The three real estate developers of the district – TriStone Homes, David Weekly Homes, and Forest City – can’t fully explain why the district is inspired by Estonia. As the companies don’t really connect the word ‘Estonia’ to a small state in Europe, questions put forth by [an Estonian journalist] come as a surprise.
The marketing manager of TriStone Homes, Patricia Tsai, said that she doesn’t have a clue how the district was named. “The name was there before we joined the project.”
The regional manager of Forest City, David Blom shed a bit more light into the matter, [saying] the name was chosen randomly.
“A friend of an engineer connected to the project visited Europe and was charmed by Estonia. Once the district was named after Estonia, the names of the streets came logically,” he remarks.
Even though developers assured that the houses being built won’t be anything out of the ordinary nor will they have a connection to Estonian architecture, there’s still some discovering joy to be had when looking at the plans. The engineer’s friend must have been truly in love with Estonia, as names like Estonia Gate, Petseri Park, Finlandia Gap, Tallinn Trace, Laivita Mist, Vormsi View, Lape Peipsi, Elva Forest, Kärdla Forest, Rapla Crossing, and Tõrva Bluff can be found on the aforementioned drafts.
The developers are also planning to erect a monument in the district.
Blom said that the Estonia district is aimed for families with small children. The webpage of TriStone Homes advertises it as a resort in the heart of the city.
The marketing director of David Weekly Homes, Cindy Weast, said that the habitants of San Antonio will still have to work to be able to pronounce the street-names of the district. “Nothing like this has been seen around here before,” she remarked. The name Estonia, according to Weast, won’t say much to a regular San Antonio habitant either. “I don’t know anything about Estonia either,” she admits.
The developers, relatively well known in USA, don’t think that the real estate crisis that raged in USA will damage the project in any way.
(Gertrud Levit, aripaev.ee, 14.08.2008 11:39, appeared in English on Baltic Business News website)