Serenbe Stories

Before there was a community full of people and families, there was just "the farm" and the Nygren's. Garnie, Kara and Quinn Nygren join Steve Nygren to talk about what it was like to grow up in the woods and to tell stories from their childhood. They talk about their first jobs at Serenbe, how it changed when people started moving in, and their journeys away and then back to Serenbe as adults. Questions AnsweredWho are Garnie, Kara and Quinn Nygren and what roles do they play at Serenbe?What was it like to grow up in Serenbe before it was a full community?What were Garnie, Kara and Quinn's first jobs at Serenbe?What are all the jobs each of them has held?How does Garnie Nygren remember the iconic "bulldozer moment?"What brought each of the Nygren daughters back to Serenbe?People + Organizations MentionedCamp SerenbeLittle AcornsThe Farmhouse Woodward AcademyCornell UniversityUniversity of Colorado BoulderBlue Eyed Daisy Serenbe Real EstateUSA TodayBiophilic SolutionsThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Not many people find their career path at 18, but as soon as Steve Nygren saw how the restaurant business worked he knew he was in the right place.Questions AnsweredHow does a hospitality guy end up placemaking in the woods?Why was Steve Nygren the right person to create a place like Serenbe?How did Steve go from bus boy to maitre 'd in one summer? What brought Steve to Atlanta?What was different about the Stouffer's Hotel in Atlanta?What was Steve's Big Splash marketing campaign for the Atlanta hotel?What is a "Fern Bar"?How did the Pleasant Peasant change the restaurant scene?What led to Pleasant Peasant first expanding?How many Pleasant Peasant restaurants were there?People + Organizations MentionedMary Mac’s Tea RoomMazza GallerieMerrill LynchNeiman MarcusNestleOmni HotelPennsylvania Development AuthorityPhipps PlazaSaks Fifth AvenueStan TopolTiffany’sAnsley ParkAtlanta BeltLineAtlanta Conventions & Visitor’s BureauBob AmickCentral Atlanta ProgressColony SquareDan SweatDick DaileyDick MyrickDogwood FestivalEmory University HospitalGeorgia Hospitality AssociationHome ParkIBMLord & TaylorMargaret LupoMargaret MackenzieThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

What exactly is the Serenbe Institute for Art, Culture and the Environment and why did Steve Nygren start it? The first arts program, AIR Serenbe, an artist-in-residence program, kicked off the Institute, with big plans to fund a pottery studio. There was early success with the residency but no permanent home, artists stayed in resident’s extra bedrooms or garage apartments. Since then Serenbe partnered with Auburn University’s design build architecture program, Rural Studio, to build two dedicated artist cottages on the Art Farm at Serenbe. Since then, the Institute has grown, introducing Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre in 2017, a Serenbe Fellows program, Serenbe Film with more units and programming that bring all forms of art and environment programming to the community and visitors from around the globe.Questions AnsweredWhat is the Serenbe Institute for Art, Culture & the Environment?Why was it important for Steve Nygren to honor the arts in a specific way at Serenbe?How do Serenbe residents support the Serenbe Institute?How did Steve Nygren get the idea to use transfer fees as a permanent source for arts funding at Serenbe?What was the first arts program in Serenbe?How did former Atlanta Ballet principals end up creating a company under the Serenbe Institute?People + Organizations MentionedSerenbe FellowsShelton StanfillMayor Shirley FranklinSouth Fulton Area InitiativeTelluride Film FestivalTerminus Modern Ballet TheatreTom SwanstonTom ReedTomlinson-Graham GroupActon AcademyAIR SerenbeAnis MojganiArt Farm at SerenbeArt Over DinnerArthur Blank FoundationAtlanta BalletThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

