Sanctuary | Life in Balance



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Stockton Record- Sunday, June 18, 2006
Designers take pulse of home buyers

STOCKTON - The wisdom of a village may help raise Sanctuary, a 7,000-home community proposed by The Grupe Co.

Starting in December, the Stockton development company posed the question - What is your sanctuary? - in a survey e-mailed to about 1,200 friends, employees, business associates, city officials, customers and potential customers.

A Grupe team is extracting common themes and unique ideas from the answers to that concise question for possible inclusion in the community, which Chief Executive Officer Greenlaw "Fritz" Grupe says will "celebrate life in balance."

"We look at every response and take it into consideration in the planning process," said Vanessa Kesterson, Grupe marketing director.

Ben Wright, principal of ccintellect, a Denver-based real estate marketing agency, said that the most successful U.S. developers are those who solicit customer feedback.

"The best developers build communities that are in the spirit of the residents who will live in them," he said.

But the survey is as much a marketing ploy as gauge of consumer ethos.

"We want to get the buzz going," Kesterson said.

To keep the buzz going, survey participants receive a bookmark printed with responders' insights and a 132-page journal in which to write further personal reflections.

"Its a thank you gift and contributes to an ongoing exchange of ideas," said Lynn Jackson, vice president of emc, a Danville-based marketing firm that collaborated on the public relations project.

For Rima Barkett of Stockton, whose reflections about sanctuary were recorded by the development company for a promotional CD, the term has external and internal dimensions.

Barkett, who grew up in Italy, landed in this country 13 years ago, opened a downtown Stockton restaurant and in April became a U.S. citizen.

"I lived the American dream," she said.

She also experiences sanctuary as a state of being.

"For me, it's not a place but a feeling I get in my heart when the people around me - my family and friends - are happy," she said.

Barkett's response is one of about 125 gathered thus far, many of which focus on family and home as places of refuge, Kesterson said.

The sentiment may represent not only a localized reaction to Stockton's high crime rate but a widespread reaction to threats - both real and perceived - of life in the new millennium.

In the 1980's, marketing maven Faith Popcorn coined the term "cocooning" to describe the "need to protect oneself from the harsh, unpredictable realities of the outside world."

But for many individuals, the post 9/11 world is an even more frightening place.

As people retreat into their own homes, the word "sanctuary" has been adopted to describe buying trends that allow people to come home and stay there.

The concept of sanctuary is clear in the mind of at least one youngster who answered the survey question.

"A sanctuary is a safe place. My house and my community are safe places to live and grow," said Alec Beattie, 10, whose wish was for a park within walking distance from his home.

If Beattie's family buys a Sanctuary home, then he will likely get his wish: The plan for the community, to be built on a Delta island west of Interstate 5 and Hammer Lane in Stockton, includes 300 acres for parks.

Sanctuary will include a range of single- and multi-family residences, a marina, schools, shops and a working neighborhood farm.

Grupe's vision for the subdivision is touted as a potential model of smart-growth practices that encourage urban and agricultural compatibility.

A draft master development plan has been submitted to the city.

The company - best known in Stockton for its Lincoln Village West, Brookside and Quail Lakes developments - hopes approval of Sanctuary will be gained in 2007, allowing improvements to begin in 2008.

The $3 billion project is slated for completion in 2023.

Contact reporter Michelle Machado at (209) 943-8547 or mmachado@recordnet.com.

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