If you want a model example of how to blend a new building in with a landmark house (1907) in a historic (and very fun) neighborhood (Capitol Hill, Seattle), be affordable, transit-oriented and a green building as well, then the Pantages Apartments are a good place to start.  It’s featured in the American Institute for Architects’ new Affordable Housing Design Advisor website.

49 dwellings (45 in the new building, 4 in the historic home) are available as studio, one, two or three bedrooms,

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Yes, this is affordable housing!  It’s one development that visually stood out from the Smart Growth Illustrated set of case studies highlighted yesterday.

In Aspen, Colorado, the wealthy bid up the prices of homes in the city (average home price of $1.7 million - that’s not a typo!), resulting in traffic jams and air pollution from the commuting employees who couldn’t afford to live there.  It’s so bad that it’s nationally known as the Aspen effect.

The developer, Curtis/Affordable Housing

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Given the not so big home trend, here are the reasons why people are downsizing with zest:

Less $$$
Less house means more disposable income through smaller mortgage payments, heating and cooling bills, and property taxes.  This is especially a concern where interest rates and energy prices are rising.

Less Maintenance
Less house means less house to clean, lawns to mow, things to fix.  If you’re single, you’d rather be out socializing.  If you have a kids, you’d rather be spending time with

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The average area of living space per occupant in the U.S. was 290 s.f. in 1950, 446 s.f. in 1970, 800 s.f. in the 90s, to a whopping 939 s.f. today.  However, according to the Wall Street Journal, that trend may have hit its peak:

“The golden age of McMansions may be coming to an end. These oversized homes - characterized by sprawling layouts on small lots, and built in cookie-cutter style by big developers - fueled much of the housing boom. But thanks to rising energy and mortgage costs,

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It’s the same old story - creatives would kill to buy a home downtown, but they’re simply too expensive, so they end up in a less desirable location on the outskirts while all the lawyers and executives move in instead.

Enter the ipad (though the name may have been challenged by Apple), pioneered in the UK by Barratt Homes, and packing a whole lot of value in a tiny package, get it?

Granted, the ipad isn’t the solution for most of the creative class, but if you’re looking to own a cool

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In the words of Stefanos Polyzoides from the acclaimed urban design firm, Moule & Polzoides, “The rules of courtyard housing are very simple.  You enter into a complex and then you direct access to the individual units from the common courtyard. All parking is underground. Apartments facing the street also have front doors onto the street.“

What are the benefits?  Many…

- The building’s exterior can easily be designed to fit seamlessly into an urban fabric, as shown in

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It’s not wilderness, but it’s not concrete either.  Briefly mentioned in the previous entry, this next phase of the highly successful Albuquerque High Lofts, the BelVedere, will feature 54 residences, each gifted with a doorway leading into a courtyard.

Courtyard homes have a deep Mediterranean and Southwest tradition in the area (more tomorrow on courtyard housing), which is largely a response to the hot, dry climate, but have been largely ignored in favor of air conditioning.  Thankfully,

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That’s a typical creative class response (and an actual one too) comparing something like the Albuquerque High Lofts (pictured) with the nearby luxury Gold Avenue Lofts.

To elaborate, the Gold Avenue Lofts are housed in one massive building, described as ‘sterile’, ‘boring’ and ‘safe’, with prices starting at $300,000 for large 1100 s.f. units.  Only 8 of the 41 units were initially sold after completion.  Meanwhile, the Albuquerque High Lofts began at just $150,000 for units as not so big as

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Yesterday’s entry profiled how a subdivision was practically transformed into a small city, and while that may have been controversial if the homes had any historical significance (they really didn’t), there’s no question that replacing a brownfield (polluted site) with attractive housing, retail and a public plaza would have any opposition… right?

Well, perhaps a little, since density is still a dirty word (people still won’t forgive the high-rise urban renewal projects a few decades ago),

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Everything and anything remotely resembling a residential loft is being marketed as loft (a short history here), so rather than resist, it may be more effective to sub-categorize them.  Based on Barbara Thornburg’s You call this a loft? in the L.A. Times…

Artist’s loft - A true artist loft is like a blank canvas - unfinished, unfurnished, and costs next to nothing.  These also tend to be expansive (ie 4000 s.f.) to accommodate the artists’ work.  This is what SOHO used to have a lot of many,

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It sure seems like it, based on this Wall Street Journal article.

