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NATIONALLY-ACCLAIMED
PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION
DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
TO PURCHASE HISTORIC ALBEMARLE COUNTY FARM
Questions? Please contact Anne Hooff, Payne Ross & Associates
434-977-7607 or annehooff@aol.com
From Fred W. Scott, Jr ... July 20, 2006
The sudden deaths of Robert H. Baldwin and David I. Brown -- they died as their aircraft was approaching Bundoran Farm on June 14, 2006 -- have stunned the Scott family and all of our neighbors. We had all come to admire and respect these magnificent men. They were men with big dreams, and theirs were dreams worth having...
Immediate questions come to mind: Who will take their place?
Charles Adams of Celebration Associates will become the flag-bearer for the Bundoran project, guiding David Hamilton, the in-residence, on-farm Bundoran project manager. Charles (to include his talented partners) has long been a silent partner on the Qroe-Bundoran team and we Scotts have come to know him well. Charles lives nearby in Hot Springs, Virginia, where he leads the Celebration Associates' Homestead Preserve. Their Bath County project rises to exceedingly high standards; it has greatly impressed all who have studied it. We are quite certain that Charles Adams and his partners believe as strongly in the Qroe Farms mission as did Bob and David.
So, are we Scotts worried, now? Our answer remains the same:
"No. Never for an instant; and not at all."
++++++
Earlier, TO MY NEIGHBORS:
BUNDORAN FARM Has Been Sold to QROE FARM
March 3, 2005 ... It is with great pleasure and hope for a bright future that
I report that Bundoran Farm is under contract to be sold
to Qroe Farm, a preservation development company. The terms
are cash and there are no seller-imposed restrictions on
the property. This sale is not conditional on any rezoning.
That’s the same way we Scotts bought it, long ago.
None of the Scotts have any present or future financial
interest in anything Qroe proposes to do in the future,
so I offer here only my personal thoughts ...
The principal owners of Qroe Farm—Bob Baldwin and David
Brown—have impressed me greatly. It is commonplace
for us to receive offers from persons wishing to buy our
property. There are plenty of people who can easily afford
this farm and write a personal check to pay for it; yet
our conversations have rarely gone beyond a polite "No.
Thanks." Prior to meeting the Qroe Farm leaders, I
have met no one who has demonstrated to me the combination
of personal character and a proven track record of land
stewardship so as to qualify them - in my eyes, not
a banker's eyes - as a potential owner of a property we
Scotts have cared for since 1940. Owning and working farm
land can get into one's soul, and it is really important
to me that I pass this place on to someone who cares. The
alternative: an auction sale to (who only knows?) after
my death is not at all appealing after my parents' and my
lifetimes of stewardship.
Bundoran lies in southern Albemarle, on the upper branches
of the Hardware River; its well-watered pastures, extraordinary
landscapes, and mountain valleys provide some of the
most peaceful and pleasant surroundings in this prestigious
community. New owners do represent change - yet they will
surely preserve and protect a large portion of the farm.
Not much will change immediately, except that, eventually,
more people will be able to enjoy – as owners – this magnificent valley in which we are located. My mother
will live in her home for as long as she chooses; I shall
do the same in mine. Our farm employees will continue their
employment under the same agreements as are now in effect.
Our orchard and pasture leases, rental house leases, and
hunt club agreements are all being assumed by the new owner.
Our carriage operations and horse-teamster training classes
will continue and we will remain members of a community
of which we have been a happy part since 1940. In early
August the Albemarle
County Fair opens in one of our pastures. It's a wonderful
family-oriented event. You should come join us there. Big
game hunters will continue to enjoy deer, turkey
and bear hunting as a member of the Bundoran
Hunt Club Just ask our Hunt Club manager Jim
Wynne
Qroe Farm will also step into our shoes
and continue with our neighbors' USDA Forest Legacy application,
which it will continue to support. We have been selected
as national finalists. Our Congressman Virgil Goode is completely
aware of this sales agreement and sees no reason to change
anything in our Forest Legacy application, which he continues
to advocate for FY2006 Federal funding. Of course there
is no way anyone can guarantee that this USDA program will
even exist a year from now.
Why will we stay at Bundoran after the sale? Because we
have confidence that whatever Qroe Farm does with Bundoran,
they will aim for the highest standards of aesthetics and
environmental protection. We appreciate Qroe’s interest
in the continued sustainable management of our mountains
as commercial
hardwood forests and our fertile pastures
for livestock production, mixed with discreet residential
designs. 
We appreciate that they have no plans in place. They don't
drop a street grid on a parcel and start bulldozing. They
begin a project by asking their new neighbors for opinions,
for guidance, for what they would like to see built where
and how; what kind of access, etc. I suspect that we will
all learn fast that these people are refreshing to deal
with.
