The third time may prove a charm for the Muller family of Lou's Village fame.
After two deals to sell their former restaurant site to home builders fell through over the last two years, the Mullers have entered into an agreement to sell the 5-acre tract to the Bay Area's SummerHill Homes.
The deal is supposed to close in January. Tim Muller did not disclose a purchase price, but did say they have received "substantial deposits" from SummerHill, giving him confidence the deal will close at last.
SummerHill plans to stick with the current plans for the property, which abuts San Jose's San Carlos Street between downtown and Interstate 880, says Mr. Muller. Those plans call for 95 townhomes, with 11 live-work units abutting San Carlos and a 20 percent affordability component. The notion is to maintain the generally commercial flavor of San Carlos by having small businesses, such as accountants and lawyers, front the street with living quarters behind.
SummerHill, an active South Bay builder, thinks the site and the homes' anticipated $600,000s price points make a good match for the market today, says Joe Head, SummerHill president and chief executive.
The market isn't what it was a year and a half ago, he admits, but that doesn't mean there isn't opportunity. Buyers continue to show interest in what Mr. Head describes as the "mid-town" area of San Jose -- near to downtown -- and appear to like the rejuvenation the central city is seeing.
Mr. Muller is now working as a vice president for Alliance Title, helping to beef up its commercial title business.
San Jose ready to sell lot near old city hall
The City of San Jose intends to sell a parking lot near the old city hall building for residential development in a deal that is expected to top $27 million.
The 7.45-acre property, known as the E-lot, lies between North San Pedro Street and the Guadalupe freeway just south of the San Jose Police Department.
It would be the first attempt by the city to dispose of a portion of the property it all but vacated in August 2005 when it moved into the new City Hall on Santa Clara Street.
The city's plans were disclosed Aug. 31 when the San Jose City Council met with the Santa Clara County Supervisors to discuss the future of the old city hall site and other matters. The old city hall site is adjacent to the county government complex.
The estimated value of the land was contained in an appraisal dated Aug. 24 that assumes a high density residential zoning. Deputy City Manager Dan McFadden said the land has the potential for 17 to 65 housing units per acre. The $27 million is a conservative estimate based on 30 units per acre, he said.
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The plan is not a done deal. First, the city must decide if it wants to sell all the property or keep about three acres now used for parking for the police department. Leaving out that three acre section, which fronts on Mission Street, a sale would net just $17 million. The process is expected to take 18 months, Mr. McFadden said.
RREEF buys Summerwood Apartments
Money manager RREEF has acquired a Santa Clara apartment complex for $105 million, or $224,000 for each unit sold.
The deal is among the largest in Santa Clara County as measured by dollar value and the size of the 468-unit Summerwood Apartments.
RREEF, which has a main office in San Francisco and is part of the Deutsche Bank Group, intends to undertake a large-scale renovation of the complex, which is more than 30 years old.
Pasadena-based Hoffman Associates was the seller. It was the only asset that Hoffman retained in the Bay Area. Privately-held Hoffman had owned and operated the apartment complex since its construction in 1970.
The seller was represented by CB Richard Ellis' Bill Huberty, Matt Holmes and John Eichelberger out of San Francisco.
Jay Paul to sell Pacific Shores Center
Jay Paul Co. is selling its Pacific Shores Center in Redwood City, a 1.7 million square-foot, waterfront office campus where PDL BioPharma Inc. recently announced it was moving its headquarters.
The San Francisco developer has retained brokerage Eastdil Secured as its exclusive advisor for the deal.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 6, PDL said it had agreed to sublease just over 283,000 square feet at Pacific Shores from Openwave Systems Inc. through April 2013. From that date until December 2021, it agreed to lease the property directly from Jay Paul.
In total, Pacific Shores is 84 percent leased, according to offering documents that Eastdil is circulating announcing that the property has come on the market. Those documents do not include an offering price.
According to Jay Paul's Web site, Pacific Shores was a $500 million development and sits on 106 acres. The complex includes a 130-acre wetlands preservation project and more than $30 million in infrastructure costs.
Westcore buys Mission Falls Business Park
San Diego-based Westcore Properties, an active buyer in the Bay Area since it entered the market in 2004, has acquired Mission Falls Business Park in Fremont for $11.2 million.
The seller was Mission Falls LLC of Pleasanton.
The property includes three buildings with 128,000 square feet on 7.7 acres.
Two of the three buildings are vacant, and Westcore plans an extensive interior renovation, including division into offices of 1,500 to 5,000 square feet. The company plans to sell the units as condominiums.
Westcore's financial partner in the deal is Buchanan Street Partners. Its lender is Countrywide Financial.
The deal was brokered by Colin Feitchtmeir, Tyler Kemp, Kent Hillhouse and Steve Horton, all of Santa Clara's CPS Commercial Property Services.
http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/09/11/newscolumn3.html?page=3
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Clutter Busters Set the Stage for Selling Peoples Homes
Erasing what you consider to be the comfy “personality” of your home may not be a bad idea at selling time, as these before-and-after images prove.
There's only one time I could ever imagine allowing John Carter past the front door of our eccentrically furnished, colourfully decorated, and undeniably cluttered house. And that's when we sell it. Because what Carter and his colleagues at DEKORA do, using their various backgrounds in set design and marketing, is change your home around so it finds a new owner as quickly as possible. The idea of living on a movie or TV set seems a bit Stepford homeish, but then I remember open houses and being immediately turned off by grid-system shelving, empty bookshelves, and scary Spanish Provincial coffee tables. Maybe he has a point.
