Lake Anna Life & Times caught up recently with Dan Girouard, developer of many Lake Anna communities and asked him about his current projects and where he sees Lake Anna real estate in general.
Girouard, 62, is a Louisa County resident and Managing Partner at American Land Holdings, LLC and Rock Island Development Company, LLC. Projects he has completed include Freshwater Estates, Frasers Landing, Pamunkey Point, Sunrise Bay, Daniels Point and Rock Island Landing. He has another project coming hopefully in 2025 dubbed Compass Cove in the back of Elk Creek in Cooling Pond 2.
Girouard wanted to share some information about Rock Island Landing, located on the “private” side in Cooling Pond 2 as well.
“Our current Lake Anna project, Rock Island Landing, is located on Elk Creek and off Elk Creek Road one turn off Kentucky Springs Road. The project is in the final stages of development with completion expected this spring.
“Even with current high demand there are remaining homesites available and our builders have spec homes ready. This community offers premier lakefront homesites along with beautiful off water lake view lots which include covered boat slips. The common area includes a private boat launch, picnic pavilion, ample parking, and sandy beach.
“I think Rock Island Landing is evolving into one of the lake’s most beautiful places to live and play with unique rolling, stair-stepped topography along with its wide open panoramic lake views, and thoughtfully designed custom homes.”
While Rock Island Landing does have a planned Phase 2 section, Girouard told Life & times “it is too early to release any details on Phase 2”.
We asked the developer what he thought made Rock Island unique on a lake full of “unique” communities.
“At American Land Holdings we search for unique waterfront land within 2-3 hours from major metropolitan markets to develop that allows us the opportunity to create communities where people want to spend every free moment their busy schedules allow. These unique properties can include items such as a fantastic location or unparalleled views or mature hardwood forests or open rolling fields or pristine waterfront shoreline or as in the case of Rock Island Landing. The topography allowed us to create a series of interior (off-water) homesites with beautiful lake views.
“Searching for the ‘right’ property to develop is one of our most important business objectives that we consider throughout the southeast where we are currently developing waterfront communities.”
Girouard also expounded on this theory why Lake Anna real estate continues to be so desirable.
“Lake Anna real estate prices continue to increase due to the lake’s proximity to major markets like northern Virginia, Washington DC, Richmond and Charlottesville where folks want to own a vacation or second home property within 2-3 hours from their primary home. I believe this is the driving force behind the demand for Lake Anna real estate.”
Girouard is known as a lake developer guru so a list of the lakes he’s working on show that Lake Anna is in good company.
“My company currently has waterfront projects on Lake Picwic in Savanah, Tennessee, on Lake Wilson in Muscle Sholes Alabama, on Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, on the beach in Surf City, Topsail Island, North Carolina, on Smith Mountain Lake and Lake Anna. Later this year will be announcing the grand opening of Compass Cove, our newest Lake Anna community which will also be on the private side of the lake.”
We asked Girouard why he appears to be favoring private side development these days.
“We are not necessarily ‘targeting’ the private side of Lake Anna, however we have long standing relationships with prominent land owners who have entrusted us with creating communities on land that has been in their family for generations that they themselves are happy with. Our ability to acquire key parcels of land comes from having over 100+ years of cumulative development experience along with a team of professional land planners, engineers and contractors who are all focused on one common goal; to create a community where folks want to live, play and make lasting memories for their family and friends all while balancing environmental and economic factors.”
