The Charms Of Higher Density Housing

BY WILLIAM KREAGER
Mithun Partners

Prospective home buyers in the Puget Sound region are discovering that their home buying dollar does not purchase nearly as much house as their lifestyles and expectations require. They are forced to spend more money for a smaller house on a smaller lot.

To a large extent, this is due to the fact that by limiting the amount of land where development can take place, the Washington State Growth Management Act has forced land prices to spiral upward on the shrinking amount of remaining available, developable land.

While living closer and closer together may be the price necessary to assure the preservation of our valuable regional forests, farmlands and open spaces, it does not reflect the desire of most of the region's home buyers, whose preference remains a detached home on a traditional-sized suburban lot.

To further exacerbate the problem, the profiles of prospective new home buyers are far more complex than those of previous generations. The traditional family of Mom, Dad and the kids has now been joined in the marketplace by single parent families (post-divorce or never married parents), merged combinations of single-parent families (coming together out of financial necessity), couples who choose not to have children at all, and a growing number of single people who choose to buy rather than rent their shelter.

This new diversity is further complicated by the ethnic preferences and requirements of the rapidly expanding racial and cultural communities entering the home buying marketplace.

Despite these demographic changes, there are a number of generalizations that can still be made concerning home buyers.

Each two-unit building at Heritage Court on Cougar Mountain looks like a single large home.

Affordability in the relative price range of the buyer is paramount. Privacy and security are priorities shared among all buyers. Investment value, location and desirability of neighborhood (urban or suburban) are critical as well. Aesthetics, the attractiveness of the individual attached or detached dwelling, while highly subjective, is important also. When these housing characteristics are combined, the final product envisioned by most market segments is a detached home on its own lot.

The builders and developers who serve the new home buying public are attacking the challenge by seeking innovative ways of combining dwellings with land to control costs while still meeting lifestyle expectations.

The most effective way to lower housing costs is to lower per/unit land costs by raising the density of units. The key is to maintain the appearance of the single-family detached homes preferred by the buyers. This can be achieved by attaching the homes to each other in such a way that the combined units either appear detached or assume the appearance of a single large home.

Alternatively, high density detached units can be arranged in such a way that privacy is not lost and the resulting density is perceived to be charming and attractive. There are numerous examples in the region of successful higher density new neighborhoods which have been welcomed by new home buyers.

Burnstead Construction, working with Greg Hackworth Architects, built Madison Place in Klahanie on the Pine Lake plateau at a density of 7.2 units per acre. The detached homes use a number of effective tools to disguise the size of their lots including a charming variety of traditional architectural designs.

Garages pulled to the rear of the lot and narrow driveways using grass strips between concrete wheel tracks minimize pavement in the front yards. The homes with detached garages have the additional benefit of accessory spaces located above the garages which serve as home offices or, if provided with plumbing, act as guest suites or studio apartments for the older child still living at home or as a rental for additional income.

To create zoning regulations and density transitions which allow the City of Renton to meet the growth absorption rate required by the Growth Management Act, Northwest Commercial, Mithun Partners, and the Renton Planning Department worked together to develop a site/density concept to serve higher density urban in-fill sites. The Village on Union provides high-density detached housing as a transition between apartment zoning and existing single family neighborhoods.

Using traditional architectural character is another method of making density acceptable to the buyer. With the charm of turn-of-the-century Craftsman Style design, the Village on Union uses front porches and dormer windows to disguise its density. Traditional neighborhood features such as garages accessed from alleys and neighborhood pocket parks show the importance of careful site planning to make these new communities acceptable. Prices range from $152,950 to $199,950 for homes up to 2,141 square feet.

Among the smallest lots on the market in the region are those presented by Centex Homes in the Cottages at Northwest Landing, the large master planned community south of Tacoma developed by Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Corporation.

Set in a traditional site plan reminiscent of the historic North End of Tacoma, the lots, as small as 2800 square feet, feature surprisingly large homes of up to 1,490 square feet. At a sales price starting at $110,000, these homes are reaching buyers who thought that a new detached home was beyond their price range.

Attached homes can also bring the privacy and character of detached home living to higher densities. Serving the retired and empty nester buyers of Mill Creek, William M. Buchan Homes and Mithun Partners designed Amberleigh to recall historic neighborhoods such as Seattle's Madison Park.

The density of 8.5 units per acre is never felt because the site plan places the double car garages and guest parking off the street in the rear of the clustered four-plex homes. Each home appears totally detached and features welcoming front porches facing the street. Further softening the density is the variety of style including Cape Cod, Tudor Bungalow and Craftsman. The homes, sized up to 2,200 square feet, sell from $210,000.

Heritage Court on Cougar Mountain, an attached neighborhood of duplexes in Bellevue, uses architectural context to mask its density. Located in an "upper end" area noted as the location of two past Street of Dreams events, the new community treats each two-unit building as a single large home, with double garage doors tucked off-street to the side. The result is a charming old-fashioned "Father of the Bride," large home neighborhood. Heritage Court, a Bennett-Sherman community, will be on the market this coming summer in the mid-$200,000 price range.

On Malden Avenue, a block off the 15th Avenue commercial district, in the heart of Seattle's Capitol Hill, The Threshold Housing Partnership has built 10 new homes that appear to passersby to be two lovely old homes typical of the neighborhood.

Working with architects Stickney & Murphy, Threshold achieved a density of 42 units per acre by stacking two-story units over off-street parking. From the street the wide front porches and "old Seattle" charm completely disguise the number of units. Most units have small private gardens or porches. All units share a generous off-street deck area for neighborly gatherings or quiet private activities.

As illustrated by these projects, innovative site planning, careful attention to architectural character and detail, and new design concepts are the tools being used by architects and builders to serve the new housing needs of Seattle area home buyers.

Even with the major challenge to housing affordability, which is the byproduct of the well-intentioned goals of the State Growth Management Act, new housing can meet many of the desires for privacy, quality and value in the detached home character still preferred by the home-buying public.

William H. Kreager, AIA, is managing principal with the Seattle-based architecture firm Mithun Partners, Inc.