Tradewinds Winter Park, Fla.
Propane provides luxury and convenience for second-home buyers from northern markets.
When builder Charlie Clayton and architect Geoffrey Mouen first envisioned Tradewinds, a 7,300-square-foot custom home located in the exclusive Baldwin Park neighborhood in Orlando, Fla., they knew the eventual buyer would expect everything. So they collaborated to create a house where the eventual owners would find no faults or missing pieces—aesthetically or functionally.
Since the neighborhood was off the city's municipal gas main, Clayton chose propane to deliver the convenience and luxury his buyers demand. "It wasn't even a question," Clayton says. "These buyers will accept nothing less than the flame of a gas cooktop or the realism of a gas fireplace, so propane was our first and only choice."
Since market research showed that Tradewinds would most likely be purchased by a second-home buyer from a large northern city, the choice of propane was even easier. "Northern buyers won't purchase a house without gas-fired appliances, especially at this price," says Barbara Koenig, senior vice president of New Broad Street Companies, the agency commissioned to sell Tradewinds. "They want the performance that propane delivers, from the instant flame for cooking to hot water on-demand in the shower."
