In the world of community development, there’s an important difference between a space and a place. A place is a space that encourages people to engage in relationships — with nature, themselves, with others — amid their surroundings. Domeyko Taylor Holding Company (DTHC) President and Co-Founder Isabel Domeyko Taylor works every day to create places that inspire, motivate and mobilize communities.
After college, Domeyko Taylor volunteered her time with AmeriCorps in inner-city Chicago, where she had her first placemaking experience. She supported a youth group as it transformed a blighted, vacant parcel dominated by illicit activities into a place that expressed their own community vision. In addition to planting flowers and building walking paths, these young residents made wooden silhouettes of themselves, painted and decorated with their hopes, and placed them throughout the new neighborhood park. “These artistic silhouettes gave birth to a real place that inspired expectations for a changed atmosphere. It completely altered the way I saw a space versus a place,” says Domeyko Taylor.
“We’re designing transformative parks and trails and creating a robust public art initiative that will present many opportunities for artists, residents and students to make Placer One a special place.” -Isabel Domeyko Taylor, President and Co-Founder
As a company, DTHC is dedicated to placemaking through both its own development endeavors and its role as the parent company of Taylor Builders, New Economics & Real Estate Advisory and the Lincoln Potters Baseball Club. Whether it’s a master-planned community, a vertical project or another season of family-friendly summer baseball, Domeyko Taylor works to ensure the team is mindful of the places they’re creating or nurturing.
“What’s really exciting to me at the moment is our Placer One community,” says Domeyko Taylor. “It will include the new Sacramento State Placer campus and many other amazing amenities. We’re designing transformative parks and trails and creating a robust public art initiative that will present many opportunities for artists, residents and students to make Placer One a special place.”
Domeyko Taylor graduated from Middlebury College, where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree, and later earned a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is active in the region, serving on the board of Friends of McBean Park and as the immediate past chair of the Sacramento Urban Land Institute (ULI) District.
