Grande Orchid

Most Delray Beach communities count the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens as a nearby attraction. At Grande Orchid you can walk to it. Morikami Park Road runs along the community's southern edge, and the museum gate is about three hundred yards west along it, inside the 110-acre county park that holds the six Roji-en gardens, the bonsai collection and the Cornell Cafe.

That distance is what changes the place. The gardens become an ordinary afternoon rather than a day out, and the walk back ends at the community picnic area, where a lunch brought from home carries the visit into the rest of the day.

The Houses

There are eighty-nine houses. Gordon Homes built them out between 1998 and 2000, with the model homes open for tours the previous October. They stand on three streets that all take the community's name, Grande Orchid, Royal Orchid and White Orchid, on lots running from about a fifth to a third of an acre.

The plans come in one and two stories, roughly 3,000 to 4,500 square feet under air. A good number have been substantially updated since they were built, which is what a house of that age needs by now, and it is the largest single difference between two homes here that share a build year.

There is no membership to buy and no equity to put up. The clubhouse, the pool, the courts and the picnic area are common ground, open to every owner here.

The Grounds Beyond the Gate

Arrival passes a gate staffed around the clock. Beyond it, lakes, a private canal and a nature preserve break the houses into distinct stretches rather than laying them out on a grid. Water borders some rows, the canal and the preserve run beside others, and the streets connect the stretches into one address. The largest of the lakes runs the length of the northern row, sitting behind those houses rather than in front of them. The route home changes character with each turn.

At the clubhouse, the fitness center and the social room take the indoor hours, while the heated pool, the two lighted Har-Tru courts and the basketball court sit just outside. The picnic area is the one space that does not point you toward an activity, and that is exactly its use. It is where a game, a swim or a walk back from the gardens can slow down over something to eat.

Between Downtown and Town Center

Grande Orchid is in Delray Beach, nine tenths of a mile from the Boca Raton city line. Town Center and Boca's shopping lie about five and a half miles south. Downtown Delray, its restaurants and its nightlife, is about seven and a half miles northeast, and the beach at the end of Atlantic Avenue about eight.

Downtown Delray is also where two restored school buildings still earn their keep. The Cornell Art Museum occupies the 1913 Delray Elementary School building, and the Crest Theatre the high school building from around 1925. Visitors walk into both on an ordinary trip downtown.

Interstate 95 and Florida's Turnpike are both close, which puts Palm Beach International and Fort Lauderdale within straightforward drives. Bristol Pointe sits a few hundred yards north on the same stretch of Jog Road. Locals count Grande Orchid among the communities of Millionaire’s Row, a familiar name for this part of Delray Beach.