'Young Turks' take on Seattle

The group's members are firm in their belief that denser neighborhoods is the key to success in their charge to transform Seattle from a trendy city into an urban nirvana.

By MARC STILES
Special to the Journal of Commerce

Anyone seeking out the people who in the next 10 to 20 years will play key roles in developing the urban landscapes of the Puget Sound region should scout out Seattle's pubs on certain weeknights.

Some of the "Young Turks Group" survey the city: (from left) Scott Surdyke of Simpson Housing; Brian Massie of Security Properties, Matthew Gardner of Gardner Johnson; Dayna Dealy of Lorig Associates; Kris Vonoy of NB Design; Scott MacKay of Harbor Properties; Tom Warren of Trammel Crow and (kneeling) Scott Nodland of the Low Income Housing Institute. Photo by Sam Bennett.

If members of the search party hit it correctly they'll find a few dozen young professionals ardently but informally discussing what they can do to improve the face of the city. The gatherings, which began 18 months ago,  started out and remain extremely informal; in fact, the group doesn't have an official name, although some observers have referred to it as "The Young Turks' Club." There is no official membership list nor is there a regular meeting time and place.

Don't let this laid-back character mislead you. The twentysomething and thirtysomething members are firm in their belief that "densifying" neighborhoods is the key to success in their charge to transform Seattle from a trendy city into an urban nirvana. In addition to networking and brainstorming, the meetings serve as a respite from the number crunching and permitting hassles; members can talk about development in general philosophical terms.

"It's just a great way to talk about what's going on in the development world," says Dayna Dealy, a project manager for Lorig Associates LLC, a development company. "But it's more than just about jobs. It's about expanding developers' roles in shaping cities. It's to enlighten others to take an approach that's not so driven by the bottom line."

"We are the young bucks who in the next 10 years will be building the next batch of developments," says Scott Surdyke of Simpson Housing. "We have a commitment to each other."

This commitment is to approach development with passion and innovation so that group members one day will look at their works and be proud. Instead of the "beige Belltown boxes" -- a derisive description that frequently pops up when group members speak -- they vow that buildings chock full of character and style will be constructed in neighborhoods that will be the envy of urban planners from East to West.

Meeting helps members reaffirm their beliefs about "the nobility and integrity of our professions," Surdyke says.

Discussions are eclectic. What, for instance, should be done to make the Pine Street overpass above Interstate 5 a more inviting gateway from downtown to the burgeoning residential neighborhoods of Capitol and First hills?  How can new buildings be designed and built with real character and innovative materials while still maintaining the developer's profit? And who at City Hall can help clear seemingly insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles?

At the heart of these and many other questions is the group's ultimate goal: successfully increasing the density of neighborhoods to create urban oases.

"In general, we believe increasing density helps. It helps with traffic and brings a critical mass of people downtown," says Tom Warren, a development partner at Trammell Crow Residential. "Everyone (in the group) is concerned about development and concerned with the quality of development downtown."

To see what works, members have toured highly acclaimed projects, such as Kauri Investment's Monique Lofts on Capitol Hill and Harbor Properties' Harbor Steps in downtown Seattle.

"That's one of the most enjoyable things for me," says Warren.

The group began when Scott Mackay and Paul Bottge, who at the time worked for the real estate appraisal company Wronsky, Gibbons & Reily, met over beers to talk about development. "It just sort of dawned on us that we should invite a couple friends," recalls Mackay. "It just sort of kept growing." (Mackay now works for Harbor Properties and Bottge is with Intracorp.)

"I thought it was a brilliant idea because by getting together the up-and-coming developers in the city would create a synergy," says Brian Massie of Security Properties Inc., a national residential development company based in Seattle.

Mackay estimates that 50 people have attended the meetings that sometimes are called the Developers' Happy Hour and other times tagged the Developers and Designers' Happy Hour. Typically, 15 to 25 people will circulate in whichever pub or billiards parlor the group meets. Sometimes the meetings are on the third Wednesday of the month; other times they're on the third Thursday. It depends on members' schedules. As for a format, forget about it. Typically, attendees end up breaking into smaller groups with members going from table to table.

According to Surdyke, 80 percent of the members either are not from the Northwest or were educated in other regions. Members share design elements and neighborhood planning tips that are common on the East Coast, in the South, the Midwest and Canada -- particularly Vancouver, B.C.

One Vancouver concept the group finds intriguing is called green streets. These are common in Vancouver's fashionable West End. In Seattle, the city requires retail at the bases of highrise condominiums and apartment houses. Vancouver, by contrast, allows lawns off of residences that are at the bases of the towers; the retail requirement is limited to several main streets in the neighborhood.

"It's seems like such a simple solution," says Surdyke, who adds that group members think a green street plan might work in Seattle's Denny Triangle.

It's doubtful the group will ever become an official organization that lobbies City Hall for green streets or anything else. Members don't seem to want that; it would spoil the informal nature.

"Our common purpose is to see the quality of development continue to improve and new ideas brought in from other regions while (gatherings) remain extremely causal," says Mackay.

"The bottom line is that it's a group of people who are extremely passionate about what they do," adds member Matthew Gardner, a land-use economist of the firm Gardner-Johnson. "They are willing to share ideas and thoughts that are not of a proprietary nature. It's a shared dynamic that benefits all involved."