Home > Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan

Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan

Gettysburg, PA

September 2023
Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
There are some projects that are once in a lifetime, something you hang your hat on, something that defines your career. Amblebrook at Gettysburg is one of those projects. Crown Community Development got the opportunity of a lifetime when they bought the land for this community. Not only is it a beautiful site, but it also has one of those features that you just cannot buy…history. Many from Pennsylvania and beyond grew up learning about and visiting Gettysburg to see the battlefield whose battle helped to end the civil war. Now these same people can retire here. What an opportunity! The team embraced the history and the land to create Amblebrook at Gettysburg, which is around 800 total acres and will have around 2,000 homes (though the team built in the ability to adjust to the market with each phase).
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The community broke ground in 2018 and opened the first models in 2020 with collections from 3 builders. The team started presales from a storefront in town, so that people could learn about the vision for and get excited about the community, which is just one turn off the local highway from the center of town. Beyond the Gettysburg National Military Park, the town has a quaint downtown with a roundabout and historic buildings. While the town has a population of only 7,392, it has amenities and a capacity to serve far more since the town gets an average of 3 million people who visit and tour the battlefields a year. This means small town charm with great restaurants, hotels, and entertainment, which all just adds to the appeal of Amblebrook. According to the developer, the community is primarily appealing to locals from Pennsylvania and nearby Maryland.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The team created an incredible sense of arrival with monumentation and a welcoming statement oak tree at the entrance. A boulevard with banners and hanging baskets on the streetlights winds up to the amenity campus, which is visible from the entry. Beyond the beautiful mature trees on the site, the team integrated indigenous landscaping with a four-season color palette, so there is natural beauty no matter the time of year.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
“More everyday joy” is the tagline for Amblebrook, which inspires all sorts of ideas as to what to expect with the community, and it delivers. The welcome center, as well as the Rock Creek Clubhouse and Fitness Center are grouped in an amenity campus overlooking the entry.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Welcome Center starts with the Heartland Market and Café, which is operated by a local restaurant vendor. It serves coffee, sandwiches, and more for both residents and potential future homeowners. Heartland also sells local products including milk and cheese as well as soup and pot pies. What a perfect place for a meet up and for potential residents to mingle with current residents.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Your own residents are your best salespeople, so help bring them together. A café is a great organic way to put residents and prospects in the same place. The welcome center provides plenty of seating in and around the café for people to stop and stay a while.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Beyond the military history of the area, the community also pays tribute to the agrarian heritage of the land from when they first bought it. The design team integrated features from this farming history into the welcome center like the horse stall doors utilized as decoration on the walls.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Named after the nearby creek that runs through the community, the 24,000-square-foot Rock Creek Clubhouse includes most of the indoor amenities for the community. Bill Sutton from Sutton Yantis Associates Architects designed the amenity campus and Megan Sherwood Designs merchandised it.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Beyond the physical amenities which this feature will reveal shortly, Amblebrook is about bringing people together and helping to build a sense of community. The community marketing brochure encourages people to get “as connected as patchwork squares in an heirloom quilt.” A full-time lifestyle director creates a calendar filled with clubs and events, which means there is always something interesting to do and a way to connect people with similar interests.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Amblebrook has multiple social clubs that bring people together, whether it’s about pursuing passions or personal exploration, there is a club for you: the Gamers (when the intellectual contest is as fulfilling as a win. Or nearly so.), the Epicuristas (for those who enjoy celebrating food and wine with friends), Neighborly (when caring for your neighbors is a way of life), the Explorers (for those intent on seeing more of the world near or far), the Creators (for those who believe that hearts are bound by thread, paint, and clay), and the Movers and Shakers (as if sitting still was ever an option). These clubs tease at what’s to come in the physical spaces in the clubhouse.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Beyond the various activity spaces, the clubhouse includes multiple, beautiful spaces to gather like this great room just off the entry complete with cozy fireplace. Sometimes all you need is a spot for people to gather and organically connect beyond all the schedules and curated community. Don’t forget the simple yet welcoming spaces like this.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The clubhouse includes activated spaces too like the Canvas Studio Arts and Crafts room complete with kiln. This is home to the Creators social club. Megan Sherwood Designs thought about the details and wove in references to the history and the land throughout the amenity campus. Note the postage stamp image of Abraham Lincoln on the ceiling here.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Epicuristas will find their haven in the Nourish Interactive Kitchen, which includes a demo kitchen that hosts cooking lessons where local chefs share secrets and recipes. The space also connects with an outdoor kitchen with a BBQ area and a bar. The team finalized a lot of the amenities during the COVID era, which prompted them to figure out how they could do the lifestyle component in a digital format if needed, so they created the ability to do streaming classes for residents.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Gamers can play a game of mahjong or Scrabble or even billiards in the Indigo Game Room. With its sports bar theme, the space could work well for board games, a spot to watch the big game, or even to host a fantasy football draft.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
While residents are close to a vibrant town center, they can also enjoy watching movies in the privacy of their own theater. This space also shows Ted-type talks and educational seminars, as well as hosts club meetings.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Tempo Lounge brings the nightlife to Amblebrook. Residents can enjoy a night of karaoke or even hear music from the resident Ambleband. The space has a music lounge/coffee shop vibe and includes a small stage in the corner for the performers. While there are concerts nightly and outdoor dance parties at the Villages, Pennsylvania does not have the year-round ability to be outdoors, so spaces like this bring the party even when it’s snowing outside.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The clubhouse also has an “u” shaped BYOB bar with a nearby player piano to for background music as well as large screen TVs.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
