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Spring is Here Groundbreaking Very Soon It's been a spring of sunshine and birdsong. And snow and wind. In a word, fickle. We've woken up on more than a few days to a blanket of fresh fallen snow. And we've delighted in many days of warm sunshine, with the kids squealing as they get to play outside in the Village Green, crocuses sprouting up, and adults enjoying their first gardening, tennis, and pickleball of the year.  Red Wing Blackbirds taking advantage of a free breakfast this morning after waking up to 4" of fresh, spring snow. It's a very special spring this year as we are preparing to break ground on 14 new homes here at Heartwood. As construction draws near, there's been a noticeable surge in excitement. Just this week, we welcomed two new Phase 2 Homebuyers: Lailah and Jenny. Lailah is joining us from Madison, WI, where she serves as a death doula and spiritual-care provider, volunteers in a home for unhoused people receiving hospice care, writes poetry, hikes, and practices Zen buddhism. Jenny comes to us from the Seattle area, craving community and close connection with nature. Heartwood certainly fits the bill, but she'll have to get used to all the sunshine here. She raised triplets at Winslow Cohousing so knows the benefits of community life. Like so many people attracted to cohousing, they are both introverts. We are thrilled to welcome two such wonderful people to our community: Lailah and Jenny. With only four spots left in Phase 2, you will want to jump into action if you've been yearning for a life of close connection with neighbors and with nature. Tomorrow (Saturday, March 15) at 3:00 MT time, we are hosting a virtual tour. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about our community, see our beautiful little slice of paradise, meet community members, and have your questions answered – all without having to actually make a trip to Heartwood. To register for tomorrow's virtual tour, click here. Because creating a cohousing community takes such a long time, it means that while we celebrate wonderful new people, we also inevitably end up grieving the departure of some wonderful people. Bruce and Nicole & Jazz have been part of Phase 2 since 2021, but as the years have dragged on obtaining county approval, their lives have shifted and they are now not in a position to relocate to Colorado. We wish them the very best and hope for many visits and possibly a life change that would allow them to become our neighbors one day.  Site map of Phase 2 showing the homes and lots selected by our 14 future Phase 2 homebuyers and the four lots we still have available. Recent Progress All of our work these days has a single minded focus of breaking ground this spring. Our architect and engineers are finalizing home designs. Close attention to design details will result in super high quality, high value, energy efficient (ZERH certified), fire-hardened, and beautiful new homes. We recently held a hybrid meeting with Phase 1 members in person and Phase 2 members on Zoom to prepare for construction and welcoming 14 new households into our community, bringing our total to 38 households. There was palpable excitement as we are now on the threshold of making this dream we've been working on for so long into a reality. This week we entered into a pre-construction contract with Sutter Homes, our builder. We have also secured construction financing and are working on construction insurance. We continue to work with the County on ever more permitting. Big, important pieces are falling into place. As the project intensifies and in preparation for construction, we have hired a great new Assistant Project Manager, Colton. Colton has an engineering, project management, and construction background. He's motivated to learn about state of the art green building and will be a tremendous asset to help us build Phase 2. Because we have so many people interested in very few remaining spots in Phase 2, the Membership team this week created a new policy to ensure fairness as people scramble to grab those last spots. It's called our 21 Day Grace Period and you can read about it on our Phase 2 Homebuyer Commitment webpage.  The Path Ahead We are continuing to prepare for groundbreaking this spring, which means we are working hard to attract the last four Phase 2 homebuyers. And we are planning a huge celebration – Phase 2 groundbreaking and Heartwood's 25th birthday. The celebration represents our simultaneous nature of being a close-knit established community and also a newly forming community. We'll share info about the big party once we've nailed down the date of our groundbreaking.  Pickleball season is back! On one of the most beautiful tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts you're likely to find. Getting Involved - Why join Now? There are currently no homes for sale in Phase 1 and only four spots left in Phase 2. Whoever commits next to being a Phase 2 Homebuyer gets their choice from the four remaining lots (see map above). Up until we break ground this spring, we are offering a $5,000 Early Bird Credit (discount off your home purchase). If we have any available lots when construction begins, we will have to decide which home model to build on each of those lots. That means that anyone joining Phase 2 after that time will only have the option of taking a specific model on a specific lot. Joining now means more choice. And maybe the most important reason to join sooner rather than later is because we are only building 14 more homes. Once all 14 spots are taken, the opportunity window will be closed. There will not be a Heartwood Phase 3. Besides checking out our website, short of coming for a visit, the best way to explore community life at Heartwood is to attend one of our Monthly Virtual Tours. The next one is tomorrow (Saturday, March 15) at 3:00, MT time. Yours in Community,
Mac Phase 2 Project Manager
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