Four urban projects teach Northwest builders that there's always room for innovation

Developers hope to change neighgorhood ambience

By Matt Villano and Brian Libby

The covered parking, the tall buildings, the box-like apartments - urban life can be urbane, and at times monotonous.

Not anymore. Three new projects in Washington and Oregon will offer homebuyers options unlike any they've ever had. All three developments - Marcato and Villaggio in Washington and The Eliot in Oregon - show that even in the Northwest, where building and design have always been innovative, there's still room for something fresh.

Marcato

Perhaps the largest new project in the Northwest is the Marcato, a community living development in downtown Tacoma.

Eventually, the project will encompass three city blocks from Tacoma Avenue South to Court D, including single and multifamily housing and retail and public spaces. The first phase of the project is a six-story, 93-unit condominium complex named "Reverie" that broke ground in November and should open by December.

According to partner Michael Weinstein, who along with Rogert Hebert and four other Seattle developers formed an oversight company called Vision One LLC, the project will incorporate historical themes and will sport a contemporary design with a façade of brick, plank and metal siding. It also eventually will feature a number of walkways and skybridges, as well as steel sculptures by Weinstein himself.

"We want this community to be eclectic - a real representation of the vibrant art center that downtown Tacoma has become," Weinstein said of the seven-year project." When you have a project this size, you have a responsibility to make it say something to the casual observer, and we really set out to do just that."

Inside, the Marcato will boast the most state-of-the-art water intrusion detection system on the industry today - a high-tech system that uses a combination of copper tape, remote sensors, low-voltage wiring and high-speed cable connections to monitor moisture and keep property owners abreast of mold before it becomes a problem.

This system, dubbed Detec after the Conover, N.C.-based company that distributes it, already has received national media attention and figures to add about $1 per square foot to the cost of each unit.

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Weinstein said the additional cost is "well worth" the investment if it helps reduce the liability issues associated with water intrusion. Prices for units in the development start at $160,000 and go up to $700,000.

Villaggio

While the Marcato is designed to celebrate Tacoma's personality as a center for the arts, Villaggio is designed to celebrate the natural beauty of Washington's Yarrow Bay. Nestled between the Kirkland wetlands and Lake Washington, the complex formerly known as the Yarrow Bay Tennis & Sailing Club is undergoing a $32 million reconstruction and is set to be reborn. Once an ordinary housing development, the new Villaggio will boast 108 one-bedroom, 148 two-bedroom and 36 three-bedroom apartments. Many of these apartments opened in September; the remaining few were scheduled to open in May. Owner Skip Berg describes the transformation as revolutionary, and said the project offers something unique for residents who want to live along Lake Washington's shore.

"The theory behind Villaggio is to provide something that really isn't available anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest: a sophisticated suburban living atmosphere," he said. "People can walk just blocks to the local businesses, ride their bikes to the beach or enjoy numerous restaurants without the headaches of fighting traffic."

After a September 2003 demolition of much of the property, Villaggio owners invested more than $100,000 into each remaining unit, including marble flooring, granite countertops, maple cabinet doors, computer niches and instantly hot faucets.

The centerpiece of the community is the new Italian-style clubhouse, a facility that boasts a 16-ft. cascading waterfall, 24-hour fitness and yoga center, 21-seat movie theater and a business center.

On top of these amenities, the new Villaggio also incorporates a conference room capable of handling groups of up to 30 people, a redesigned cabana that features a lounge area with a full kitchen and a wet bar, sauna and locker room facilities, and a new 44-slip marina that offers 18-ft. and 28-ft. slips for boating enthusiasts.

The team behind the newly remodeled complex is the architectural firm Kohler Associates, design firm Hilary Young Design Associates and construction companies E. Kent Halvorsen, Inc. and Exterior Research & Design. The property is managed by HSC Real Estate.

The Eliot

The West End neighborhood in downtown Portland has been an area known for its industrial feel and subsidized housing.

The Eliot, a new 18-story, 226-unit condominium tower at Southwest 10th Avenue and Jefferson Street, next to the Portland Art Museum, will be a sparkling addition to the area.

Set to open sometime in 2006, The Eliot is the tallest of the recent projects by Portland-based developer John Carroll, which include Edgewood Lofts, Elizabeth Lofts and Gregory Lofts.

Project manager Jeff Welch said the new building's curtain wall will give it a sleek beauty unmatched in downtown Portland. "It's a much more interesting building than anything we've been involved with," he said.

Welsh added that the curtain wall is courtesy of Portland-based Benson Industries, and is "something special."

At the Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Partnership in Portland, said his firm couldn't design an all-glass building without having some solids interspersed to reduce heat gain.

He said his team designed something entirely unique, creating a "shadow box with glass panels over corrugated aluminum in some portions" to change in different light.

The project was not without its challenges. First, Andy Brown, principal with Seattle-based general contractor Howard S. Wright Construction Co., said there were a variety of changes on the project that required quick thinking and flexibility.

Secondly, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca collaborated with Ankrom Mosiam Architects of Lake Oswego, Ore., a relationship that required two signoffs on every single blueprint.

Finally, Craig Totten, project engineer with Seattle-based KPFF Consulting Engineers, said his firm had to change the grade across the first level of the building as the project progressed. Going from the southwest corner to the northeast corner required a number of complicated steps.

Belmont Lofts

Now the Portland is seeing projects emerge on its east side, such as the new Belmont Lofts in the popular Belmont Street area.

The $4 million, 36,000-sq.-ft. project includes ground-floor retail space with 27 one- and two-bedroom residential spaces ranging from roughly 800 to 1,200 sq. ft. and priced between $200,000 and $365,000.

Belmont Lofts is unusually constructed for a residential project. Although it includes light-gauge metal framing and structural steel as the support system, the floors are a heavy-timber framing system that consists of glued laminated beams and tongue-in-groove decking. "It is a commercial-industrial type system that traditionally is not used in residential construction," said Mike Purcell, president of Gray Purcell, the building's general contractor.

The wood construction required fire separation between floors and amenable acoustics, but that was done with assistance from a fire structure engineer and acoustical engineer. Wood also brought down costs significantly because it's lighter than concrete or steel, thereby reducing structural requirements.

The designer, Holst Architecture, and Gray Purcell decided on use of radiant floor heating with a gas boiler that not only is extraordinarily efficient (as high as 98 percent) but also eliminates cumbersome ductwork in the ceilings as part of an overall contemporary style.

"We didn't want a watered-down historical vocabulary," Holst principal John Holmes said. "We wanted to do something more contemporary but something that also had a context very appropriate to the Northwest and its tradition."

The contemporary form is softened by the extensive use of wood not only inside but out. In addition to interior wood use, the exterior cladding consists of IPE, a Brazilian hardwood often used in decking.

"We had hemmed and hawed about what we were going to do for the exterior skin," Holmes said. "Brick was an obvious possibility, and so was stucco. We felt wood better reflected the identity of the building. But again the concern was durability."

Luckily, Gray Purcell approved the material. "The wood is so dense and has so much oil in it that I think it should last a lifetime," Purcell said.

The contractor said IPE was a challenge to install because of its weight, density and newness of use in the region, but the wood also produced a learning experience that should give the company added expertise in future jobs.