American Dream Jells at SVCC

Charles Reaves didn’t build a place for people to live by developing Shadow Valley Country Club. He built a lifestyle.

From its signature 16th golf hole known as “Double Cross,” to the baby-stroller traffic on its curvaceous sidewalks, this $250 million west Rogers enclave is what some sociologists would call a quintessential upscale community.

Everything about the 514-acre development is centered around personal interaction, family activities and building a sense of belonging for a modern mobile society. Unlike some gated subdivisions that scream “exclusive,” Shadow Valley is a study in “inclusive” behavior.

Only two years after home construction began at Shadow Valley, 331 of the 338 lots in the development’s Phases I-III are sold. Three days after setting the remaining number of speculative homes at 37, Reaves had to ratchet that total down by 10.

Steven Worden, a professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas and a published authority on communities, said Reaves’ success is no surprise given the project’s concept. This is no ordinary championship golf course and, (yawn), supper club.

The development’s homes, which average $375,000-$400,000 in price and 3,500 SF to 3,700 SF in size, are clustered together in mini-neighborhoods like Brooklyn brownstones. Only these European-style, stone- and brick-clad digs incorporate inviting green space with the bond-building closeness of their culs-de-sac.

At the center of Shadow Valley, where 100-foot changes in elevation create equally hypnotic views from tee boxes to kitchen windows, is a palatial, 40,000-SF clubhouse. It serves as base camp for a remarkably diverse roster of activities.

There are tennis leagues for all ages. Five sets of tees on the golf course make it adaptable for virtually anyone’s game. There is an elaborate menu at the 220-seat Shadow Valley Bar & Grille, the wildly popular fitness center, social clubs, a ravenously read community newsletter and possibly Reaves’ best touch — a children’s lounge where ages six months to 12 years can also hone their instinct for interaction.

About the only folks who appear as active as Shadow Valley’s scores of frenzied construction crews are the club’s more than 300 social and 160 golf members themselves.

“Sharks are adapted to swim and birds are adapted to fly,” Worden said. “If there’s anything that human beings have a built-in, biological predisposition for it’s to be around other people. We are just social creatures.”

Shadowing Growth

Reaves, general partner of C.R. Reaves Family Ltd. Partnership, which owns the development, said at least a social membership ($85 per month, $1,000 initiation fee) is required of all residents. That policy, he said, is designed to attract only homeowners who want to be involved with their neighborhood on more than a passive level.

Golf memberships are $275 per month with a $5,000 initiation fee, and tennis is $145 per month with a $2,250 initiation.

Reaves said a development like Shadow Valley works best “where there’s a lot of people moving into a new area.”

“The strategy is geared toward making it easier for people to become involved in new activities for all members of the family,” Reaves said. “If you build one of these somewhere without a great influx of new people, I’m not sure that it will work.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Benton County grew 57 percent, from 97,499 people in 1990 to 153,406 in 2000. That’s 4 percent more than predictions even by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. A variety of a more recent special census and economic statistics show a continued immigration to the county.

Reaves said 75 to 80 percent of Shadow Valley’s lot buyers moved to Northwest Arkansas in the last few years, most having only previously visited on business. The majority are executives moving up the ranks at the area’s Fortune 500 sweethearts or with the suppliers who serve them.

“What we really want, of course, is to be around people who have some kind of similarities to us,” Worden said. “People look for compatibility in communities, where their neighbors share the same read-only values. Those are our unalterable understandings of the world that people have, and we seek out others who are going to sustain those same values and beliefs.”

Worden said Shadow Valley’s affluent clientele probably share the ability to live most anywhere they’d like. They’re also likely to put a premium on things that make for well-rounded children and teenagers, he said, such as education, achievement, family and career.

Fitting In

Rich Reaves, general manager of Shadow Valley and son of its developer, said busy professionals moving to Benton County are often heavily wrapped up in work. It’s a big selling point to know the rest of the family will be able to plug right in and meet others with the same interests right away.

“We try to make that transition as easy as possible,” Rich Reaves said. “If you go to a men’s tennis social, for instance, you know that 53 other men are going to show up for it. You’re immediately hooked up with other people who are similar to you.”

Ken MacDonald, director of sales for the Sterilite Corp.’s Wal-Mart sales team, said when his family moved in from Boston two years ago they shopped for the right place to build. They narrowed their choices to two gated communities before a tour with Charles Reaves prompted a Shadow Valley purchase just seven days later.

“What really sold us was this was going to be a relatively younger crowd, with younger families starting out,” MacDonald said. “Coming from Boston where the property values are a lot higher, you would have to have a very, very good job there to live in a place like this.

“With all the golf and tennis and activities, when we talk to our family and friends back home they say, ‘What did you do, strike oil?'”

Another Shadow Valley buyer, Cameron Smith, might be the development’s best advocate. The president of Cameron Smith & Associates Inc. in Bentonville, Smith moved up from Fort Smith nine years ago after his executive recruiter business tapped into Benton County’s retail vendor community.

