Lakewood Ranch Receives “Best Wellness Environment” Recognition

ideal-LIVING, a Southern living and real estate magazine, recently named Lakewood Ranch to its “Best Wellness Environment” category in the fourth annual “Best of the Best” issue. The community was recognized for its wellness-centered master planning, extensive recreational amenities, and health-conscious lifestyle program.

Chief among the reasons ideal-LIVING selected Lakewood Ranch was the community’s collaboration with The Academy for Brain Health and Performance and Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. Researchers selected Lakewood Ranch for The Brain Health Initiative because of the community’s multi-generational makeup, dynamic lifestyle, and strong medical, wellness and education foundation. Residents will benefit from the outcomes of the decades-long study and The Brain Health Innovation Lab, which will attract a global team of world-renowned experts, including researchers, clinicians, innovators and entrepreneurs, to discover both positive and negative contributions to brain health and performance across the lifespan at the biological, personal, and social/community levels.

Lakewood Ranch also received high marks for its vast green spaces connected by trails, walking paths, lakes, nature preserves, and parks; social programming such as the weekly farmer’s market, musical events and outdoor yoga; proximity to medical facilities and the CORE campus. CORE (Collaboration Opportunities for Research and Exploration) is a 305-acre research park which includes 971,000 square feet for STEM-focused academic partners, world-class research facilities, and the collaboration between new and emerging markets that focus on research, health, and education.

“We are honored to be named as a ‘Best Wellness Environment’ community by ideal-LIVING magazine,” said Laura Cole, Senior Vice President of LWR Communities. “Life in Lakewood Ranch is centered around well-being. Our Main Street, our parks, our trails, our amenities, physical and intellectual, focus on vitality and activity. Staying active and healthy is easier when its built into the lifestyle.”

Surveys were collected at the 2019 ideal-LIVING Real Estate Shows, which presented the most important amenities to potential homebuyers. The Top 100 communities were chosen based on the amenities most commonly requested by residents, including walking trails, wellness facilities, proximity to healthcare, social clubs, and more.

“The ‘Best of the Best’ feature honors those areas and communities which deserve special recognition for their outstanding qualities, facilities, and programs,” said ideal-LIVING’s Editor and Associate Publisher Kelly Godbey. “We hope that this special feature in our Summer 2019 edition will serve our readers by focusing on the places that offer the lifestyle enhancements that are the most important to them.”

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