Odyssey Consulting

Odyssey begins work by preparing a development plan. Every decision we make is based on a reverence for the land and for the creation of a commercially successful community integrated in nature, backed by years of experience in land planning and design, public agency approvals, financial feasibility projections, investor relations, marketing and project management.

In addition, the success of our projects is owed to creative alliances designed to achieve shared goals. On an ‘as needed’ basis, Odyssey’s principals may bring in specialists from fields such as community consensus-building, market analysis, engineering, plant biology, landscape design, architecture, sales and public relations. A land trust is involved in many Odyssey developments, as it is often advantageous to draw upon federal and state grant and tax incentive programs designed to protect irreplaceable natural resources.

Upon request, Odyssey will structure a plan to help land owners achieve their real estate and conservation objectives.

The Concept:

Odyssey is well aware that, while most of us aspire to live, work and play in a natural setting, the reality is that life in urban and suburban communities is far from ideal in this regard. Sadly, even when we move to the rural countryside, there are too few opportunities for living with nature. But with the understanding we now have of the necessity of nature to health, and the realization that opportunities are dwindling for us and our children to directly experience natural areas, and the increasing popularity and practicality of home-based businesses and telecommuting, a new back-to-nature movement already has spawned urban and rural developments featuring traditional neighborhood design, village design, green urbanism, conservation design and other innovative methods of land planning and design that are central to the concept of Odyssey. The state-of-the-art of these new developments is not experimental communes but, rather, technologically and ethically-sophisticated human-scale communities that, by their very design, are enhanced by their natural setting.

Odyssey is a for-profit company whose progressive approach generates both commercial success and new patterns for urban and rural residential and commercial development. Odyssey will measure its financial success over the mid and long-term, while managing short-term risk and providing stable rewards for investors.

Odyssey’s design principles do not involve costly up-front amenities such as golf courses or marinas. The primary amenity of Odyssey’s community is well-designed open space, typically including spaces for active recreation such as ballfields, fishing ponds, horseback riding or gardening, as well as passive areas such as meadows or forests for picnicking, hiking or wildlife viewing. With front-end infrastructure reduced in scale by means of clustered development, initial costs and carrying costs are reduced in turn.

Odyssey’s developments are created through long-term collaborations with land owners to alleviate the pressure to make short-term decisions that are detrimental to the long-term creation of community and sustainable financial returns.