.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} He worked as a crab fisherman in Alaska and studied theater at Northwestern University. He framed houses in California and remodeled them in Chicago. So if you were looking for someone to offer a fresh perspective to residential development in Central Iowa, you might pick Friedrich “Fritz” Trost.

It isn’t just that he avoids building the same house twice. He brings an attitude that seems like a blend of his teenage years in nature-loving Oregon and his 41 years as a preacher’s kid. He doesn’t want to just build houses in his latest project; he wants to develop a community.

“If I was just a developer interested in money,” he said, “I wouldn’t mess with this.”

“This” is a 67-acre parcel that’s eight miles from the state Capitol but doesn’t look anything like the farmland that’s steadily being turned into rows of houses around here.

Southeast of the main part of Pleasant Hill and surrounded by mature trees, manmade Arbor Lake lies 60 feet lower than nearby Southeast 55th Street. “This isn’t typical Iowa,” said Trost, who spent the first 14 years of his life in Iowa City. “With all the variation in topography, it’s hard to get building sites. We’ve got half of what you would normally find in this much space; we’re not trying to cram in as many as possible.”

The centerpiece of the project, the six-acre lake, exists only because previous users of the land had a tendency to do big projects. The International Union of Operating Engineers used it as a training site for heavy equipment operators; with all of that power at their disposal, the guys couldn’t resist building a dam.

Now Grimes-based F.W. Trost & Associates and Minneapolis commercial builder Gary Mulcahy are making their own changes to create The Community at Arbor Lake. A concrete street curves down the west side of the lake. Here and there you see short stone walls on the hillsides; these are designed to hold the soil at drainage points and protect the lake’s water quality, too.

“This is a low-impact development,” Trost said, warming to his favorite theme. “Water needs to go through vegetation or over rocks and get some sun on it before running into the lake. Iowa has some of the worst water quality in the country because we run the water directly into a pipe, and it never gets filtered.”

Phase one has begun with two houses under construction on Southeast 55th, and four more starts are likely in the next month, Trost said. Eventually, he expects to build 166 houses on the site.

It’s the fourth and largest development so far for Trost, who came to Central Iowa in 1993 to put an addition on the home of his father, Richard, now retired after serving as the senior pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Clive. He has completed Hidden Creek Estates in West Des Moines, Eagle Crest Estates in Johnston and Jester View Estates in Granger, the biggest of the three with 36 lots.

A friend in the real estate business told Trost that the Pleasant Hill site owned by Steve Blunt was for sale, and he decided the landscape suited his calling. He and his twin brother, Minnesota architect Derek Trost, came up with the name “Arbor” as they roamed among the trees.

He pictures the future residents coming home from work and then heading out for a walk on the trails he plans to build. Maybe they’ll stop at the gazebo and dock that will be situated on the dam. Getting out to enjoy the surroundings “is one of the main benefits of this development,” Trost said.

Residents will be allowed to catch and release fish; they won’t be allowed to mow right down to the shoreline. You might call that thick vegetation “weeds,” but Trost doesn’t see it that way. Besides filtering runoff water, “it’s like a butterfly garden,” he said.

“I want to leave a legacy that goes beyond profit,” Trost said. “I want to say that I contributed to the community.” The building has barely begun, but he’s already planning neighborhood events and bus trips to a winery and hoping to invite school classes out to experience the natural setting. He said, “I think a sense of neighborhood is more valuable than offering to cut $500 off the price of a lot.”

‘Guts and optimism’

Lee Carper used to spend his workdays at the place as the manager and apprenticeship coordinator for the Operating Engineers, and saw his share of people enjoying the outdoors – young boys, mostly. “We moved out there in (the mid-1970s), and they had more motorbikes than you could shake a fist at,” said Carper, 80, who retired in 1989.

There was a development plan before Trost came along, Carper said. “What they want is a lot different from the original concept, but it’s a good way to develop that site,” he said. “The shade is already there; you’ve got good sturdy trees. I think it’s a terrific place.”

Of course, as Carper noted, “Any time you’re going to invest money on something like that, you’ve got to have guts and be an optimist.”

Trost credits Mulcahy with making the project possible. “I knew him, and he came down from Minnesota and really liked what we’re doing here,” Trost said. “I needed a financial partner because of the scale of this project, and he has more experience. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

The surroundings come at a price, of course. Among the first 37 lots listed for sale, the least expensive is one-third of an acre for $49,245, and the most expensive is 1.23 acres for $101,745.

Years of waiting

The location “had been proposed for development almost eight years ago, but nothing had ever happened,” said Rita Conner, community development director for Pleasant Hill. “For years, it was ‘Is anything going to happen, is anybody going to be motivated enough to take on its challenges?'”

Then Trost came along, first making an impression with his 6-foot-9 frame and flowing blond hair and then proving just how motivated he is.

“The guy does his homework,” Conner said. “Hands-down, he is the most motivated developer I’ve ever seen when it comes to bringing forward a better product. He’s out there all the time; he’s down there with the grader, making him carve around the trees. He’s very hands-on.”

Sustainability is the usual word for what Trost has in mind, but he suggests you could just call it common sense.

“I’ve worked on projects that were all about the bottom line, and at the end I found it kind of empty,” Trost said. “So many things are being done for short-term gain, and we as a country suffer for it.”

Trost does custom woodworking as well as riding herd on developments, taking on projects such as a wood-and-steel altar for the Lutheran Church of Hope. He’s also working to become a dealer in small wind turbines and solar panels, products that he wants to incorporate into his house designs.

“I’m working on a new development that takes everything a step further,” he said. “I can only say, ‘stay tuned.'”