How did Steve Nygren get people to move to Serenbe when there was nothing here but trees and an idea? After investors balked at his idea and declined, he knew it was up to him to show people what Serenbe would be. Steve worked with Robert Rausch and Ryan Gainey to develop an image box with drawings, imaginations and descriptions of what he was building in Chattahoochee Hills.Questions AnsweredWhy did the first residents choose to move to Serenbe?How did Steve Nygren show future residents what his vision was for Serenbe?What is Les Dames d'Escoffier's connection to Serenbe?How did Steve Nygren finance the first homes built in Serenbe?Who were Serenbe's residents at the beginning?What were the first "small homes" in Serenbe?How did Serenbe succeed through the 2008 recession?Why did Steve Nygren use his own funds to build commercial centers in Serenbe's first neighborhoods?What does Steve Nygren want to build next in Serenbe?How does Europe's treatment of seniors differ from America's?People + Organizations MentionedLew OliverLittle Acorn Learning CenterOne MadoPelotonPro Bike RepairProper HairResource SerenbeSerenbe YogaSpa at SerenbeYumiko SushiAJ DowningAngie MosierChatt Hills GalleryForage & Flower Botanical Design StudioGainey Hall GalleryGeneral Store at SerenbeGym at SerenbeHalsa RestaurantHills & Hamlets BookshopLes Dames d’EscoffierThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

In this episode, Steve Nygren talks about how he took his successful hospitality career and applied it to building a community from scratch. They were creating places through hospitality, and Steve knew when building Serenbe that they needed to have a place for people to gather around food. That first place was the Blue Eyed Daisy Bakeshop. Questions AnsweredWhat is placemaking?How does scale and massing in architecture contribute to the authentic feel of a place?What is a condition sheet?What is a thornbird transect?How does Serenbe differ from typical New Urbanism?Why did Steve Nygren design the streets after omegas?Why does traditional Southern architecture incorporate porches?How do porches in Serenbe encourage community engagement?How can a mail house add to a sense of place?Where are all the trash cans and mail boxes in Serenbe?Why don't you see front lawns in Serenbe?Where can you eat in Serenbe (besides the restaurants)?What are Serenbe's home design guidelines?People + Organizations MentionedPhipps PlazaProper HairSerenbe Planning & DesignTexas A&M UniversityThe Well-Placed WeedThe Farmhouse RestaurantLord & TaylorInn at SerenbeMack Scogin Merrill Elam ArchitectsMerrill LynchPBSThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Steve Nygren dives into how to actually begin the build process when you're starting from nothing. He knew he had to save his backyard and had worked with his neighbors to go to the state to make the laws work for Chattahoochee Hills, but he didn't yet know he was going to create the Serenbe community. That realization was never a moment, but rather over a gradual course of time. Questions AnsweredHow do you build a neighborhood from scratch?If not you, who? If not now, when?When did Steve Nygren realize he was actually going to build a neighborhood to save his land?How did Phill Tabb get involved in Serenbe?Did Steve get to include everything he wanted to in Serenbe?Why were granite curbs so difficult to get?What goes into putting something like power into a new community?How do we reduce our energy demands so we're not using up our resources?How does EarthCraft differ from LEED certification?What is a Gabion bridge?Why do third-world countries have more environmentally-friendly stormwater routing than the United States?Where does stormwater go?People + Organizations MentionedFarmers AlmanacProctor CreekRobert MarvinDr. Phillip TabbSoutheastern Engineering, IncSouthfaceUSA TodayAtlanta BeltLineBiophilic Leadership SummitBlue Eyed Daisy BakeshopBoschBruce FergusonEarthCraft CertificationChad EppleTeresa EppleThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

