Rosemount native, Paul Whiteman, is Owner & CEO of Vita Attiva at South Creek, a new housing development in Farmington, MN. Paul came up with Vita Attiva concept after a few trips to Florida and Arizona. He is excited to see this concept come to life – with future expansion plans in the horizon.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
I’m most excited about my current and future opportunities with Vita Attiva. While my past focus was good and very foundational to what I do today, it simply wasn’t as enjoyable for myself as a custom home builder.
Currently my focus is 100% on developing the Vita Attiva at South Creek community [on the border of Farmington and Lakeville]. This is a big change from what I had been doing previously as I am now focused on a whole development rather than just one stand alone house. Vita Attiva at South Creek is community designed for active 55+ year olds and offers “resort style living”. We are building out many amenities in this development that will include: tennis & pickleball courts, outdoor swimming pool, walking trails, and a community center with a speakeasy! We are offering one-level floor plans in both single-family and townhome options. We are focused on folks living the best years of their lives in this community and our homes are affordable yet higher-end with many different finishing options. I can’t stress enough how great it is to spearhead this development! Our clients/homeowners are so great; they are so excited to move into this community with like-minded people! They love this resort-style living concept and they’ve helped to create such a positive atmosphere.
What really excites me is the future! My goal would be to expand the Vita Attiva brand and replicate this active, 55+ year old, “resort-style living” concept in other areas in MN. I truly believe that there is void in catering to this demographic and just based on how excited our buyers are, I can’t wait to start creating more developments!
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
I’ve been married to my wife Shelly since 2005; 17 years already. We have two kids; our son Christian [14] and daughter Savannah [12]. We also have a lot of pets – I should restate that to say my animal loving daughter has a lot of pets😊 We have two dogs [a rescue and a maltase], a bearded dragon and a rabbit!
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
This is a tough one … but I do really enjoy Lakeville Brewing Company. Our team loves going there for Happy Hour and I think they have the best buffalo wings in the area. I also really like Porterhouse! But tend to go there for more special occasions.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
Basically, my whole life! The majority of life has been in the Rosemount, Apple Valley, Lakeville and Northfield area. I spent a few years in Florida and also in Minneapolis and St Paul… but definitely the majority of my life has been spent here in the south metro.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
I’d love to see the Egyptian pyramid! I’m just so fascinated on how they built the pyramids before any advanced machinery! It’s really quite remarkable when you think about it. Honestly, there’s probably like 20 more places I’d love to travel to but the Egyptian Pyramids stands out on the top of this list.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
TV Shows is a hard one to answer as I don’t have a ton of free time where I sit and watch a lot of TV. However, I really got into The Ozarks as it’s pretty entertaining. But that’s about it. Growing up, shows such as Saved By The Bell stand out. It’s a classic!
Favorite Movies: I recently saw the new Top Gun movie – that was really good! And I really like The Departed. But when I think of my all-time favorite movies, I’ll be honest, I really enjoyed watching all the Disney movies with my kids when they were younger. I miss those days. AND those movies were really good! When I think about the first movie that I saw in a theatre, I recall SpaceBalls! The best part of this memory is that my mom made us leave halfway through it as she thought it was inappropriate 😊 And to this day, I’ve never seen the whole thing. Ha ha
Q: What advice would you give to people?
Not sure if I want to give advice when I need advice too. 😊 But I think something along the lines of “Just Go After It”. Whatever “it” is. I always try to reach for my dreams and I believe if you work hard enough and try hard enough, you can achieve those dreams. You only live once! Just go for it.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
Easy one: to retire and run a boutique resort in central America – on an island.
Q: What is your go to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
Hmmmm… I truly like most all music! But when I can’t decide, I probably lean towards 80s rock. But I love everything!
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
Ole Piper Inn … it’s been there forever. I always went there growing up. Recently, I went back there – just a few weeks ago! And I loved it! It hasn’t changed at all. Also, all the high schools in the area always make me very nostalgic. Now that my kids are getting older and are more involved in sports and activities, it’s so fun going back into all these High Schools that I grew up going into.
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
I think I’d invite Adam Sandler. He’s just so interesting! He’s goofy, entertaining, serious … there’s just so much there that he would be a lot of fun to meet. I could see him really liking The Ole Piper Inn.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
Growing up, we’d love going to the beach at Lake Marion. We used to play a lot of sand volleyball. Even as High School Seniors, I remember going there [ahem, after school 😉] to play volleyball and hangout.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
Professionally, as mentioned earlier, I hope to have more Vita Attiva developments going. But what really excites me personally is simply to see what my kids will be up to; where they going and what they are doing. In 10 years they’ll be 22 and 24 years old. Those are pivotal years and they’ve already made a lot of hard decisions. It’ll be great to see what they are up to!
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I used to be an IronWorker. I connected beams and walked iron as high as 36 stories in Minneapolis and Miami.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
Hands down, Maui. The scenery is breathtaking; the mountains and waterfalls. Simply beautiful.
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and best single day on the calendar?
Month: July – it’s summer! And there’s HEAT. I love heat.
Holiday: Christmas! I love the snow and just watching the kids at Christmas.
Day: Both my kids birthdays – nothing changes your life like the day your kids were born
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
The day when the city approved the Vita Attiva plan! We were working on that for over 1 year and a half. And had to go through many revisions and we all worked so hard on it – and they day that we received approval was just fantastic!
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My kids. I just try not to screw them up. Which I’m probably about 50/50 on 😊
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
I don’t know how to explain it but when you are really, really hungry and you drive by a Bar/Grill/Restaurant … and the smell of the grill … yep, nothing better! And in the springtime, I love the smell of fresh cut grass after that first time mowing the lawn for the season. It means we survived another winter and summer is coming soon.
Q: Finally, what 2 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Family and Comfortability
For more details on Vita Attiva, please visit:https://myvitaattiva.com/
