Florida’s new Arbor Grande residential development within the rapidly expanding planned community of Lakewood Ranch offers a number of residents-only features within its gated confines, including the recently added pool and amenity building. This 7,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse and fitness center reinforces the development’s relaxed coastal vibe with a design that draws on Gulf Coast vernacular – including distinctively ribbed metal roofing.

The new development eventually will include 305 single-family homes, designed to promote what developer Lennar Homes calls a “front porch way of life.” This kind of summertime-year-round lifestyle appeal also informs the new clubhouse and amenity building.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Ervin Lovett Miller (ELM) designed both Arbor Grande’s master plan and this new community-oriented facility. The facility includes the main clubhouse, which is linked by breezeways to facility offices, along with a separate covered pavilion. The compound serves as a local gathering place, with a serving kitchen for residents’ functions and a screened-in seating area for taking in the views of an infinity-style swimming pool and a freshwater pond beyond. The 15,000 sq. ft. of Petersen’s 24-gauge Snap-Clad steel roofing panels add more than just the flavor of Southern hospitality in this context – they also serve to visually connect these three separate structures.

“It was the look and the durability of it we liked,” said ELM associate Michael Montoya, describing the selection of zinc-finished Snap-Clad panels for the project. “The siding was board-and-batten, and we wanted to give the building kind of a farmhouse look – metal roofing creates a very crisp look.”

Montoya, who served as ELM’s project manager for the clubhouse effort, said that the firm saw Petersen as a preferred metal roofing supplier. “PAC-CLAD is a product we’ll inevitably specify,” he said. “It has been around for a while and it’s something we’ve used before.”

Installation by the roofing division of Jacksonville, Fla.’s Thomas May Construction proceeded smoothly, Montoya said. Though the pavilion structure took a little extra detailing to address a “Boston hip” intersection of a gabled dormer meeting the hipped roof, the architect calls this a pretty straightforward installation. “Everything went according to plan,” he said.

Montoya said the clubhouse quickly became a cornerstone of the Arbor Grande community. “Residents love it. The project as a whole has been so successful. It was very well executed,” he said.

Photography: hortonphotoinc.com