Parker Street 3-5-7

The Erie Canal played a pivotal role in transforming American infrastructure, guiding the booming population of upstate New York to a new standard of simple, prosperous, and opportunistic lifestyles. Today, life on the canal is just as desirable: Overlooking the famous waterway in the enchanting village of Fairport, New York, Parker Street 3-5-7 delivers the perfect balance of opulence, charisma, and convenience.

The four-story Parker Street 3-5-7 condominiums are a creation of Riedman, a Rochester-based team of real estate development, construction, and property management specialists. Riedman is renowned in its surrounding community, especially on the banks of the Erie Canal. Its recently completed Residences at Canalside brought move-in ready luxury, state-of-the-art amenities, and future-proof simplicity to the quaint waterfront – a unique MDU that quickly revealed a high buyer demand and steep expectations from prospective homeowners. Riding this success, the sage experts at Riedman enthusiastically returned to the waterway to design the new Parker Street condos – a trio of one-of-a-kind experiences on the other side of the banks.

Designing Modern Luxury with Historical Charm

With a demonstrated opportunity to engage discerning homebuyers, Riedman approached the Parker Street blueprint with a special homage to history and a modern eye, developing plans to integrate seamless home technology and contemporary aesthetic with the picturesque atmosphere of the community. However, the team faced a typical challenge of designing new homes in long-revered spaces: The condos needed to offer the luxury of intelligent technology without compromising the quaint undertones of the waterfront.
Like many waterfront homes, the nature of living on the canal presents an especially opportune use case for smart shading. When automated, window treatments go beyond natural lighting control to complement lifestyles, creating precise ambiance throughout the day and improving privacy, routine, convenience, and even energy savings. Parker Street’s walls of windows and balcony doors overlooking the canal on each floor made smart shades a no-brainer addition to the space.

Serene waterfront views faced the homes’ breathtaking window design, spanning floor-to-ceiling. The design requires extra measures for privacy given the proximity of neighbors and waterway adventurers, diverse natural lighting control options to accommodate glare off the water, cross-season comfort for upstate New York’s wide-spectrum climate, and a noise filtering to blot out the sounds of a nearby railroad route. Most importantly, the shades must complement the units’ thoughtful interior design with a sharp, seamless, and timeless aesthetic.

One additional challenge of this custom build was the safety considerations brought on by design: The homes feature metal-cabled stairways adjacent to the sweeping windows that go up and down all floors, and to accommodate proper safety measures for the staircase, additional cabling needed to be added to the outside of the staircase railings – imposing on the area where the shading was to be installed. This meant that the shades would need to be designed into the space with concealment in mind, and a set-it-and-forget-it approach would be key.

Determined to master the technology demands of its never-before-seen home design, Riedman entrusted its smart home and AV needs with Digital Audio Video Environments (DAVE), a long-time partner and catalyst in the success of the technology ecosystems implemented at Residences at Canalside. With a robust reputation for outstanding service and installations, along with a similar family-owned history to Riedman, DAVE has long been known for providing homes and businesses with superior products, quality workmanship, and fair pricing with careful attention to the unique needs of each project.

Director of Sales Eric Gosiewski, who incepted and nurtured the install division at DAVE in 2000, leverages over 20 years of experience in sales, design, and installation services to deliver outstanding experiences to the custom-build community. Committed to maintaining total control over the quality and meeting consistent benchmarks for all projects, he enthusiastically kicked off the conversations around technology for these future homes.

“This type of project is a sweet spot for DAVE, so we were excited to reconnect with Riedman for this build. Our team is experienced with a breadth of home technology products and vendors, so we can curate the perfect mix for even the most advanced projects. It’s a user-first approach: We look at the solutions in the context of lifestyle simplicity and come up with the best possible solution mix to complement the build,” Gosiewski shared.

Creative Integration Meets Contemporary Comfort

Kicking off the conversations with Riedman, DAVE explored the natural lighting needs of the Parker Street condos, beginning with unit #3. The team evaluated how the home’s technology ecosystem could complement the lifestyle simplicity and aesthetic designed into the space. The sleek spaces would feature several wow-factor additions, including private elevators, high-end appliances from Bosch and Thermador, and marquee-like patios with panoramic canal views on each floor. Due to its intuitive and reliable interface, DAVE planned to complement these features with state-of-the-art home automation, sound, and lighting control systems from Savant’s trusted product line.

The final puzzle piece was choosing the right automated window treatments to complete the picture. Gosiewski moved through the various goals of implementing the automated treatments to determine which solution would best enhance comfort, routine, and aesthetics – focusing on maximizing privacy, reducing outside sound, and transforming the shining sun into ambient, warm lighting. After mind-melding with Riedman’s designer and consultant and exploring the different product lines available, Eric and his team recommended the Hunter Douglas portfolio and PowerView+ Automation.

