Abacoa has sold 525 homes since it opened

Abacoa has sold 525 homes since it opened in the summer of 1997. “Our home sales have picked up, because all of our amenities are falling into place,” says Nader Salour, president of Abacoa Development Company. In a large- scale TND like Abacoa, all of the aspects of the project feed off of one another, he adds. With the town center underway and the university open, Abacoa is able to build more apartments. An additional 325 units are scheduled to be under construction this spring. Abacoa was master planned by some of the biggest names in the New Urbanism — Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, Calthorpe Associates, and Elizabeth Moule & Stefanos Polyzoides. The project’s strengths are offset to a degree by compromises in the plan. Transportation agencies mandated oversize roads that create pedestrian barriers, separating neighborhoods from one another and the town center. This flaw could be mitigated by traffic calming measures.