The technical term for the transformations wrought by this West Vancouverbased year-old company is home staging. "You can embrace it or ignore it," says Carter over coffee at White Spot, "it" being the first, vital impression that your place makes on potential buyers. "The downfall of ignoring it is a slower sale or lower price," he says. A 1999 study done by Coldwell Banker Realty in California reported that staged homes in the Los Altos area sold more quickly and for higher prices than unstaged homes. Carter cites one Tsawwassen house that sat on the market for two years before some astute rearrangement hooked a new owner.
The painful truth is that everything that gives your rooms their personality--family snapshots, shelves jam-packed with vintage finds, the dark green you agonized over in the paint store--can be anathema to other people. Doesn't it feel like slaughtering your firstborn to lose all that? "The way you sell your house is not the way you live in it," says Carter. Besides, you've already made the emotional break, you're going to be packing stuff anyway, and it's just a case of getting rid of that flaky old sofa now instead of a month down the road.
DEKORA works directly with homeowners, with or without their realtor present. (Realtors love home staging, no prizes for guessing why.) A consultation is $95 an hour (two to three hours is normal), which gets you a written report suggesting, for instance: "Lampshades on existing lamps should be replaced with new, un-pleated shades in a natural linen or homespun fabric... If possible, take the speakers down from the valances, and remove dog beds and the like when showing the house." New paint is a common recommendation. "We try to stick to neutral palettes to appeal to as many people as possible," says Carter. DEKORA is not in the major-renovation business, but it does organize minor cosmetic changes like replacing scuffed Arborite counters with new ones (or Maxim with Architectural Digest). The company can also provide a free estimate with room-by-room pricing based on them doing the work.
"We're totally up-front and honest," he says. "We may even love the way...[the owners have] decorated but it's not appropriate." They may also point out that 15 years' worth of newspapers and receipts lying around isn't appealing either. They handle the flip side, too, when someone has already moved, leaving bare rooms that need to be dressed with rented furniture.
Carter turns on his laptop to show some case studies. Here's a before shot of a 750-square-foot West Side apartment with a funky old blue armchair heaped with cushions. It looks personal and lived in...by someone else. "We're taking the show-suite mentality," he says (as developers do with brand-new buildings), which, in this apartment, meant installing different furniture, including a smaller-scale coffee table and wall mirror to give the impression of more space.
Looking at more visuals emphasises the positive--or negative--impact of ostensibly minor details. Replace that froufrou bedding with crisp tailored linens in brown and off-white, as DEKORA did for one client, and you have a setting that looks cool and modern rather than Tammy Wynette wannabe. A living-room after has less on the coffee table, colour splashes via small crimson cushions, and a big fern in the corner. The faux Vincent van Gogh over the fireplace stayed (!), but overall the place looks cleaner and tidier. Before: a whale-printed shower curtain, a tropical-fish-printed bath mat, and hair products uncaged; after: reeds in a glass vase, towels (white) neatly rolled in a wicker basket, and a tasteful botanical-print shower curtain. It's as anonymous as a hotel bathroom, but to the next possible owner, this is a good thing. Carter compares home staging to a job interview: "It's like putting a shirt and tie on..."
Projects take from a few hours to five days and, ballparking it, you're looking at $3,500 to $5,000 for a completely redone and redecorated 750-square-foot apartment. Still, this Extreme Makeover approach can definitely pay for itself (info at www.dekora.com or 604-876-4355), and there are tricks you can do yourself to make a place more salable. "Edit and clean," says Carter. "If you don't do anything else, do those."
http://www.dekora.com/news-media-urban_living.htm
There's only one time I could ever imagine allowing John Carter past the front door of our eccentrically furnished, colourfully decorated, and undeniably cluttered house. And that's when we sell it. Because what Carter and his colleagues at DEKORA do, using their various backgrounds in set design and marketing, is change your home around so it finds a new owner as quickly as possible. The idea of living on a movie or TV set seems a bit Stepford homeish, but then I remember open houses and being immediately turned off by grid-system shelving, empty bookshelves, and scary Spanish Provincial coffee tables. Maybe he has a point.
The technical term for the transformations wrought by this West Vancouverbased year-old company is home staging. "You can embrace it or ignore it," says Carter over coffee at White Spot, "it" being the first, vital impression that your place makes on potential buyers. "The downfall of ignoring it is a slower sale or lower price," he says. A 1999 study done by Coldwell Banker Realty in California reported that staged homes in the Los Altos area sold more quickly and for higher prices than unstaged homes. Carter cites one Tsawwassen house that sat on the market for two years before some astute rearrangement hooked a new owner.
The painful truth is that everything that gives your rooms their personality--family snapshots, shelves jam-packed with vintage finds, the dark green you agonized over in the paint store--can be anathema to other people. Doesn't it feel like slaughtering your firstborn to lose all that? "The way you sell your house is not the way you live in it," says Carter. Besides, you've already made the emotional break, you're going to be packing stuff anyway, and it's just a case of getting rid of that flaky old sofa now instead of a month down the road.
