| Small-volume Parkwood Homes earned a place among the big boys by building these live/work units at Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Md.h
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For small builders such as Parkwood Homes Ltd. of Gaithersburg, Md., the benefits of being among the first to build live/work units have far outweighed the significant risk of taking on a unique product.
Four years ago, Parkwood owner and CEO Steve Wilcox was one of the few takers on an offering of 13 live/work lots in Kentlands, a groundbreaking New Urbanist community in Gaithersburg. He saw the units as an opportunity to distinguish the company from the pack.
Today, Parkwood is a live/work expert. Despite its size (about 40 closings per year), it has been invited to buy single-family lots in master-planned communities including Stapleton in Denver and Urbana Fields in suburban Washington. Here are Wilcox’s live/work basics:
Beginning with those first 13 units, Parkwood has built and sold 46 live/work units, 30 in Kentlands and 16 in a neighboring New Urbanist community called Lakelands.
