The very first Crystal Lagoon in the United States is being built in the Metro Places community of Epperson as part of the overall Connected City, the first “Smart Gigabit Community” in the country to be built from the ground up. Crystal Lagoons, known as the “World’s Top Amenity,” are man-made lagoons that use a patented, sustainable technology to allow developers to create and maintain unlimited-sized, crystal-clear lagoons at very low construction and maintenance costs, bringing a Caribbean beach-life experience to master-planned communities around the world.
Metro Development Group is building four Crystal Lagoons in Florida – another Lagoon is planned for the Connected City in a community called Mirada, and another lagoon is planned for the SouthShore Bay and Brightwater communities.
With crystal-clear turquoise waters that span in size from seven acres to more than ten acres, these four man-made, crystal-clear lagoons will be more than 20 times the size of an Olympic Size Swimming Pool and larger than 10 football fields. MetroPlaces residents and their guests can swim, lounge and play with exciting features such as waterslides, jumping platforms, obstacle islands, and will also be able to paddleboard, kayak, and snorkel and even take out small sailboats.
According to an annual ranking of the 50 top-selling communities, Crystal Lagoons have become one of the hot new amenities for successful master-planned communities in 2017. Homebuyers are looking for a healthy, active lifestyle and both Crystal Lagoons and Metro Development Group recognize the consumer demand for communities that extend beyond the home and are environmentally conscious.
Crystal Lagoons technology earned patent protection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Fast-Track Program for Green Technologies, which provides advancement in sustainability. This amenity uses 50 percent less water than a park of the same size, 30 times less water than an 18-hole golf course, 100 times less chemicals than a swimming pool and up to 50 times less energy than conventional pool filtration systems. Moreover, these lagoons can use any type of water including fresh, brackish and salt water, thus removing the need for potable water.
Metro Development Group and other U.S. real estate developers have found that Crystal Lagoons provide real estate developments with substantial quantifiable benefits, such as increases in pricing, sales velocity, and higher rents.
In fact, Epperson has become D.R. Horton’s number-one fastest selling community in the central west Florida market. Because of the Metro Places community’s superior amenity package anchored by the Crystal Lagoon, it is enjoying superior pricing power and sales.
“The Crystal Lagoon amenity is a game changer for the community,” said Darren Saltzberg, D.R. Horton’s Tampa Division President. “With several other new construction options in Wesley Chapel, it is clear the demand we are seeing is directly correlated to the Crystal Lagoon.”
Metro Development Group President Greg Singleton said the response has been “incredible.” There was initially only one billboard marketing the community that generated a wait list of more than 2,700 interested home buyers to live in the community. Shortly after the Groundbreaking Celebration, that surged to more than 3,500 names and it keeps growing.
The new Crystal Lagoon at Epperson joins the company’s portfolio of more than 600 projects in 60 countries worldwide in different stages of development and negotiation. Crystal Lagoons has 15 project announced in the U.S. from Florida to Texas and Nevada with forthcoming announcements planned for California, Arizona, Hawaii and more.