DEKORA works directly with homeowners, with or without their realtor present. (Realtors love home staging, no prizes for guessing why.) A consultation is $95 an hour (two to three hours is normal), which gets you a written report suggesting, for instance: "Lampshades on existing lamps should be replaced with new, un-pleated shades in a natural linen or homespun fabric... If possible, take the speakers down from the valances, and remove dog beds and the like when showing the house." New paint is a common recommendation. "We try to stick to neutral palettes to appeal to as many people as possible," says Carter. DEKORA is not in the major-renovation business, but it does organize minor cosmetic changes like replacing scuffed Arborite counters with new ones (or Maxim with Architectural Digest). The company can also provide a free estimate with room-by-room pricing based on them doing the work.
"We're totally up-front and honest," he says. "We may even love the way...[the owners have] decorated but it's not appropriate." They may also point out that 15 years' worth of newspapers and receipts lying around isn't appealing either. They handle the flip side, too, when someone has already moved, leaving bare rooms that need to be dressed with rented furniture.
Carter turns on his laptop to show some case studies. Here's a before shot of a 750-square-foot West Side apartment with a funky old blue armchair heaped with cushions. It looks personal and lived in...by someone else. "We're taking the show-suite mentality," he says (as developers do with brand-new buildings), which, in this apartment, meant installing different furniture, including a smaller-scale coffee table and wall mirror to give the impression of more space.
Looking at more visuals emphasises the positive--or negative--impact of ostensibly minor details. Replace that froufrou bedding with crisp tailored linens in brown and off-white, as DEKORA did for one client, and you have a setting that looks cool and modern rather than Tammy Wynette wannabe. A living-room after has less on the coffee table, colour splashes via small crimson cushions, and a big fern in the corner. The faux Vincent van Gogh over the fireplace stayed (!), but overall the place looks cleaner and tidier. Before: a whale-printed shower curtain, a tropical-fish-printed bath mat, and hair products uncaged; after: reeds in a glass vase, towels (white) neatly rolled in a wicker basket, and a tasteful botanical-print shower curtain. It's as anonymous as a hotel bathroom, but to the next possible owner, this is a good thing. Carter compares home staging to a job interview: "It's like putting a shirt and tie on..."
Projects take from a few hours to five days and, ballparking it, you're looking at $3,500 to $5,000 for a completely redone and redecorated 750-square-foot apartment. Still, this Extreme Makeover approach can definitely pay for itself (info at www.dekora.com or 604-876-4355), and there are tricks you can do yourself to make a place more salable. "Edit and clean," says Carter. "If you don't do anything else, do those."
http://www.dekora.com/news-media-urban_living.htm
Schizophrenia linked to urban living
There's no scientific evidence that city life makes people more depressed than rural life, but schizophrenia rates do differ significantly between the 2 settings, a recent International Conference on Urban Health was told.
In the past 10 years, major birth cohort studies in developed countries have revealed that the incidence of schizophrenia is about 2 times higher among people in cities, reported Dr. Ezra Susser, head of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"It's not clear if it is birth in cities, or upbringing in cities, but there is something about city living that increases risk," he said. Where you are born and brought up is a larger contributing factor to risk than genetic predisposition. Indeed, 34.6% of cases would be prevented if people were not born and brought up in cities, compared to 5.4% of cases that would be prevented if people did not have parents or siblings who suffered from the illness, Susser told participants at the New York conference.
The higher rate in urban areas may be due to environmental toxins, the social context that people live in, and contagion, including prenatal infections.
The studies also reveal a "dose response": the more urban the setting, the higher the risk. "This is one of the most solid findings in schizophrenia today," said Susser. But the association with urban living has not received enough attention because current research centres on neural imaging and pharmacology, Susser says. — Ann Silversides, Toronto
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/4/456
In the past 10 years, major birth cohort studies in developed countries have revealed that the incidence of schizophrenia is about 2 times higher among people in cities, reported Dr. Ezra Susser, head of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"It's not clear if it is birth in cities, or upbringing in cities, but there is something about city living that increases risk," he said. Where you are born and brought up is a larger contributing factor to risk than genetic predisposition. Indeed, 34.6% of cases would be prevented if people were not born and brought up in cities, compared to 5.4% of cases that would be prevented if people did not have parents or siblings who suffered from the illness, Susser told participants at the New York conference.
The higher rate in urban areas may be due to environmental toxins, the social context that people live in, and contagion, including prenatal infections.
The studies also reveal a "dose response": the more urban the setting, the higher the risk. "This is one of the most solid findings in schizophrenia today," said Susser. But the association with urban living has not received enough attention because current research centres on neural imaging and pharmacology, Susser says. — Ann Silversides, Toronto
http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/4/456
Friday, March 16, 2007
Water Sensitive Urban Design
Well, that's what we call it in Australia anyway, rain water tanks, rain gardens, biofiltration swales, wetlands, sand filters, gross pollutant traps are all critical parts of residential and urban stormwater management.
Planetizen points to a recent article in the Urban Land magazine, (usually subscription only, but follow the link below for this article).
Vogel believes that Seattle and Portland have come closest to designing natural stormwater management for an urban density that would please urbanists of all stripes. "Portland's 12th Avenue is a model for fitting nature-based stormwater management into the traditional street network in moderate- to high-density areas. In bringing even more of nature's functions into such areas, Seattle's "Swale on Yale" and Taylor 28 move further in the direction of...high-performance infrastructure.
http://urbanworkbench.com/water-sensitive-urban-design
Planetizen points to a recent article in the Urban Land magazine, (usually subscription only, but follow the link below for this article).
