Westchester in Laurel a Model for Future Luxury Complexes

Pam Norwood says she's fortunate that she isn't part of the daily exodus of work-bound residents at Westchester at Cherry Lane, the luxury mid-rise complex in Laurel where she has lived for a year.

As chief executive of a home-based business -- she distributes a device to foreign governments that keeps medicines cool during emergencies -- Norwood simply retreats to her cozy office in her two-bedroom loft and gets to work e-mailing and phoning clients and vendors.

During the day, "I have the place all to myself," said Norwood, 55, as she looked out her vaulted fourth-floor window and toward the bobbing paddle boats across the street at Laurel Lakes. "It's very quiet. People speak in the hallway, but everybody tends to stay to themselves."

The view really shines in the evening, she said. "The lights from all the restaurants are aglow. It looks like Christmastime."

The location, in Prince George's County midway between Washington and Baltimore, "is a huge selling point," said Leisa Wolfe, the complex's general manager. "We have a lot of government and military residents, local teachers, single parents. They're across the age span. We have one couple well into their retirement years who decided to sell their house and come here. It gives them freedom. Now they spend more time traveling."

She said the sprawling, 445-unit complex, which opened last year and is 61 percent leased, includes design elements that will serve as models for future properties built by Archstone, a national apartment company based in Colorado that owns and runs Westchester and other properties around the region.

Those design elements, Wolfe said, include four common areas -- two courtyards and two gardens.

In one courtyard, there are an enclosed cafe and an exercise room just steps from the long, narrow outdoor pool. The deck area of the pool is sprinkled with gas grills.

A compact amphitheater serves as the centerpiece of the second courtyard. Wolfe said residents can visit that area to rest and reflect. Quartets entertain on occasion. There's also talk of offering movies in the courtyard, where images can be projected directly onto the building.

The community also has a second spot geared to meditation, a Zen garden. "It's more shaded than the others," Wolfe said. Japanese black pines and other varieties dominate the intimate landscape. "It's really a good place to bring a book, a glass of wine, sit, chill," she said.

The fourth secluded outdoor setting is a New Orleans-style garden.

It is lined with wrought-iron fencing and brick walkways. On one side is a greenhouse, which is becoming popular with residents who nurture plants, including bonsai and artichoke.