by: Allison Abdelnour

When Wil and Christine Franz were married four years ago, they had plans to build a new home five miles outside of Buena Vista. At that time, Wil had already been living in the area for six years, working as a marriage and family therapist and as director of CrossRoads Counseling of the Rockies here in Buena Vista. Christine, on the other hand was living and working on the Front Range as the director of Web Communications for Colorado Christian University in Lakewood. She says, "I thought the transition from city life in the Denver area to BV would be somewhat challenging, but was surprised to find it so easy to adjust to life in a small town. I really love the simplicity and beauty of life here."

As for their soon-to-be construction project outside of Buena Vista, Wil says, “We were really close to getting our building permit when we happened to discover the South Main office one day when we were walking around town. We were captivated by the vision for the South Main development and loved the idea of being close to the river and the conveniences of town, as well as being part of a community.”

Today, they are happily moved in to their newly finished home on Buzz Boulevard here in South Main. The home is complete with a large, inviting front porch, guest rooms ready for visits from Wil’s grown children, and a corner office with windows that allow Christine to keep tabs over the expanse of the Mosquito Range as she works remotely at her job. As for what it is like living in South Main, “We really like the diversity of the people in our community – some local, others from throughout the country; a variety of ages and incomes and professions. There’s an openness and friendliness that we haven’t seen in most places we’ve lived…. We love being so close to the river. Even though we’re not kayakers (yet, at least), we enjoy walking the path along the river and watching the different seasons of the river. Every season on the river is unique from the rushing rapids of spring runoff to the placid beauty of the water in late fall to the delicate ice formations in winter. It’s all beautiful!”

When asked about whether they feel projects like South Main are important, they both reply, “Yes, South Main is all about smart growth. From an environmental standpoint, this development is a great alternative to losing more and more of our beautiful open space which is what attracts people to our community in the first place. We like having shared parks and green space right in our development that everyone can use and that we don’t have to spend weekends maintaining a big lawn.”

I stopped by Wil and Christine’s home just yesterday to snap a quick photo of the two of them. Wil arrived to the scene shortly after I did riding his bike back home from work. I asked him how long it had been since he’d driven his car and he was pressed to remember if it had been four or five days - it had been a while. That’s appropriate coming from someone who, just days before, had told me, “We love to walk, and living in South Main allows us to walk most anywhere – for work, errands, and just for fun. Everything is so accessible from South Main – local businesses, great hiking and mountain biking trails, and the river of course. It’s just a great and healthy lifestyle that we have here.”

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