Vogel believes that Seattle and Portland have come closest to designing natural stormwater management for an urban density that would please urbanists of all stripes. "Portland's 12th Avenue is a model for fitting nature-based stormwater management into the traditional street network in moderate- to high-density areas. In bringing even more of nature's functions into such areas, Seattle's "Swale on Yale" and Taylor 28 move further in the direction of...high-performance infrastructure.
http://urbanworkbench.com/water-sensitive-urban-design
Newcastles Problems The Alleys
Downtown Newcastle is about halfway between a seedy late-night no-go zone and a hip vibrant small downtown core. At the seventh largest city in Australia, Newcastle commands great beaches, a great lifestyle and affordable living, but downtown is a mess. Here's my take on why...
Alleys
What makes a city lane or alleyway so special? Why are these often forgotten service routes so maligned? Why do so many cities want to develop them out and get rid of them?
Often the setting for fight scenes in movies, or a criminal author's latest murder plot, these hidden spaces are destined to hold some mystery, even some attraction, but more often than not revulsion. Even in my research for this article, I encountered the stench of urine soaked doorways, the disused back routes into buildings with pretty front facades. Alleys are perceived as scary places, but is there room to change the common view, get over the fear? More after the jump...
Changing Times
Alleys were once the service side of businesses, where deliveries were made and behind the scenes transactions were made. Alleys were where the nightsoil man did his business and where the workers too poor to own a house, made their home, a kind of secondary housing society. The history of alleys goes back to roman cities such as Pompeii and Rome, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as services and deliveries became more engineered and distributed, many went underground and alleys became havens for crime.
These spaces, tells architect David Winslow in the San Francisco Chronicle, "are primarily underused because there has been a disinvestment in them." David as a student in Rome, while researching for his thesis twenty years ago walked the narrowest streets and alleys, vicoli and found them packed with vibrant activity. He compared these to streets in his native American alleys, and considered how city streets could become more walkable. His answer represents one of the big themes in the New Urbanism movement, "small businesses catering to neighborhood needs, all within walking distance".
Newcastle's Alleys
In Newcastle there are three main alleys, which are pictured in this article. I wish I had some before shots, but we'll focus on the "afters" anyway. The "befores" are probably pretty obvious, a series of traditional alleys ripe for urban renewal.
In 2004 Newcastle City Council approved a development application for a multi million dollar installation to protect a weekend market place, in the downtown area. At the time, these markets were tipped to transform the image of downtown Newcastle, as a weekday office-work-only zone, to a weekend small business profit zone. At least that's the picture that the public were presented with.
But within a year the markets had failed, investors were scrambling for their cash, and all the effort and infrastructure invested lies dormant.
What Happened to the Markets?
Much social commentary in newspapers and around town sought to provide answers to this question. Aside from the quality of the markets or the cost of hiring a stall, what elements of the urban fabric could have been better managed to make this venture a success? The first and most obvious item was Newcastle City Council's simultaneous introduction of parking meters through out the entirety of the downtown core almost to the very weekend that the markets were set to open. Parking availability has long been a sore point for workers and shop keepers in the downtown area, and the introduction of metered weekend parking just made things worse for weekend trade. Once the initial excitement of the markets was over, patronage dropped rapidly with parking officers handing out $60 fines all around town. Parking isn't the focus of this article, rather it is used as an example to show the poor level of combined planning in Council.
How Could the Alleys be Better Included in the Urban City?
There are a number of things that could make these alleyways better;
* Randomness - random surfaces, cobblestones, mismatched surfaces, walls, windows, surprises, places to get lost in the crowd or a maze of streets. All of these things make alleyways special places, things that shouldn't be designed out of the space. It's the random that makes these places interesting.
* Use of space - mixed use development is important, residential, small commercial, stall holders, parking, shared pedestrian routes, bike parking, public seating, vegetation, cafes. The key is not to exclude, but rather to include, normal densities shouldn't really apply, many of these spaces would not meet fire department access requirements, for example 6m wide clear space in NSW, Australia), instead an acknowledgement that the space is being better used and provide a suitable level of alternate fire service for the area.
* Accessibility - One of the things that really bugs me about Newcastle's alleys is in the effort to meet accessibility standards, the whole nature of the alley has been destroyed, for an idea of what I'm talking about check out these photos...
Newcastle urban design alleys Newcastle urban design alleys
This space is unusable, during the short time that the markets were running, there were stalls set up on each turn-around platform, almost defeating the very purpose of the turn-around's! Now the existing grade of the lane here was steeper than the prescribed grade of 1 in 14 for wheelchairs, but can anyone tell me in all honesty that this is actually better?
What works... Incentives
Now, I know there is a lot of competition between Sydney and Melbourne, but I really think that Melbourne picked up on the international lane and alleyway trends for revitalization earlier on than Sydney, this from a recent Sydney Morning Herald Article...
Cr Moore's attempt to sidestep the inevitable comparison was destined to fail yesterday when she announced an overhaul of 47 forgotten laneways in the city. In a push to return some "energy and soul" to the city, the council will give businesses and arts bodies incentives to open wine bars, hole-in-the-wall cafes and public art installations along the walls of the city's neglected alleys.
Source: Forget Melbourne, changing lanes is right up city's alley - National
Incentives. what a good idea! Rather than charging for parking, let businesses give out free parking vouchers, rather than charging for currently unused or underused footpath space to be taken for cafe seating, lay off on charging for two years or something like that. Give businesses who are interested in revitalizing downtown a break, standard solutions will not draw businesses or the public into these areas, I was the only person walking through this alley at 8:30 in the morning on a weekday, tens of thousands of people work downtown, what's going on?
http://urbanworkbench.com/newcastles-problems-the-alleys
Alleys
What makes a city lane or alleyway so special? Why are these often forgotten service routes so maligned? Why do so many cities want to develop them out and get rid of them?
