It’s built green, built well, and built unique (i.e. not cookie-cutter) by Cobb construction, minimizes our commuting, and is extremely efficient inside and out. This is the kind of urban renewal we all should hope for in our increasingly populated city/state/world. As an outdoor enthusiast, sustainable living matters a great deal to me.

In fact, I believe our development even improves this already great area near the Admiral junction, tucked behind the theater.

I understand long-time West Seattle residents frustrated at perceived hostile invasion by developers, especially if neighborhood input is skirted and the “craftsman”-cutter design is an eyesore. But keep in mind the reasons why townhome living makes a lot of sense in our urban neighborhood. And remember us too–we’re your neighbors and love living in this great community just like you!

http://pinehurstcommunity.blogspot.com/search/label/Kohary

But I stay with my original point, which is that it is very possible to do nice townhomes when the will is there. And I believe it can be done economically. Greg has 2 more projects under construction now on Capital Hill and after the lessons learned at NoMo I believe he will do very well.

One thing you did not mention however, those units you do not like sold-out at an average of $380,000 each if I remember correctly.

NoMo still has many units availabe at $575,000 plus. Unargueably, NoMo is a much nicer development, but $200,000 nicer? I am not sure about that.

At the time, I was hoping NoMo would be a lesson to developers that if they spend the extra money and build something cool, buyers will flock to it. Unfortunately however, the opposite is proving true.

$575,000 can get you a kickin’ two or three bedroom home with a view. That is what NoMo is competing against.

JM – if you had submitted your project to Design Review, my guess is that you could have built what you envisioned. That’s one of the benefits of Design Review: it enables code departures to achieve better designs. Another benefit is that it requires developers to hire an architect and to submit different concepts for evaluation – off-the-shelf plans are not acceptable.

It’s simply not true that cookie cutter design is inevitable. Take for example two projects built last year in the 5900 block of California. The first, at 5940 California, is among the worst projects I’ve seen in a long time. (Right up there with the NW corner of California and Spokane.) The other, NoMo12, is one of the best. The difference is that NoMo12 obeyed the law and went through Design Review, while 5940 piecemealed its permitting and thus avoided not only Design Review, but also SEPA, and skirted sidewalk and right-of-way improvement requirements as well.

A small handful of developers get it. The rest should be kept on a tighter leash so they don’t ruin our city.

rather than just tacking it onto this original post.