Farm-to-Front-Porch Community Redefines Modern Neighborhood Living in This Southern Metro

Developers are finally eschewing suburban sprawl in favor of denser, walkable communities, but one Atlanta man created his own strollable paradise long before it was trendy.

"One hundred years ago, walkable communities weren't unusual in America," Steve Nygren, founder and managing partner of Serenbe, tells Realtor.com®. "But now, with suburban sprawl, they are."

Located in Chattahoochee Hills, 40 minutes from downtown Atlanta on the southern tip of Fulton County, GA, Serenbe is a masterplanned community that prioritizes nature preservation, biophilic design, and wellness.

Biophilia is "the theory that there is an instinctive bond between humans and other living systems," says the Serenbe website. In more practical terms, it generally means incorporating nature into design.

The community was "created as a model to demonstrate that preserving green space interlaced with agriculture, housing, and retail is not only economically viable, but the future of community well-being," says the website.

At Serenbe, 70% of the surrounding nature was preserved, while the rest was open for the development of residential, retail, and commercial buildings.

"People thought I was crazy when I started this," says Nygren. "But post-pandemic, there's a better understanding. Many began reevaluating their lives during that time."

Creating Serenbe

Back in 1991, Nygren was a successful businessman and hospitality entrepreneur who owned 36 restaurants in 18 states. He and his wife, Marie, and three young daughters, ages 3, 5, and 7, took a day trip to the country that ended with him spontaneously buying a 60-acre farm for about $280,000.

"I couldn't believe there was that much open space so close to metro Atlanta and it was at a price I could afford," he says.

He soon found out that despite his daughters having everything they could have wanted in their big Ansley Park house, including a "Barbie room," the kids preferred to hang at the farm where there was nothing to amuse them on a rainy day but puzzles.

"It was a different lifestyle," he says. "The family was together in a much different way."

Three years later, Nygren decided to leave the rat race, sold his business, resigned from various boards, and settled into the country, tending an organic farm and buying more animals and land.

"Life was great," he says.

Paradise lost—and found

One day in 2000, Nygren and one of his daughters returned from a jog to find a bulldozer tearing down trees near their property line. Panicked, Nygren began calling neighbors to find out what was happening.

As it turns out, one of his neighbors had sold some property for an airstrip. Determined to save more of the area from a similar fate, over the next three weeks, Nygren managed to snap up 600 additional acres at $1,800 to $2,600 per acre.

But eventually, he realized this wouldn't be a long-term solution, nor could he afford to buy up all the southern end of Fulton County. He would need a better plan.

Enamored of the English village of Selborne, where he and his family visited every summer, Nygren became determined to create something similar with the land.

"It was so charming," he says of the village in Hampshire, famous for being the home of naturalist Gilbert White. "It's there I learned about land laws and common footpaths. How there is always a pub and food market in the little village. It's such a nice way to live."

In the quaint English hamlet, Nygren noted what was missing in American suburbs—a true sense of community, of knowing all your neighbors, of having communal gathering spaces, and a mixed-use neighborhood with no need to get into a car for daily tasks or social engagements. And, mostly, having an abundance of wild nature to enjoy right outside your door.

Over the next few years, Nygren spearheaded a collective of 500 landowners that encompassed 40,000 acres, all agreeing on a similar approach to future development.

He had to use every ounce of diplomacy he had—along with his wife's ability to bake fabulous desserts for their frequent meetings—to get everyone on the same page.

Finally, in 2002, there was enough landowner consensus that county commissioners unanimously passed a zoning overlay allowing for development that would preserve an astonishing 70% of the existing land.

"It's quite an achievement to bring English land law to a property rights southern state," he says. "All the professionals said it couldn't be done."

Life at Serenbe

Nygren felt compelled to be the first owner to use his land as a model for what could be accomplished.

In 2004, Serenbe broke ground with 40 lots. Texas A&M architectural professor Dr. Phill Tabb, an expert in biophilic theory and the English village system, created the master plan.

"We respond to the topography of the existing land to determine where the roads, paths, and buildings should go," Nygren says. "It's being in relationship with the land, rather than a plan that imposes itself upon the land."

Today, Serenbe has 800 finished homes with 1,500 residents spread over 2,400 acres.

Homes start in the mid-$600s and go up to $5 million. Condos start at $450,000 but aren't often on market (currently, the three available are only for lease). There are also live-work properties combining residential and retail spaces.

The houses are a dizzying array of architectural styles ranging from farmhouses and English-style cottages and Victorian mansions to columned Southern estates with front porches to glass-walled, cutting-edge modernity.

The prices reflect the desirability of the community. Chattahoochee Hills, where Serenbe is located, has a median home price of $950,000, well over the $799,000 median of upscale Atlanta suburb Johns Creek, which is similarly focused on nature and wellness.

Serenbe also stretches over the county of Palmetto, which has a much lower median price tag of $340,000.

Amenities at Serenbe include a 25-acre organic farm that supplies five farm-to-table restaurants, 20 miles of nature trails, edible landscaping with blueberry bushes at the crosswalks, community herb gardens, weekly farmers market, cultural events and workshops, pop-up markets, boutiques, horseback riding, and communal activities like potluck dinners and cocktail parties.

HOA fees are approximately $1,800 a year and don't include property taxes.

Nygren insists there is no "typical resident," saying that residents include everyone from teachers and firefighters to Silicon Valley techies to Hollywood celebrities.

Last year, "Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus and his partner, actor Diane Kruger, listed their Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Serenbe house for $3.85 million. It sold for $2.9 million.

Demographics range from retirees to young families, with 300 children (including Nygren's seven grandchildren). The community has its own cradle-to-cap (baby to high school senior) school. Nygren is proud that the Serenbe kids, running free along the trails and playgrounds, hardly ever see a car seat.

"There's not one recorded sign of asthma," he says of the children. "Which is statistically impossible in the U.S. We don't have lawns, so we're not spraying chemicals everywhere."

He also notes the lack of obesity in the residents, crediting access to fresh, organic food and no fast food restaurants anywhere in sight.

Sandra Storrar of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby's International Realty, who sells homes in Serenbe, lived there for almost 17 years before relocating in 2021.

She says she "very reluctantly" left because she wanted to downsize from her three-level house to a single-level ranch. "Three flights of stairs were doing me in," she says.

Serenbe's smaller plot sizes that focus on preserving nature dissuade larger, single-level houses.

Storrar settled in a community only 10 minutes away, so she could return frequently to Serenbe, visiting old friends and partaking of community events.

Asked if she would return permanently to the community if she could find the perfect one-level home, she says, "I would go back. Absolutely."

"It's a very special place," she says. "Very unique."

Her wish may come true. In 2026, Serenbe will break ground on a 7-acre aging-in-place campus with one-level living.