Rob Parker, president of new urbanist community Trilith (trilith.com), speaks on the inner workings of the development and how it has set a new standard of living.

Can you speak on Trilith’s current state of building and development? We’re about 30% of our way through the residential build-out, which will ultimately be 750 homes. We are 50% through the commercial build, which includes restaurants and retail, 263 multifamily apartments and our fitness and wellness center, and then there is a lot more to come, with plans for a five-star boutique hotel and movie theaters in the works.

What makes Trilith special in comparison to other development communities in and around Atlanta? One of the real selling features of Trilith is the true promise of walkability. And when I say true promise, there are a lot of great residential neighborhoods and urban environments where you have access to restaurants, retail, what have you, but to have these ‘city’ amenities in a green space—that is unheard of. So, we are promising you can live in a safe, green, environmentally friendly area, while still allowing you the luxuries of the city, those feeling of connectivity and neighborhood. That is what sets us apart.

How is the outdoors program going to develop? We knew if we wanted to create a place where people could thrive and flourish, then we had to incorporate the outdoors. Creating a basis of health and wellness is what allows us to grow, succeed and feel fulfilled—and that base starts with the connection with nature. Whether it is an activity as committed as forest bathing or something as simple as walking our pedestrian pathways, we find these things paramount. In all, we have 15 miles of trails and lakes, maintained for daily use.

Tell me a bit about Trilith’s live/work model. Our version of the live/work model is really more live, create, play. We don’t even talk about work as work, but as creation—something we were designed to do. We think story and storytelling is the heart of the human condition, and we strive to create an environment in which they can do that, in all professions.

Berkshire Hathaway was brought on to handle the selling of homes. Why did you choose to involve BHHS? There is only a handful of players who could manage a project of this size. Berkshire Hathaway, in addition to their amazing name and reach, committed to providing what we call developer services, a comprehensive marketing approach that was able to give our future clients and residents what they need, and put our name in front of the right players. That was and is very unique to BHHS. In addition, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Georgia put a lot of talent into our project—Lori Lane in particular. The evidence of it is the waiting list we have for our community. We are building as fast as we possibly can, and people can’t seem to get enough.