Client/Developer: Duke Realty Corporation

After more than 30 years of building the full array of stand-alone building types, Duke Realty Corporation, seeks to create a sustainable community that shares the values and traditions of its people. The new town of Anson presents a unique opportunity to embrace the landscape, the natural resources, the charm of the land and its people. It is a chance to set a standard of development that leads the way to better growth. Not since the turn of the century has a community been developed that truly integrates the needs and wants of the people within the natural environment.

Vision
The vision for Anson is to create an exemplary sustainable community. Sustainability is defined as meeting everyday needs within the community, making it possible for residents to live, work, shop and play without relying on their automobiles. While the automobile will be accomodated in Anson, this will be a multi-modal community with a connective street network, which offers residents and visitors the choice to walk. The physical form of Anson is about placemaking. A collection of great streets and public spaces, which encourage civic participation, relationship building, and a sense of vitality, create a framework for the natural development of true community.

Anson’s park space will be a regional amenity connected to the rich network of existing greenways. The focal point of the plan is a spine of nature that organizes the town center, and serves as a community gathering place. A canal and commons modeled after the grand canal in downtown Indianapolis runs along this spine. This central open space is part of a regional greenway, connecting  Anson to other communities. Horse stables and trails, walking and biking trails, and a variety of active and passive open spaces will be equally accessible for local residents and regional visitors. Neighborhood parks, scaled for more intimate public gathering, are located throughout the community as well.

Anson Mills
The new town's namesake, Anson Mills, was a native son of the county and grew from a sound agrarian foundation to become a pioneer and progressive thinker respected for his opinions. Mills was a renaissance American: an accomplished surveyor, builder, civil engineer, army officer, inventor, diplomat, author and philanthropist. Anson served the Union in the Civil War without missing a day of service. As an inventor, he created items with international applications; as a builder, he constructed numerous and efficient buildings; and as a surveyor, he laid out the first plan for El Paso, Texas, and gave the town its name.

Above all, Anson Mills was a progressive thinker, who advocated for women’s suffrage, supported the rights of enlisted men and participated in organizations for world peace. He was, in essence, a man who searched for social harmony. The new community of Anson, named in honor of Anson Mills, embraces the respect of nature and community that Mills exemplified throughout his life.