Local developer and meditation leader Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau with her company, Pleasant Acres, plans to turn a 44-acre area of land in Middleton into a neighborhood with homes and businesses almost entirely reliant on renewable energy sources — a Dane County first, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Belle Farm Neighborhood, an “eco/agri/wellness neighborhood,” would include 150 single-family homes, 730 multifamily units, commercial space, a community building, and a child care facility using geothermal energy for heating and cooling as well as rooftop solar panels for all other electric needs. The aim for the project, located between Parmenter Street and Graber Pond on Middleton’s north side, is to achieve net-zero carbon emissions.
Rentals would be market rate; Slattery-Moschkau estimates condos would sell for $375,000 or higher, and stand-alone, single-family homes would sell for $580,000 and up. Among proposed amenities are bike and foot paths, a meditation “outlook,” greenhouses, fire pits, a boardwalk, and a dog park. Under the plan, 50% of the area would remain open space.
The project, Slattery-Moschkau’s first real estate development, would be completed in up to five phases over the next seven to eight years. The estimated cost of acquiring the land and developing the infrastructure is roughly $29 million; construction costs for the first phase of development are placed around $133 million but could vary depending on who bids to develop the properties and the number of custom builds.
