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September 30, 2009

Costa Pacific Communities’ Orenco Station Found to be Friendlier with More of a Sense of Community Than Other Neighborhoods

Award-winning developer Costa Pacific Communities is renowned for designing transit-oriented, master-planned neighborhoods on the cutting edge of New Urbanist Planning. The most current community Costa Pacific has developed under a New Urban Design is Villebois in Wilsonville, Oregon. However, prior to developing Villebois, Costa Pacific saw tremendous success in its award-winning mixed-use community Orenco Station located in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Sociology professor Bruce Podobnik of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, conducted a research study over the past five years about New Urban living, surveying residents living in Orenco Station in addition to three other Portland-area neighborhoods. Two of the well-established neighborhoods were urban – one poor and one middle-class. The third neighborhood studied was a suburban middle-class development of cul-de-sacs. Orenco Station was the fourth neighborhood.

The survey found that residents living in Orenco Station believed their community to be friendlier, that it offers more of a sense of community than other places they have lived, that they walk more often to stores, and that they use public transportation.

According to the study, the percentage of residents living in the other three neighborhoods studied “came nowhere close to saying they were as sociable and community-oriented as those in Orenco Station”.

This survey is evidence that Costa Pacific’s New Urbanist philosophy of high-density, multiple use, walkable neighborhoods can foster more socially connected, healthier lifestyles within urban environments. Click here to read the complete article.

Costa Pacific’s newest community, Villebois, was founded on the same basic New Urban fundamentals. Located near the Westside Express Service commuter rail and plans to feature a town center with retail space and high density housing products, Villebois will soon offer its residents all that Orenco Station has and more.

To learn more about Orenco Station or Villebois, call 866.580.2836 or email Blog@CostaPacific.com. You may also visit www.CostaPacific.com.