Judges for the 2020 Gold Nugget Awards have named Estrella by Newland as an Award of Merit winner in its annual competition, which honors architectural design and planning excellence, and draws entries from throughout the United States and internationally.

The Goodyear community earned the honors for Casa Lucero, which was named Best Recreational Use Facility, as well as the village of Lucero, which was honored for Best Land Plan and Best Indoor/Outdoor Space, the company stated in a release.

The 2020 Gold Nugget Awards were presented in a virtual event Friday, July 24.

At 617 acres, Lucero is the newest village in Estrella, offering such amenities such as a bike shop, cafe and community welcome center in addition to the future Ladera Park.

“Gold Nugget Award winners reflect our industry’s best, brightest and most innovative architects, planners and builder/developers,” stated Lisa Parrish, judging chair and Gold Nugget ceremonies administrator. “We applaud them all.”

Now in its 57th year, GNA is the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind in the nation. It honors design and planning achievements in community and home design, green-built housing, site planning, commercial, retail, mixed-use development and specialty housing categories. Winners this year were chosen from 575 entries from around the world

Estrella by Newland is a 20,000-acre mixed-use master-planned community featuring more than 500 acres of parks and open space with more than 50 miles of paths and trails, and 72 acres of lakes for boating and catch-and-release fishing. It’s also home to the Starpointe and Presidio Residents Clubs, hiking trails and basketball, volleyball, pickleball and tennis courts.

The community also features a Nicklaus-design championship golf course, The Golf Club of Estrella. The land use plan for Estrella calls for as many as 50,000 homes and about 1,600 acres of commercial space, with a multi-decade build-out, the release stated.