Often the setting for fight scenes in movies, or a criminal author's latest murder plot, these hidden spaces are destined to hold some mystery, even some attraction, but more often than not revulsion. Even in my research for this article, I encountered the stench of urine soaked doorways, the disused back routes into buildings with pretty front facades. Alleys are perceived as scary places, but is there room to change the common view, get over the fear? More after the jump...
Changing Times
Alleys were once the service side of businesses, where deliveries were made and behind the scenes transactions were made. Alleys were where the nightsoil man did his business and where the workers too poor to own a house, made their home, a kind of secondary housing society. The history of alleys goes back to roman cities such as Pompeii and Rome, but in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as services and deliveries became more engineered and distributed, many went underground and alleys became havens for crime.
These spaces, tells architect David Winslow in the San Francisco Chronicle, "are primarily underused because there has been a disinvestment in them." David as a student in Rome, while researching for his thesis twenty years ago walked the narrowest streets and alleys, vicoli and found them packed with vibrant activity. He compared these to streets in his native American alleys, and considered how city streets could become more walkable. His answer represents one of the big themes in the New Urbanism movement, "small businesses catering to neighborhood needs, all within walking distance".
Newcastle's Alleys
In Newcastle there are three main alleys, which are pictured in this article. I wish I had some before shots, but we'll focus on the "afters" anyway. The "befores" are probably pretty obvious, a series of traditional alleys ripe for urban renewal.
In 2004 Newcastle City Council approved a development application for a multi million dollar installation to protect a weekend market place, in the downtown area. At the time, these markets were tipped to transform the image of downtown Newcastle, as a weekday office-work-only zone, to a weekend small business profit zone. At least that's the picture that the public were presented with.
But within a year the markets had failed, investors were scrambling for their cash, and all the effort and infrastructure invested lies dormant.
What Happened to the Markets?
Much social commentary in newspapers and around town sought to provide answers to this question. Aside from the quality of the markets or the cost of hiring a stall, what elements of the urban fabric could have been better managed to make this venture a success? The first and most obvious item was Newcastle City Council's simultaneous introduction of parking meters through out the entirety of the downtown core almost to the very weekend that the markets were set to open. Parking availability has long been a sore point for workers and shop keepers in the downtown area, and the introduction of metered weekend parking just made things worse for weekend trade. Once the initial excitement of the markets was over, patronage dropped rapidly with parking officers handing out $60 fines all around town. Parking isn't the focus of this article, rather it is used as an example to show the poor level of combined planning in Council.
How Could the Alleys be Better Included in the Urban City?
There are a number of things that could make these alleyways better;
* Randomness - random surfaces, cobblestones, mismatched surfaces, walls, windows, surprises, places to get lost in the crowd or a maze of streets. All of these things make alleyways special places, things that shouldn't be designed out of the space. It's the random that makes these places interesting.
* Use of space - mixed use development is important, residential, small commercial, stall holders, parking, shared pedestrian routes, bike parking, public seating, vegetation, cafes. The key is not to exclude, but rather to include, normal densities shouldn't really apply, many of these spaces would not meet fire department access requirements, for example 6m wide clear space in NSW, Australia), instead an acknowledgement that the space is being better used and provide a suitable level of alternate fire service for the area.
* Accessibility - One of the things that really bugs me about Newcastle's alleys is in the effort to meet accessibility standards, the whole nature of the alley has been destroyed, for an idea of what I'm talking about check out these photos...
Newcastle urban design alleys Newcastle urban design alleys
This space is unusable, during the short time that the markets were running, there were stalls set up on each turn-around platform, almost defeating the very purpose of the turn-around's! Now the existing grade of the lane here was steeper than the prescribed grade of 1 in 14 for wheelchairs, but can anyone tell me in all honesty that this is actually better?
What works... Incentives
Now, I know there is a lot of competition between Sydney and Melbourne, but I really think that Melbourne picked up on the international lane and alleyway trends for revitalization earlier on than Sydney, this from a recent Sydney Morning Herald Article...
Cr Moore's attempt to sidestep the inevitable comparison was destined to fail yesterday when she announced an overhaul of 47 forgotten laneways in the city. In a push to return some "energy and soul" to the city, the council will give businesses and arts bodies incentives to open wine bars, hole-in-the-wall cafes and public art installations along the walls of the city's neglected alleys.
Source: Forget Melbourne, changing lanes is right up city's alley - National
Incentives. what a good idea! Rather than charging for parking, let businesses give out free parking vouchers, rather than charging for currently unused or underused footpath space to be taken for cafe seating, lay off on charging for two years or something like that. Give businesses who are interested in revitalizing downtown a break, standard solutions will not draw businesses or the public into these areas, I was the only person walking through this alley at 8:30 in the morning on a weekday, tens of thousands of people work downtown, what's going on?
http://urbanworkbench.com/newcastles-problems-the-alleys
Reflecting on new ways of urban living
Sadly, not many people have heard of Jane Jacobs.
The writer and "urbanologist" died last week at the age of 89. Her 1961 book "Death and Life of Great American Cities," a defense of her Greenwich Village neighborhood and a critique of city planners, was her most influential work. It changed the way we think.
Jacobs was a tenacious thinker and self-educated woman. Drawing many of her conclusions from empirical evidence, she believed that cities thrived through organic growth rather than elitist planning boards typically out of touch with residents.