At that time, Smith said, he found 48 national sales teams using local offices to serve Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Today, he has seven full-time recruiters who work to keep the retail giant’s more than 9,000 vendors (with offices here and elsewhere) adequately supplied with human capital. The company’s Web site, www.csarecruiters.com, is undergoing a face lift, but Smith said it typically averages 15,000 hits per month from people looking for information on the market.

Through its “Northwest Arkansas best in class” section, CSA Recruiters recommends Realtors, bankers, insurance companies and places to live for newbies to the Bentonville boom.

“Lots of companies that are coming down here will contact us,” Smith said. “Maybe they need to move a team or one person in, or find someone who already knows Wal-Mart and can hit the street running. We help them figure that out and how to find places like Shadow Valley.

“My family and I liked it so much, we moved to Shadow Valley three weeks ago ourselves. Every morning, I look out the window and feel like I’m on vacation.”

Faux Finishes, Real People

Shadow Valley, which starts less than three miles west of the Pleasant Grove Road/Interstate 540 interchange and sprawls a mile west to Arkansas Highway 112, will also have a commercial element.

Charles Reaves said about 10 acres at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 112 and the future west end of Southgate Road have been earmarked for businesses. Their primary aim will be to provide services desired by the residents of Shadow Valley, although the growing Cave Springs corridor will also offer some opportunities.

Charles Reaves climbed the corporate ladder at Sears Roebuck & Co. from 1962-1994, eventually becoming CEO of its wholly owned subsidiary Sears Logistics Services Inc. He uses an exclusive list of six builders at Shadow Valley, and his Web site, www.reavesenterprises.com, has links to access examples of their work.

The average home price at the development is $100,000 more than what Reaves said he expected when the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal interviewed him in 2001. He said that’s primarily because of the specialty granite countertops, tile floors, upscale lighting fixtures, faux finishes and other investments residents have made to their homes’ interiors.

Reaves said he tells buyers that if they’re considering building a 3,000-SF home that’s a little less nice, or a detailed 2,800-SF version, to go with quality over quantity. He said those trends, plus fairly low interest rates, make him believe future home sizes and prices at Shadow Valley will continue a similar course.

Townhomes and chateaus, Shadow Valley offerings sold with total exterior maintenance included, have been another success. They didn’t sell as fast initially, Reaves said, but lately that segment has taken off.

Chateaus, he said, are what most people would consider as a “villa,” “patio home” or stand-alone, zero-line lot residence. If the development winds up with 900 housing units, Reaves said he expects as many as 200 townhomes and chateaus.

The additional components mean even more empty-nesters and retirees will have options at Shadow Valley, too.

Worden said the social identity created by society’s classic communities, the towns where people were born, once produced a certain bond that people still seem to want to share. Now they are moving from those social identities to establish personal identities.

People are choosing the community they wish to participate in, Worden said, so their identity construction is a more calculated one.

“The question is can a community of choice really hold people and demand something of them the way classic communities did?” Worden said. “I would say that cities like St. Louis and Detroit are emptying out because the new suburbia is the American dream. We want to be unique in that sameness.

“People want their freedom and autonomy, but they also want it within a predictable sphere that they can choose.”

Golf is Good for Challenging Self

Steven Worden, a professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas, said the allure of golf for successful people is about more than relaxation. It’s the only sport where the competition is yourself, he said.

“Golf is a way to establish a personal identity,” Worden said. “It allows you to compete on a level playing field where you can distinguish yourself and enjoy yourself in your own way.”

Shadow Valley Country Club’s 7,101-yard course has been identified as more challenging than others by the United States Golf Association.

The USGA gives Shadow Valley a 75.2 rating, meaning its about three strokes harder than its peers for even a “scratch” golfer. It’s slope rating is 139, on a scale where the standard is 113, meaning it’s hillier than most. Mercy comes in the way of five sets of tees.

The greens are bent grass. The fairways are zoysia grass. The 609-yard, par-five No. 16 is typical of the course’s aesthetic appeal. It’s crossed twice by Osage Creek (hence the dual-meaning nickname of “Double Cross”), tees off near a rock bluff and ends on the course’s smallest green, a 4,032-SF thimble of a target.

The course, where green fees are $65, isn’t Shadow Valley’s only arena for personal achievement.

Rich Reaves, the club’s general manager, said by the time the golf course opened in April 2003, the clubhouse had already been open for some time and tennis had taken off. Last year, Shadow Valley’s tennis leagues produced four teams that went to the UTSA’s Arkansas state championships.

One ladies’ team at the 2.0 rating level won state, the men’s 3.0 team were state finalists and Shadow Valley’s men’s 4.0 team won its division’s state title.

Other amenities at Shadow Valley Include

– a 3,000-SF activity pool plus a children’s play pool and outdoor spa

– a 2,250-SF fitness center staffed by exercise scientist Bruce Williams

– a 3,000-SF children’s lounge is available for children ages six months to 12 years when a parent is also at the clubhouse facility, and that service is overseen by Tori Johnson, the club’s assistant general manager.

– seven tennis courts, including three indoor, and a diversified league affiliated with the United States Tennis Association system

– a banquet room that can accommodate 150 people and may be reserved by members on a first-come, first-serve basis.

– a 1,600-SF retail golf shop that’s already being upgraded.