I knew we worked well together, and we both loved creating beautiful spaces. The Studio, Kathleen’s yoga studio, had three hundred people a day coming through its doors. It was a place to move their bodies and quiet their minds—a space they loved and felt a sense of belonging. Many students would share how they moved nearby to be close to The Studio. Kathleen witnessed how important proximity to health and wellness was to people and how important this physical space and community were in their day-to-day lives.
As The Studio grew, she shepherded several buildouts—always designing with great care so that people felt both deeply inspired and fully at home. I had also done a rebuild and loved that process, and I knew we could build something really special by bringing our creative flair and similar sensibilities to the project. When we purchased the land in May 2020 and started our visioning process, brainstorming was creative and joyful, imagining the type of communities we wished were everywhere.
As Yunus said, “If you want to do something, you have to imagine it. If you don’t, it will never happen.” We wanted to build in alignment with our ecological values, respectful of nature, and create a strong feeling of community. All of these ideas were inspired and dreamt of while we were living in COVID-induced isolation.
My friend Tina was going to visit an intentional community in Georgia called Serenbe. I encouraged Kathleen to visit. She was struck by the thoughtful land planning and the sense of place—the walkability and the way nature and community were interwoven. We worked closely with their team in order to build something similar in Wisconsin. The result was Belle Farm, a gorgeous walkable neighborhood featuring a wonderful mix of housing, neighborhood amenities, and commercial spaces. With Phil Tabb and the team helping us design the overall layout of the land, a sense of community and flow emerged. Our guiding principles are wellness, sustainability, time outside, camaraderie, presence, respite, and so much joy.
We created the anchor of the community around The Rose, a large apartment building that would house the pool, gym, and restaurant, creating a sense of THERE, there. The whole community will be able to use the shared amenities, whether people are in an apartment or one of the houses. Across from the workout facilities, we created flow by placing the coffee shop in a beautiful, smaller apartment building called The Bluebird. As you’re having a coffee, you will see the people working out across the street, and it motivates you to get moving. Serenbe shared that their community really came to life after they opened their coffee shop.
The next step was to shop around for architects to design the main multifamily buildings that house all the amenities. In the style of new urbanism, the space is intentionally denser near the heart of the community, creating many natural opportunities for people to bump into each other and interact on porches and sidewalks. The larger multifamily buildings create a lovely border for the neighborhood and a warm welcome. From there, the density gradually lightens, creating more breathing space to commune with nature. We intentionally left 50% of the space open and gifted three acres to the City of Middleton as dedicated parkland. We were thrilled when the city bought seven additional adjacent acres, which means Belle Farm is bordered by a ten-acre city park to the north and Graber Pond to the southeast.
We also wanted to offer both ownership and rental opportunities at multiple sizes and price points to create natural diversity. We knew we wanted to create a place that was visually appealing and diverse in style. Some of our pricing is higher because we are building in a way that will stand the test of time and tread lightly on the earth. But we were able to create something where, organically, over half of our multi-family units fall within “workforce” pricing. We got the single-family homes pre-approved for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), so most homeowners can build one, offering financial flexibility with extra rental income if they choose.
Our land will connect the bike paths from the gorgeous Pleasant Branch Conservancy through to downtown Middleton, and then head east into Madison. The City of Middleton recently upgraded Parmenter Street (adjacent to our neighborhood) by adding sidewalks and improving the city bike paths. As an executive producer on two films about pollinators—Vanishing of the Bees and The Invisible Mammal—I love what our horticulturist, Jeff Epping, has done with the landscape—planting deep-rooted natives, including pollinator gardens. The pollinators are thriving with the new biodiverse plantings.
To minimize our reliance on fossil fuels, every home at Belle Farm has geothermal HVAC and solar, making them near-net-zero. The garage spaces are all EV-ready. Among the homes already built, some are producing more energy than they use, which is thrilling. The homes are still connected to the grid, so we can draw energy from it when needed (like when it is cloudy) and put our excess back into the grid. We were inspired on the geothermal front by Epic’s nearby corporate campus, which heavily incorporates geothermal, and by Serenbe, which also uses geothermal HVAC in its single-family homes. We conducted a geothermal feasibility study at Belle Farm to determine whether it made sense for our land. It feels great to design a community that is aligned with our values.
Kathleen did the legwork, attending council meetings and getting the designs and plans approved by the city. It showed me the efficiency of scale, as zoning the entire community of 880 dwelling units took the same amount of time to go through planning as remodeling one house did in Los Angeles. Our project was named a Climate Champion by the Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change, and the City of Middleton awarded our project $16M in TIF Funding.
As she worked the project through the city council, they were asking, “Why isn’t everyone developing projects like this?”
Article by Holly Mosher, an accomplished filmmaker and partner in Belle Farm. Holly is thrilled to help bring a high-quality, sustainable, and resilient neighborhood to Dane County. Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Holly spent much of her time in Madison, where she was a partner at Hummingbird Pictures for over a decade. The company was named after her first award-winning documentary, Hummingbird, which was followed by the films Side Effects, Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety, and Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus.
When she moved to California 20+ years ago, she acquired her first real estate properties in Venice Beach and then Santa Monica — always with a clear eye on design, functionality, and the wonderful people who would fill these spaces. With that experience under her belt, she felt compelled to bring this insight and expertise back to her home state in a meaningful way. She brings a “big picture” approach and excellence to every project.
Holly graduated with honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and became an award-winning documentary filmmaker, making powerful documentaries that inspire change. It is in Holly’s DNA to make a positive impact on the world.