The antithesis of the pointy-headed modern intellectual, Jacobs also was a character. After being booted from a city council hearing in 1961 for acting up, she dryly noted, "We had been ladies and gentlemen and only got pushed around."
When I learned that Jacobs had passed on, I wondered what would she have thought of Denver. A place where a city planning board must approve every patio. Where citizens must often deal with draconian zoning regulations.
What would she make of our countless prefabricated neighborhoods and standardized architecture? What would she make of Lowry and Stapleton?
If you haven't driven through Stapleton lately, you should. It's a mind-boggling experiment in New Urbanism, a movement Jacobs is often credited with inspiring. A pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, high density and eco-friendly - in theory.
Randal O'Toole, director of the Center for the American Dream and a Jacobs critic, claims it's impossible to know what she would have thought about these sprawling city 'hoods, because she wasn't a particularly "systematic or rational person."
Nevertheless, I suspect that she wouldn't have found Stapleton to be exceptionally urban at all. I suspect she would have viewed it as the suburbs being imported into the city.
After all, there's a 750,000-square-foot big-box shopping center in Quebec Square, featuring a Wal-Mart Supercenter, a Sam's Club and a Home Depot. The parking lot accommodates thousands of cars. NorthField in Stapleton already features stores larger than Luxembourg, and more are being built.
Nothing wrong with business. But hardly urban. And then again, maybe urbanites want a slice of the suburbs?
There is an undeniable migration out of the city. Even with the expansions of Lowry, Stapleton and LoDo, Denver population dropped in the years between 2000 and 2004.
And Denver isn't unique. Almost every large metropolitan area had more people move out during that four-year period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Certainly, Jacobs was no fan of the suburbs. She hated cars. Yet, she never advocated coercing citizens into living in these utopian urban enclaves.
"She specifically said that she didn't want anybody to use her writing to apply to the suburbs, or small towns or smaller cities that aren't great cities," says O'Toole. "Yet, that's what urban planners are doing. They are saying we should make every neighborhood into a walkable mixed-use neighborhood like Jane Jacobs' Greenwich Village."
These days, O'Toole feels that government, instead of imposing low densities on inner cities, has imposed high-density neighborhoods on the suburbs.
"What we see in Stapleton is urban planners who read Jane Jacobs and said: 'That's a great neighborhood! Let's make everyone live that way!"' says O'Toole. "Well, she was writing the book to defend her neighborhood from urban planners who wanted to tear it down."
The closest we come to her remarking on Stapleton is a 2001 interview with Reason magazine. She claimed that New Urbanists "want to have lively centers in the places that they develop, where people run into each other doing errands and that sort of thing. And yet ... they don't seem to have a sense of the anatomy of these hearts. ... They've placed them as if they were shopping centers."
Then again, maybe we've found a third way. A little bit of both worlds.
Either way, Jacobs made us think.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3755790
More Urban Living Lofts Planned for Revitalizing Detroit
Detroit may not be the ideal place to live in America. The metropolitan area faces a super-divide, with some of the richest suburbs and poorest inner-city neighborhoods in the country. But, downtown Detroit is slowly starting to turn the corner. I had the chance to walk around downtown about two years ago and was actually impressed by what I saw. They are really trying to revitalize the downtown. There are some gorgeous buildings, breath-taking views, and beautiful art pieces downtown. The connectivity is not bad either. The problem that I noticed: there were no people! I was walking around on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon and there should have been tons of people. This made downtown feel a bit eerie. Hopefully this is going to change soon.
One reason this may change is because of Detroit’s commitment and encouragement of downtown living. The city has established Neighborhood Enterprise Zone designations that gives incentive for new developments, including sharply reduced property taxes for up to 12 years. Two loft projects currently underway downtown are benefiting from these designations, Grinnell Place Lofts and Research Lofts. Both of these projects are industrial to residential conversions which often make for great lofts. Grinnell Place is located very close to Tiger Stadium and Research Place is near the expanding Wayne State University. Apparently there are numerous urban living lofts in the vicinity of Comerica Park and they have been quite successful, although I did not get to that area on my last visit.
I wish there were more buildings like these to convert into lofts in Sacramento. There are not that many industrial buildings that are good for loft conversions in the downtown area. This could be a significant niche for Detroit. Downtown Detroit has serious potential, and if they make the commitment to fixing the streets and making them more pedestrian-friendly, it could start the rebirth of the city. Please visit my photo gallery of Detroit, you might be surprised with what you see.
http://www.walkableneighborhoods.com/article/more-urban-living-lofts-planned-for-revitalizing-detroit
One reason this may change is because of Detroit’s commitment and encouragement of downtown living. The city has established Neighborhood Enterprise Zone designations that gives incentive for new developments, including sharply reduced property taxes for up to 12 years. Two loft projects currently underway downtown are benefiting from these designations, Grinnell Place Lofts and Research Lofts. Both of these projects are industrial to residential conversions which often make for great lofts. Grinnell Place is located very close to Tiger Stadium and Research Place is near the expanding Wayne State University. Apparently there are numerous urban living lofts in the vicinity of Comerica Park and they have been quite successful, although I did not get to that area on my last visit.