After Steve Nygren brought small and large land owners in Chattahoochee Hills on board his development plan, it was time to take the project to the state. Three state foundations and a few private citizens had pledged money to invest in the project, and Governor Barnes was ready to push legislation through to allow Chattahoochee Hill Country to change land rights in the region. When Barnes didn't get re-elected, most of these investments disappeared. One person stayed in, and that money was used to buy the first TDRs from two land owners. This was only the beginning of Steve’s journey through state government bureaucracy. Each time he wanted to incorporate an environmentally-friendly option, be it for wastewater treatment or putting in roads, he encountered pushback from the various state departments that oversee them. Steve continued to ask questions and pursue what he knew to be right.Questions AnsweredWhat were the steps you had to take to start building Serenbe?What are land rights?How do transfer development rights work?What is the most photographed place in Serenbe?Why are chain link fences always around conventional waste water treatment facilities?Why should we choose to build in a new way?How is balanced development possible?Why are government departments so siloed?Why does Serenbe have unique streetlamps?People + Organizations MentionedMichael OgdenReed HilderbrandRobert RauschSerenbe DevelopmentTurner FoundationUGA Law DepartmentWoodruff FoundationChattahoochee HillsChattahoochee Hill Country ConservancyEnvironmental Protection DivisionGeorgia Association of County CommissionersGovernor Roy BarnesThe Hill RestaurantMadoThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Steve Nygren knew he had to protect the land that was his backyard, but he didn't yet know what that looked like. Always the hospitality man, Steve brought his neighbors together over dinners and homemade desserts to create the Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance, which started the process of determining what everyone wanted and what their best option was for preservation and development. Questions AnsweredWhat was going on globally, nationally in 2000?When you knew you were going to build Serenbe, what kind of rules did you have to change?How did you implement the 70-30 Development Rule?How did you approve rezoning, development and preservation plans when Fulton County's approval departments were all separate and didn't make determinations based on other departments' needs?What was the Public Works Department against the Chatt Hills development plan?How does this environmentally-friendly way of developing allow for more housing than traditional sprawl division?What does clustered development mean for the future?Why was it important to incorporate Transfer Development Rights? How do they work?People + Organizations MentionedLiving MachinesMicrosoftNature ConservancyQuinn NygrenSouth Fulton ParkwayPhill TabbJohn ToddToyota PriusTed TurnerUniversity of Georgia Atlanta Public Works DepartmentCharles, Prince of WalesChattahoochee Hill Country AllianceEnvironmental Council of the StatesJane Fonda Fulton County Economic DevelopmentFulton County Planning DepartmentGeorgia ConservancyAl GoreiPhoneThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren. 

Steve Nygren, the visionary founder of Serenbe, shares his inspiring journey from concerned neighbor to sustainable community developer. After witnessing a bulldozer clearing trees, he rallied landowners to prevent urban sprawl, ultimately securing 600 acres for preservation. Nygren reflects on the balance between urban growth and environmental stewardship, critiques traditional development approaches, and emphasizes the need for innovative strategies that prioritize community health and connectivity. His story is a powerful call to embrace responsibility for future generations.

Sometimes the groove we’re in is actually a rut. That’s how Steve Nygren describes his feelings when he decided to step off the corporate treadmill and make the move to Chattahoochee Hill Country. Before Serenbe’s homes, shops, restaurants and events, there was the discovery of open, rolling hills and a 1904 farmhouse. In this episode, Steve Nygren shares about his family’s life in Atlanta and the value shift that brought them to the country full time. Steve also discusses opening a bed & breakfast, now known as The Inn at Serenbe, during the 1996 Olympics.Questions AnsweredWhat did a typical day, week, or month look like for you and your family living in the heart of the city in Atlanta, Georgia?What made you move to Serenbe full time?What are your days like in Serenbe?What influenced you to turn the farmhouse into a bed and breakfast?What did Richard Louv’s book “Last Child In The Woods” mean to you?People + Organizations MentionedNational League of CitiesNatural Leaders ProgramNature Connection“The Nature Principle”The New York TimesPiedmont ParkPleasant Peasant GroupRichard LouvRyan GaineyStouffer’s Food CorporationSymphony Hall1996 Atlanta OlympicsAnsley ParkAtlanta Botanical GardenAtlanta Journal-ConstitutionBouckaert FarmsGeorgia Preservation Newsletter, Historic RegisterHigh MuseumKeith SummerourMarie NygrenMargaret LupoMary Mac’s Tea RoomMidtown AllianceThe new book, Start In Your Own Backyard, is out and available for ordering.  Step off the treadmill of life and book a stay at the Inn at Serenbe. Use code Serenbe Stories when you book online or over the phone and receive 10% off your stay!Learn more about Serenbe and see our Events Calendar. Order your copy of Start In Your Own Backyard: Transforming Where You Live with Radical Common Sense by Serenbe founder Steve Nygren.