Parker Development Company has been building award-winning master-planned communities in the Sacramento area since 1956. About 120 trophies and awards are on display in the company’s El Dorado Hills offices for everything from best-planned communities, to environmentally sensitive land use, to innovation in the use of recycled water. But if the awards themselves don’t convince you, visit some of the communities. Chronologically, your tour would begin with Greenhaven in Sacramento’s Pocket Area, the first master-planned community in the state capitol and the first built around a manmade lake. The pride of the late Harold Parker, who founded Parker Development Company in May 1956, Greenhaven won the National Association of Homebuilders award for the country’s best-planned community in 1962. Today Greenhaven remains a prestigious place to call home. In 1976, Bill Parker took over as President of Parker Development Company and, following in his father Harold’s footsteps, went on to build a number of high-quality subdivisions in the Sacramento area. Most notable is Riverlake, a prestigious community with gated, private streets in the Pocket Area. Fast forwarding to present day and moving east along Highway 50, Parker Development Company duplicated Greenhaven’s success by winning the same best-planned community award in 1997 for the gated master-planned community of Serrano in El Dorado Hills. Serrano, which was chosen over nearly 800 other contenders across the nation for the award, was designed as a tribute to its setting, which encompasses some of Northern California’s most beautiful landscape. Bill Parker, who grew up in Contra Costa County and earned a degree in economics from U.C. Davis, found Serrano’s terrain reminiscent of the rolling hills of the East Bay. “I knew that if we created a high-quality community in El Dorado Hills it would appeal to upscale homebuyers from the Bay Area,” Parker says. In developing Serrano, Parker capitalized on the natural contours of the rolling foothills that afford commanding views throughout the 3,500 acre community, while earmarking some 1,000 acres of land, including mature oak groves and natural creeks, as preserved open space. Bill’s brother, Jim Parker, joined the company in 1986 as Vice President. A Stanford University alumnus with an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Jim is in charge of sales and administrative operations. “Honesty, integrity and caring about both the people and the land is good business,” Jim says. “That’s what’s made Parker Development Company so successful.” Industry statistics back up his claim. According to Folsom-based The Gregory Group, which compiles new home statistics, Serrano was the No. 1 best-selling master-planned community in Northern California in 2004, a year in which more than a dozen builders were actively selling new Serrano homes. Today, as Serrano slowly begins to approach build out, there are four communities now selling with two more to open this summer. And Bill Parker’s hunch was right: Many buyers cashed in on their Bay Area homes to buy into the beauty and serenity of Serrano, and these buyers now comprise more than 50 percent of Serrano residents. In addition to its natural beauty, Serrano boasts walking trails, parks, greenbelts and a private country club and golf course that’s attracted players ranging from the first President George Bush to pro-golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez, who called the course “the prettiest project in California.” Serrano Country Club was named the Best Public/Private Recreational Facility in the Western United States and Pacific Rim at the 1997 Pacific Coast Builders Conference. Over the years, Serrano has been recognized for its work in protecting natural resources. In 2005 alone, the master-planned community received two such awards: an Award of Excellence from the National Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of Parker Development Company’s efforts to save trees during the development process; and an Award of Merit from the WateReuse Foundation for its pioneering use of recycled water not only in Serrano’s common areas but for residents’ yards. No discussion of an environmentally friendly community could be complete without mentioning The Parkway, a Parker Development Company master-planned community in Folsom. This family-oriented community was designed to preserve and enhance natural resources and open space around the Humbug-Willow Creek nature corridor, with 230 acres of open space and miles of hiking and bicycling trails replete with interpretive signs. The Parkway has received numerous awards for land planning, wetlands mitigation and environmental sensitivity, plus was named 1998 Master Planned Community of the Year by the Building Industry Association of Superior California. As a good neighbor, Parker Development Company contributes to the well being of the larger community, supporting a wide variety of groups, such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters of El Dorado County, local Boys & Girls Clubs, local chapters of the YMCA, the Crocker Art Museum, and the Marble Valley Regional Center for the Arts, just to name a few. In Folsom, The Parkway teams up with the Folsom Parks and Recreation Department each year as the title sponsor of "Folsom's Run with Nature at The Parkway," a 10K and 5K footrace, and also sponsors a series of themed nature walks. The events take place along the tree-lined nature trails that wind through the master-planned community. These efforts and many more have not gone unnoticed. In 1996, the Sacramento City Council passed a resolution honoring Parker Development Company for its contributions to the greater Sacramento area’s economic development, its contributions to schools and community activities, and in recognition of the quality and innovation of its communities. Also in 1996, Parker Development Company was named Business of the Year by the Folsom Chamber of Commerce. Parker Development Company and its developing venture Serrano Associates, LLC, has become a major employer in El Dorado County, evolving from a small family venture based in Sacramento. Today, approximately 65 people work at the Serrano Visitors Center at 4525 Serrano Parkway in El Dorado Hills. This includes engineering, sales and support staff for Serrano and The Parkway, plus employees of the Serrano El Dorado Owners’ Association, a separate entity. Other Parker Development Company divisions located at the Visitors Center are involved with property management and home building – Parker Development Company is both a community developer and a home builder. In fact, in 1997 the company was named Builder of the Year by the Building Industry Association of Superior California in recognition of its “Destinations” series of homes built at Riverlake, The Parkway and Serrano. The company also won a Design Excellence Award from the Central California/Nevada chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers in 1996. Up the hill from the Serrano Visitors Center, the private Serrano Country Club, which offers golf, swimming, tennis, exercise facilities and fine and casual dining, employs about 100 people on a fulltime and part-time basis. “Parker Development Company is dedicated to providing the finest quality neighborhoods to its customers, while playing an active role in the community as both an employer and a good neighbor,” says Bill Parker. “We will continue this tradition for generations to come.” |