I wish there were more buildings like these to convert into lofts in Sacramento. There are not that many industrial buildings that are good for loft conversions in the downtown area. This could be a significant niche for Detroit. Downtown Detroit has serious potential, and if they make the commitment to fixing the streets and making them more pedestrian-friendly, it could start the rebirth of the city. Please visit my photo gallery of Detroit, you might be surprised with what you see.
http://www.walkableneighborhoods.com/article/more-urban-living-lofts-planned-for-revitalizing-detroit
On a Greener Future
Bay Area residents of the late 1930s must have been amazed at the industrial marvels taking shape around them. The massive bridge connecting San Francisco to the East Bay opened in 1936, followed shortly by the engineering marvel that we call the Golden Gate Bridge. Then, in 1937, work began on a new island that would rise from the middle of San Francisco Bay. Treasure Island was built as a site for the 1939 World's Fair. People traveled here from around the globe to learn about the latest technologies and scientific innovations that would transform their lives forever.
Today, Treasure Island has the opportunity to inspire a new generation to transform their lives through scientific innovation. Over the course of the past two years, the city of San Francisco, developers and the public have worked with some of the world's foremost designers, engineers and architects to forge a vision for Treasure Island. The resulting sustainability plan outlines what needs to happen to transform the property from a once-contaminated Navy base into what could become a model environmentally sustainable urban community.
Sustainable urban design is of critical importance for local governments. Cities have the power to address transportation issues, local greenhouse gas emissions and overall quality of life without having to rely on Washington to take action. Today, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, cities consume 75 percent of the planet's natural resources. As urban populations grow, it is increasingly important to balance the environment, the economy and social equity if we are going to achieve a way of living that can support our planet and our people into future generations.
The Treasure Island Sustainability Plan sets out concrete goals, strategies and targets that the developer will have to meet according to a specific construction timeline. The plan is essentially a guide to what should become formalized in construction contracts. The plan calls for 6,000 residential units, shops, hotels and entertainment facilities to create a pedestrian-friendly new San Francisco neighborhood. The housing units (30 percent of which are to be designated affordable to low and very low-income residents) will have twice the density of the Marina, thereby allowing enough space on the island for a 300-acre park and an organic demonstration farm. Every home on the island will be within a 15-minute walk of a transit hub that offers a short ferry ride to San Francisco. This means that on Treasure Island, you'll never need -- or want -- a personal automobile.
And with the challenge of climate change facing us, Treasure Island's homes, workspaces and entertainment venues should be constructed and operated in a manner that will not contribute to greenhouse-gas emissions. Building design will incorporate optimum energy efficiency and the street plan will maximize the potential for solar power. It is anticipated that during peak solar radiation periods, excess electricity generated by photovoltaic units on Treasure Island's buildings will actually flow back into the grid to help power San Francisco. At times when extra power is needed, the plan calls for Treasure Island to purchase 100 percent renewable power from the grid, with the goal of making Treasure Island a carbon-neutral community. Indeed, this project has a physical as well as a moral imperative to tackle the challenge of climate change. After all, the island sits just a few feet above sea level, making it potentially vulnerable to a rising tide.
Because San Francisco Bay surrounds Treasure Island on all sides, storm water runoff could further pollute its waters. To solve this problem, the sustainability plan also calls for wetlands to be constructed along the island's shoreline, using an abundance of water-loving plants. These plants help create an environment that will aggressively break down contaminants and, at the same time, provide valuable habitat for migratory birds and aquatic life.
We are making every effort to anticipate the need for and application of future technologies, so the design and construction of the project will allow us to use new technologies as they become affordable and efficient. Moreover, by creating a market for the greenest new technologies, the Treasure Island project will be a catalyst for environmental innovation.
Keeping an open mind to incorporating new elements as they become viable will also help us attain our overall goal of building a community that meets the financial demands of developers today, while maximizing future benefits to the planet. In order to achieve these goals, the city of San Francisco and the developer will need to work in partnership and with the public. Together we can design our way into a greener future.
Dash of colour in urban living
AFFORDABLE, stylish city homes can be hard to come by - which perhaps explains why would-be buyers camped out overnight to secure one of Tulloch Homes' new apartments in Inverness.
Situated to the north west of the city, Culduthel Farm is a cottage flat development, where buyers can reserve an Aviemore-style apartment with en-suite master bedroom for £150,000. Tulloch is also building a selection of three and four-bedroom villas at the site, and more information is available from the sales office on 01463-729 944.
In Edinburgh, meanwhile, Aspect has opened a new show home at its development on Peffermill Road (0131-459 2222). Although the first phase is almost sold out, there are still apartments available, with prices starting from £145,500, and the show apartment itself is available to purchase on the popular lease-back scheme, meaning the buyer leases the apartment back to Aspect at a monthly rent equal to the current market value.
Also in Edinburgh, Strathclyde Homes is offering two incentive packages at its Love Leith development (0131-555 0095) in Salamander Street. These coincide with a new release of one and two-bedroom luxury apartments, priced from £135,000. Customers have a choice of 5 per cent deposit paid or £750 cash back per month for 12 months.
On the other side of the city, Abbey Scotland's Devon Place Gardens (07838 148 578) is located just minutes from Haymarket Station, in the Coates conservation area. Only four of the six family-sized homes, built on the site of the former Cockburn's wine emporium, remain, with prices from £375,000.
George Wimpey has just launched two three-bedroom duplexes at Harbour Green on Waterfront Avenue, Edinburgh. Both offer spacious accommodation with private entrances and gardens, and come with three large double bedrooms. Prices start from £288,000 and more information is available from the sales office on 0131-552 0667.