First of all, for the first time ever people are finding it cooler to live in multi-family homes than single-family homes - the median condo price for the fourth quarter of 2005 was $228,000 compared to single-family homes at $213,000, but if you read this blog regularly, you already knew that.

Developers are finally starting to take advantage of this demand - Urban Lofts Townhomes sold 60% more loft units in 2005 over the

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It’s a brand new building.  It’s in the heart of San Francisco.  It’s incredibly affordable.  It’s a certified green building.  It has a roof deck with great views.  But it’s probably not for you.

Eleven of the newly constructed Plaza Apartments units will have rents at 13% of area median income (AMI), sixteen at 35%, and the remaining 79 at 42%.  Yes, there are government subsidies involved, but there are two main factors that allow such high-quality housing to be rented at such low cost:

-

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One of the greatest barriers to living downtown is that the scarcity of housing has often made it largely unaffordable.  Fortunately there are further signs that this will start to correct itself as more major home builders make the shift to cities, and not only that, but creating new urban divisions to do so.

National builder John Laing Homes established a new division, John Laing Urban, that “will focus on development of new communities that will cater to the growing demand for housing

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I’m working with a number of developers that are in various stages of planning, and we’re investigating a strategy of developing buildings that are more anthropomorphic - taller than they are wide, just as is the rule for windows.  Verticality is more human-like, horizontality more machine-like (ie cars, ships, planes).

The factors in favor of smaller, vertical buildings, as far as value to the home buyer/resident:
1. People feel more like they own their own place the less hallway they have

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Small town leaders want to know… which small town can we use as a model?  While it doesn’t quite have the urban fabric of an Alexandria, VA, Boise, ID is running circles around most small towns as far as the level of increase in quality of life and economic performance.

A few months ago I noted Boise’s recognition by Forbes as the Best Place to Work, thanks to low business costs, access to talent, and a high quality of life.  Before that, Boise was listed on Fast Company Magazine’s Next Small

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This one’s going residential.  The demand for downtown housing is a lot stronger in many downtowns than the softened office market, mainly because the supply of office buildings dwarfs the number of residential ones.

Office space is more profitable, but… - Yes, building owners make more money off of corporate office tenants than residential ones, but just as rich residential tenants are more profitable than middle-class ones, there are only so much of them to go around.  Downtowns are

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The Wall Street Journal just published what it feels are the hottest trends in housing.  What does this mean for cooltowns?

1. Short on space: Voter concerns that sprawl is compromising their quality of life has led to a shortage of developable land, which means more developers are investing in urban areas.

2. Strained budgets: A third of American households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and only 15% of Californians can afford a median-priced home, thus…

3. A shrinking

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Absolutely, in downtown Buffalo, if you have the income of a typical artist.  The destination is Holling Place, and this isn’t a run-down apartment in a neglected neighborhood.

The lofts feature high ceilings, great city views, exposed duct work, expansive windows, hardwood floors and fitness room.  They’re also walking distance to the subway station, shopping, city square, sports arena, major park and the county library.  And if you’re a creative without a whole lot of disposable income, the

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Yep, it’s true.  The National Association of Realtors reported that in fourth quarter of 2005 the national median price of a condo ($223,500) was higher than that of a single-family home ($218,600.)  Of course for regular readers of this blog, it’ll come as no surprise - we know what we want, and we know what our peers want - affordability, walkability, convenience, entertainment… and the fact that married with kids’ are less than 20% of net new household growth.

Read the full story in the

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Now that the national homebuilders are on the urban homebuilding bandwagon, let’s hope they don’t take the Walmart, GM, Safeway, United Airlines approach of mass-production.  While it’s unlikely, there is hope that one of them will indeed come to a true understanding of what no-frills chic is, defined by Trendwatching.com as “low cost goods and services that add design, third-party high quality elements and/or exceptional customer service to create top quality experiences at bottom