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Verrado


The Perfect Example of Building Community: Verrado Case Study


A Small Town is Born

In 1997, Caterpillar, Inc., sought a development partner for an 8,800-acre site twenty-five miles west of Phoenix, Arizona, desiring to build a small town from the ground up. Because the site matched with DMB Communitie's vision for building only on extraordinary locations, we submitted a proposal. In doing so, we recognized that we needed to seek inspiration from the best of small-town America, which proved to be of key importance. After a national competition, Caterpillar named DMB the developer and in May 2002, ground was broken for Verrado.

Differentiating Verrado from Other Residential Developments

We planned Verrado to be a community that is reminiscent of a great American small town, yet in an environment that doesn't neglect modern day needs. At the heart of Verrado is a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly Main Street District, offering the means to attend to the business of life as well as shopping, dining and entertainment. Branching out from Main Street are welcoming neighborhoods with tree-lined roads and shaded sidewalks, plenty of educational opportunities and a variety of exceptional recreational amenities.

Our commitment was to make Verrado not simply a place, but a place where things happen. By partnering with various groups and organizations, we helped accomplish this through celebrations, music and speaker events, marketplaces, performances and parades. Verrado residents feel a sense of unity that comes from living in a true community.

The Planning Process

Our ultimate goal with the Verrado master plan was to promote opportunities for neighborly interaction through elements such as front porches, parks located only blocks from any home and a Main Street conducive to people gathering. Key components of planning Verrado included careful thought regarding: Diverse, integrated land uses, including housing, commercial, recreational, educational and community uses.

  • Appropriate placement for town centers and main streets.
  • Pedestrian-friendly community areas.
  • An environment that promotes personal interaction, with room for hiking and cycling paths, community centers, and neighborhood parks.

Home Designs

We designed Verrado to offer a wide range of housing options, from rental lofts and single-family homes to sites where buyers can design their dream home. To ensure diversity, DMB carefully selected builders based on their innovative spirit and willingness to fulfill the Verrado vision of a fully integrated community with a myriad of living options.

Projected Local Impact

  • We anticipate that more than 15,000 jobs will be created at Verrado over the next 15 years. The community could provide up to four million square feet of commercial property with potential uses as diverse as a company headquarters or a new regional medical center to business offices, restaurants and retail shops.
  • Interstate interchange construction was completed to offer easy access to and from Verrado. We built a brand-new wastewater treatment plant to accommodate the community needs and contribute to the area's infrastructure solutions.
  • A K-8 school, which was designed for 900 students, was completed in time for our first resident children to attend school. Future plans include a high school.
  • Through partnerships with Arizona State University and local school districts, quality learning opportunities will be available to children, seniors, and everyone in between.

Garnering National Acclaim for Artful Planning

Key to the success of Verrado are the relationships nurtured by DMB with the surrounding communities, government agencies and local citizens. A year after its grand opening, the press continues to cite Verrado as an example of an extraordinarily well-planned community that demonstrates growth potential of similar communities throughout the U.S. As a unique and thoughtfully planned concept, Verrado is being acclaimed as a new standard for community development.