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November 14, 2006
Transplant Claude Monet’s water lilies to Atlanta? Why not, say two developers in the city. A new gated community named Le Jardin, which takes its inspiration from the water garden at Monet's estate in Giverny, France, is now under construction on the southern fringe of Atlanta. The brainchild of developers Brian Jordan, who’s also a professional baseball player with the Atlanta Braves, and Stephen Macauley, the project has been blessed by France’s Academie des Beaux-Arts and the Fondation Claude Monet. In fact, Gilbert Vahé, chief gardener of the estate for more than 30 years, will personally oversee the development of two replica Monet water lily ponds on the site.
“The climate is very different,” Vahé says. “But we’ll have fewer problems than Monet himself had in growing water lilies because [the weather is] far more favorable.” Vahé adds that the Atlanta replica may be truer to the garden in Monet’s time, because tourists have worn down the Giverny original.
NCG Architects of Atlanta is designing the community’s French-inspired entry features, gatehouse, and clubhouses, as well as helping to develop architectural guidelines for the residences. The community will include 167 luxury houses, priced from $1.5 to $6 million, and 800 other residences priced from $350,000 to $1.5 million. Public areas and services are to include two clubhouses, an athletic park named after Jordan, retail shops, and 24-hour concierge service. The 1,100-acre site will also be peppered with large-scale public sculptures commissioned through The Lowe Gallery, by artists such as Richard Hallier, Margarita Checa, and Hans Van de Bovenkamp.
“For me, it was important to create this community where kids can walk around and see beautiful sculptures and beautiful gardens and learn about them,” says Jordan, who is also a children’s book author and the founder of the youth-oriented, non-profit Brian Jordan Foundation. Macauley calls Le Jardin “sort of the anti-golf community,” pointing out that at Le Jardin, the funds that most developers spend on golf courses will be funneled into artistic projects instead.
Tim McKeough
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