We live close to the world-renowned
University of Virginia, and this 2000-plus acre farm will
now offer the chance for more people to enjoy our 20 miles
of private horse riding and walking trails
in the valleys
and through the heavy timber, which is spectacular in the
autumn.
These trails are all linked together with plenty of room
for a four-horse
team to pull its way from our
carriage house to a magnificent hillside where a lovely
gazebo
awaits.
I met the new owners several years ago. Serving
on Albemarle County’s Rural Area Focus Group but not
knowing much about real estate development, I began to read
up on rural development projects. My reason? I always noticed
that government could say "NO" but found it much
harder to say "YES" to creative ideas and slightly
out-of-the-box thinkers. Yet these creative projects always
seemed lovely to my eyes; some had to be built where no zoning
existed at all. Seaside Florida is an example.
A few environmental groups had published glowing reports of
Qroe Farm’s magnificent record of sensitive development.
Curious, I traveled to  New
Hampshire to study their work. I was impressed, particularly
so with the large amount of productive lands preserved forever
as commercial forest and productive agriculture, and by Qroe
using protective covenants to define agriculture....not as
a peripheral use, but as the First Priority Use within its
projects.
Cows mooing? Tractors starting up early? Does that bother
a potential owner? Solution? Please locate somewhere else
or don't complain. The farm operation comes first, and if
it does not have a chance to profit, the land will eventually
decline into ugly wasteland. All this is made very clear well
before anyone buys a Qroe home site.
Qroe’s
preservation development concept is explained
in detail here. I am certain that Qroe understands
rural priorities; that farm operations should come first;
houses second. So, Bundoran Farm's several hundred acres of
modern, productive
apple orchard, hundreds of pasture
acres, and magnificent, mature hardwood
forests will, for the very most part, be preserved forever.
Following my tour of Qroe's New Hampshire projects, aside
from an occasional conversation about land preservation and
a casual tour of Bundoran long ago, we have had no relationship.
We had never, even peripherally, discussed a sale until Qroe’s
unsolicited letter arrived quite recently [December 2004]
“out-of-the-blue” offering to buy our properties.
I confess to being utterly astonished at its subject matter.
No specific project plans have been proposed. Qroe typically
spends some time asking neighbors and others for suggestions
before Qroe begins planning a project. We have agreed to sell
our land because we believe that Qroe’s past performance
represents the leading edge of responsible real estate development.
My mother and I both look forward, with curiosity and pleasant
anticipation, to seeing how they will proceed.
We have confidence in Qroe Farms, in Bob Baldwin and David
Brown as the gentlemen they quite obviously are, and we hope
for a pleasant future that includes a warm ongoing relationship
with our new neighbors.
Fred W. Scott, Jr. (this was presented March 3, 2005 to my neighbors and family at my home, just
prior to a public announcement)
FURTHER THOUGHTS: As a minor participant in
Albemarle County's effort to set different rural planning
and zoning standards, I hope that we local citizens will all
watch carefully to see how Qroe approaches this project. My
guess is that there will be valuable lessons learned. Goodness
knows, while Qroe has the absolute right to divide this farm
into 21 acre parcels - as the County by-right rural zoning
recommends today - I have seen these men's faces, appalled
at Albemarle's massive waste of rural land when large lots
are used and fertile land removed forever from production.
I'll take my chances on my assessment of Bob Baldwin's and
David Brown's character and their past records of performance.
Their hard-earned, outstanding reputation is theirs to lose,
so I'm really not worried. At all.
ADDENDUM, December 23, 2005:
Celebration Associates, Crosland Company, and Springs Company join the Qroe Farm team at Bundoran.
Celebration Associates, headed by Don Killoren and Charles Adams, being the two lead executives who built the new town of Celebration, FL, (discussed here by Andres Duany) are joined by William Taylor and his team at the Springs Company of Lancaster, SC., and by Crosland Inc. of Charlotte, NC to add to the strength of the Qroe Farm team.
The Springs Company, together with Celebration Associates, is building the fascinating and very attractive Baxter Village project for the Springs/Close family. Crosland and Celebration Associates are the principals behind the magnificent and sensitive Homestead Preserve project in Bath County Virginia.
Joe Barnes AIA, will be Celebration Associate's primary design liaison for Bundoran. A University of Virginia School of Architecture graduate, he also worked on the Celebration Florida project. Later, with others, he designed a couple of fascinating and lovely projects: East Beach in Norfolk, VA and I'On Village in Mount Pleasant, NC. He recently rejoined Celebration Associates.
I see nothing but positives from Qroe's inclusion of these distinguished businessmen, who--obviously--do not dream small dreams. They clearly strive for excellence in all they do, and we Scotts have great confidence in them.
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