight specific and desirable attributes of living in the greater Des Moines/Ames area (a medium-sized metro with approximately 500,000 population) and to capitalize on the uniqueness of what it means to live in Iowa.
The group considered these factors as most important:
- Excellence and integrity in everything we do, which relies on talented people working together to accomplish the same objectives.
- Seamless integration of residential, business, and the city of Ankeny.
- Adherence to an architectural standard that is not easily compromised.
- Green spaces that allow people of Prairie Trail to relax and enjoy their community with easy access to parks and trails.
- An emphasis on sustainability, from the utilization of resources in homebuilding techniques to the overall lifestyle of using less carbon fuels because of the walkability of Prairie Trail.
This is a community that is beginning to be defined by the unique people who choose the Prairie Trail lifestyle.
Please explore our website to learn more about Prairie Trail and if you are interested in living here or locating your business here, contact us at www.info.prairietrailankeny.com.