This space provides another space to gather and share a glass of wine or play a game of billiards. Nearby lockers are available for residents to rent and store their favorite beverages like wine or scotch.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Community Hall rounds out the clubhouse features. This space hosts many large community events like Friendsgiving or even smaller events like HOA meetings. Residents can also rent out the space for their own events. The community hall is so much more than just a multipurpose hall, the development team brought in a professional stage designer for the space to create a professionally designed performing arts stage including dressing rooms in back and stage lights. Residents can enjoy concerts and even live theater.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The amenity campus also includes the 22,000-square-foot Rock Creek Fitness Center, which includes a range of offerings to support both physical and mental wellness. The resort pool is located just outside of the fitness center.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The fitness center includes a beautiful welcome area, where residents can check in for classes or for a spa appointment. There is also plenty of casual seating for people to gather before or after their workout.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Biophilia is a major trend right now and people are looking for that connection to the outdoors. This space embraces it in so many ways from the scattered plants and living wall to the choice of materials with the warm wood and soothing green accents.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
How can you have “everyday joy” without a healthy body and mind to keep you going? The Fitness Center at Rock Creek Club gives residents the opportunity to find that wellness in a multitude of ways from the fitness center complete with state-of-the-art machines and workout equipment. The colorful lockers and lights bring some fun into the space, while the almost full wall of glass along one side provide gym-goers with a beautiful view to the ridgeline of the Appalachians and a beautiful Pennsylvania backdrop.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Club also has a yoga studio across the hall that hosts classes with a life instructor, as well as offers fitness on demand, so residents can take classes whenever they please.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Amblebrook partnered with WellSpan Health to further support their residents’ health. WellSpans’s involvement includes trainers and physical therapy assistants, mind and body programs, pharmacy services, health screenings, and telehealth and digital services. This makes it easy for residents to get that quick check up or annual flu shot with the convenience of never having to leave their community. The group utilizes some of the spa rooms for their programs.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The spa also provides some more classic spa offerings like massages, a hair salon, and getting your nails done, as well as alternative health offerings like acupuncture. It’s about convenience, but also offering residents quality services.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Club also includes indoor sport courts for year-round enjoyment. These courts can support pickleball and basketball. There is even a large curtain that can be used to divide the space for multiple uses at the same time. The high ceilings and large windows make this feel so different than the florescent lit gyms from high school days.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
While the outdoor pool is open seasonally, the indoor pool provides a space to work out or enjoy the water year around. Amblebrook offers indoor water aerobics classes and there are dedicated swim lanes for laps. The indoor pool area also includes a spacious hot tub that can seat 12 to 15 people (a great place to relax after a workout), as well as men’s and women’s locker rooms and showers.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Amblebrook cares about its residents and wants to authentically present the community in its marketing, so all the people in the photos for the community are actual residents. The marketing team captured the residents’ joy in participating in classes or events or even just going for a dip in the pool. When potential residents check out the website, they don’t see models, they see potential future neighbors.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Amblebrook also has a resort-style outdoor pool complete with plenty of deck space for shaded and unshaded lounging. This pool provides opportunities for fitness with lap swimming or deep-water aerobics. Plus, the nearby artificial turf supports outdoor yoga when the weather is nice. The pool is located just outside of the fitness center, so residents have easy access to the nearby locker rooms.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The lifestyle events extend to the pools too with classes, but also pool parties during the summer months.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Highlights of the outdoor heated pool include the Baja shelf, a crescent shaped niche that provides jetted seating, and a zero-depth entry. The pool area also includes an outdoor hot tub for colder days.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Beyond the lounge areas on the pool deck, residents can also find cozy seating areas to tuck away like this fire pit with views of the nearby lake.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Beyond the indoor sport courts, the community has 8 pickleball and 2 tennis courts. The lifestyle director has brought in professional instructors and coordinated tournaments for the residents. These are just a short walk from the main amenity buildings.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Residents can also enjoy other outdoor games like Bocce or ping pong.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
The Community Hall is bordered by a covered porch that opens onto a large event lawn. Not only can this space be used for formal community functions like croquet tournaments, but residents have also rented out the area for vow renewals. Beyond the event lawn, the outdoor amphitheater is perfect for concerts with its multitiered seating. A second phase, which will wrap up in early spring, will add landscaping and shade to the great lawn.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Harvest House is one of the first things people see as they enter the community, which is home to farmers markets on the weekends. The multi-purpose space is a great venue for a private party or game night. The barn-inspired architecture reminds residents and visitors alike of the amazing food from the area and the farmers’ market celebrates this with fresh fruits and vegetables as well as local venders selling other items like honey or cheese.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Currently there is a temporary community garden, but the developer is adding a more formal space for residents in 2024 complete with tool shed, workspaces, and boxes.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
While the community has been beautifully landscaped, it also includes 770 acres of open space complete with walking trails, riparian forest, and ponds where residents can fish off the dock.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
A trailhead near the amenity campus leads residents farther out into the natural surroundings, but there are also walking trails around the amenity campus and the community. One key feature that is not shown in photos is the Happy Tails dog park. Built into a grove of trees, this space provides natural shade and another chance to connect with nature, all while playing with their fur babies and socializing with friends.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg Masterplan
Currently Amblebrook offers collections for sale by five builders: Caruso Homes, DRB Elevate, DR Horton, Lennar, and Ward Communities. It includes a good mix of public and private and a range of detached homes on lots ranging from 45’ up to 60’ and a duplex by Lennar. These homes are designed for entertaining, while also being energy efficient and low maintenance.
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Amblebrook at Gettysburg

Product type
Masterplan

Consultants

Builders

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Architects

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Interior designers

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Landscape Architects

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Developers

JBREC Consultant

Jeff Kottmeier
Senior Vice President
Washington, DC
jkottmeier@jbrec.com

Location

25 Lively Stream Way
Phone number (717) 345-8150
Region Northeast
State Pennsylvania
City Gettysburg
Zip Code 17325