Keeping it local

On the Treasure Coast, near exit 118 off I-95, I recently discovered a land of "Tradition," a master-planned community in Port St. Lucie with an eco undertaking like none other: the HGTV Green Home Giveaway (hgtv.com/green-home). Michael Carlson, the architect who designed the Spanish-style cottage, tells me this is the first of many lots primed to create a full-fledged green neighborhood. Way to save the world, HGTV! I'm paid to be a Florida enthusiast (and HGTV fan), so I'm tickled to learn most everyone involved is home-grown: There's Carlson of Carlson Studio Architecture in Sarasota; builder Leon Camarda with Core Communities, LLC in Port St. Lucie; landscape architect Scott Davidson of KWD in Delray Beach, and house planner Jack Thomasson, whom I met last year when FTL covered the HGTV Dream Home in the Keys. I'm taken with the roofing technology (high solar reflecting materials and a roof garden), of all things, as well as the natural lighting via clerestory windows above the open living area and the solar tube skylights in the hallway and kitchen. What can I say? I'm a home junkie. Hence why I'm entering this Giveaway contest. Heck, stranger things have happened. Cheryl Smith of Lakeland just won the latest HGTV Dream Home in Sonoma, California! Look for a story on the new HGTV Green Home in an upcoming issue of Florida Travel + Life.