“As a member of Hunter Douglas’ custom integrator program, we’ve been able to move beyond our traditional roots in AV technology and support our customers with truly design-forward window treatments,” shared Gosiewski. “It’s such a complete lineup and the brand sells so many different styles of shades that we’re able to work with the designers and builders to capture the power of automation throughout the home, even when there’s a long list of considerations to accommodate.”

The shades integrate seamlessly with the home’s Savant system, and the brand’s PowerView + low-voltage hardwired solution would be well-suited for the unique design challenges of the custom build. DAVE worked with the builders to determine that the wires could be flexibly concealed within customized window ledges overlooking the scenic neighborhood waterfront. This decision would both save space and remove the concerns of the building code requirements, while the hardwire connection would deliver maximum reliability and control for years to come – without the need to charge or replace batteries. The shades feature an inside mount to save additional space and further contribute to the seamless appearance of the space, without interfering with the design of the staircase.

For maximum simplicity, Hunter Douglas shades can be controlled via the PowerView or Savant App to deliver flexible automation through pre-scheduled scenes or commands. The shades can be programmed to move on a personalized schedule to provide the perfect levels of privacy, natural lighting shine-through and filtering, noise control, energy efficiency and aesthetic throughout any time of day. This way, the homeowner can enjoy their space without giving their shades a second thought.
“We enjoy using the PowerView App for our Hunter Douglas shading projects because it is so fully featured and customizable,” says Gosiewski. “Homeowners have so much flexibility and can get deep into the automation benefits and do fun things like alarm clocks – having the shades rise with the sun or at certain times of the day. Or they can use the Savant app to create general scenes so the whole home’s lighting and AV adjust in unison.”

With the homes’ design in mind, the team selected Designer Roller Shades in an off-white fabric color for the main living spaces in the house and room darkening fabric in the bedroom. The modest style and gentle hue would warm up the room, complementing the clean, contemporary style of the windows without creating harsh lines. Designer Roller Shades also create the perfect balance of natural lighting and privacy for a canal-side home and provide a neutral design without hindering the opportunity for interior design freedom.

New Opportunities for Life on the Erie

With around 30 Hunter Douglas Designer Roller Shades incorporated into the complex’s lofty physique, DAVE successfully rounded out the smart home technology experience to complement the chic architecture of the build. Paired with the Savant system’s lighting scenes, full-home integrated surround sound, and ample opportunities for lifestyle-centric automation, the builders were pleased with the outcome.

“Eric and the entire technical support team at DAVE have done an outstanding job! They have been with us every step of the way. We could not ask for a better partner for planning, designing, installation, training, and service.” said Jay Benesh, General Manager for Riedman Homes. “The choice was simple. Hunter Douglas is the only product line with the features and styles we need for these unique homes. Their quality is well-known and unparalleled in the industry.”

The comfort, convenience, and luxury of smart home technology would deliver on the home technology cravings of the buyers. At the same time, the unique selling proposition of the landmark village would close the deal. The impressive windows and adjacent outdoor living spaces accentuate 2,500 square feet of open-concept floor plans, while the automated shades create precisely lit, functional spaces at any given time. The balance of flexible automation, sleek interior design, and luxury features present near-infinite options for homeowners to create a space that suits their unique lifestyle demands and desires.

Parker 3-5-7 brought a never-before-seen opportunity for astute buyers to settle in Fairport. After years of long hours and arduous work, the first of these spectacular condominiums was ready to be unveiled to the community. Although many inquiries had been made during construction, no one anticipated the overwhelming response received at the initial Twilight Open House. The evening event, featuring valet parking, wine and hors d’oeuvre, lived up to every bit of the anticipation of local Realtors and potential clients. With jaw-dropping gasps, a record crowd and numerous compliments, the event was an overwhelming success, providing guests an opportunity to tour the entire space and the unique experience that is Parker 3-5-7.

With such superb feedback from realtors, prospects, and community members at the open house debut, Riedman Homes has completed units #5 and #7. These promise to be even more spectacular and advanced with the help of DAVE and Hunter Douglas. The completion of the complex opened the door to new business opportunities for DAVE and Riedman alike, with a new cohort of Erie Canal residents driving demand.

“This project opened the idea of smart shading to more prospective home buyers and helped us communicate their scalability and versatility,” shared Gosiewski. “While they’re often perceived as a high-end investment, especially for high-stakes projects like this one, they’re actually quite achievable and customizable for any budget. We hope that as we move into more projects and continue to design shades into more lifestyles, we can challenge the idea that great natural lighting control is a luxury; it’s a necessary component of a great living space.”