Two of our friends recently moved to a new community outside of St. Louis called "New Town." I'm not sure if it is creepy or cool. Their house is beautiful. The town looks like the movie set from the Truman Show dropped in the middle of St. Charles. The town has many of the conveniences of modern city life such as an amphitheater, their own post office, a coffee shop, a couple of restaurants, a wine bar, a corner market, etc.... Although the bars are only blocks away, people still drive there. There is a canal running right through the middle of the place and as you enter, this big monument that resembles the Washington monument on a much smaller scale. Home owners have to pay $800/year to maintain the landscaping and amenities. It seems like a good concept, but there are some drawbacks with the town regulations (You can only pick from set colors for your house, no two houses of the same color can be next to each other, only electric or push lawn mowers, no plastic furniture allowed on patios, etc.)
They started developing this in 2004 and the houses consisted of town homes, single family, and row houses ranging in price from $100K to $800K. They are currently in Phase 2 of 10 but the builder might have to file for bankruptcy. Hopefully they'll be able to attract some more nice restaurants once the development is complete.