There are views of both the Forth bridges, Edinburgh Castle and the city skyline from Upper Strand's Tower development on Edinburgh Waterfront. Featuring 41 one, two and three-bedroom apartments, duplexes and penthouses, prices start from £140,000.
In the west of the country, Carronvale Homes has just released a new phase of apartments at its Adagio Apartments (07838 148 578) in Glasgow's Burnside. Priced from £159,950, the luxury two-bedroom apartments include en-suite facilities and fitted kitchens with a choice of worktops.
At Forrestgate Developments' Capitol Park (0141-221 9191), also in Glasgow, a funky, retro-styled show apartment has just been unveiled at the development, which consists of one and two-bedroom apartments. Prices start from £146,000.
Located on a former greenfield site, Bryant's Parkhouse Grove development (0141-876 184) in Glasgow offers a selection of four and five-bedroom homes, and there are currently a number of properties available to purchase off-plan. The development consists of just 57 four and five-bedroom homes, and prices start from £230,000.
http://property.scotsman.com/news.cfm?id=366612007
Lofty ambitions Show spotlights urban living
Take a walk on the urban side today during Urban Affair, a showcase of artistry, fashion, homes and more.
You'll find displays and activities depicting the urban lifestyle, as well as entertainment, at the Phoenix Convention Center.
"Urban living is coming of age across the country and no more so than in the Valley," said Catrina Knoebl, Adrenaline Marketing owner and Urban Affair producer. "Urban Affair celebrates this exciting emergence with a one-of-a-kind event featuring the energy, activity, allure and attitude of loft and urban living."
Find out about:
• Urban design. There will be exhibitors showing products such as custom-made countertops, sinks and furniture and environmentally conscious building and remodeling flooring, tiles and paints.
• Downtown living. See what urban lifestyles are all about during the Downtown Phoenix Loft & Home Tour, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. DASH buses will provide transportation among more than a dozen residences, including Orpheum Lofts, Artisan Lofts on Central and 44 Monroe models.
• Urban media. Attend the 30-Second Film Challenge, featuring the top three teams of student, amateur and professional filmmakers. Teams each completed a 30-second commercial about urban living. These teams will be given a cash award during a presentation that begins at 1:30 p.m. The top commercial will be shown on various Cox TV channels during October.
• Urban fashions. A fashion show will feature semicasual, cocktail and special-occasion attire by top Arizona designers. Kara Janx, one of the top four finalists from the second season of Bravo's Project Runway show, will provide commentary on fashions created by many of Arizona's top designers. Janx will be available for questions and autographs after the fashion show.
• Urban music. You'll hear the sounds of Carlos Urtebey, 10 to 11:30 a.m.; Subterranean Jazz, noon to 1:30 p.m.; the Energy Trio, 2 to 3:30 p.m.; and the Chris Putrino Project, 3:45 to 5 p.m.
Urban Affair is produced by Adrenaline Marketing in collaboration with Downtown Phoenix Partnership and the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0930urban0930.html
You'll find displays and activities depicting the urban lifestyle, as well as entertainment, at the Phoenix Convention Center.
"Urban living is coming of age across the country and no more so than in the Valley," said Catrina Knoebl, Adrenaline Marketing owner and Urban Affair producer. "Urban Affair celebrates this exciting emergence with a one-of-a-kind event featuring the energy, activity, allure and attitude of loft and urban living."
Find out about:
• Urban design. There will be exhibitors showing products such as custom-made countertops, sinks and furniture and environmentally conscious building and remodeling flooring, tiles and paints.
• Downtown living. See what urban lifestyles are all about during the Downtown Phoenix Loft & Home Tour, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. DASH buses will provide transportation among more than a dozen residences, including Orpheum Lofts, Artisan Lofts on Central and 44 Monroe models.
• Urban media. Attend the 30-Second Film Challenge, featuring the top three teams of student, amateur and professional filmmakers. Teams each completed a 30-second commercial about urban living. These teams will be given a cash award during a presentation that begins at 1:30 p.m. The top commercial will be shown on various Cox TV channels during October.
• Urban fashions. A fashion show will feature semicasual, cocktail and special-occasion attire by top Arizona designers. Kara Janx, one of the top four finalists from the second season of Bravo's Project Runway show, will provide commentary on fashions created by many of Arizona's top designers. Janx will be available for questions and autographs after the fashion show.
• Urban music. You'll hear the sounds of Carlos Urtebey, 10 to 11:30 a.m.; Subterranean Jazz, noon to 1:30 p.m.; the Energy Trio, 2 to 3:30 p.m.; and the Chris Putrino Project, 3:45 to 5 p.m.
Urban Affair is produced by Adrenaline Marketing in collaboration with Downtown Phoenix Partnership and the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0930urban0930.html
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Urban transitions
Todd Nelson savors the memory of last Christmas Eve. He was sitting on his balcony, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, as a fire truck rumbled up the street, its sirens blaring.
Gone were quiet nights. Gone was floating on his back in a swimming pool, staring at the night sky filled with stars from his three-story house in the North Tustin hills.
But Nelson wouldn't change a thing about his new life in a Santa Ana loft, where he has less privacy but also a greater sense of community than in the suburbs.
"It's a lifestyle downsizing," said Nelson, 55, who also traded in his benefits-consulting job for retirement and the glass and ceramic work that he shows in his loft. "I don't have a gardener or pool anymore. I've gained a different kind of amenities."
"It just feels more like a neighborhood."
As developers build high-rise apartment buildings, condos and live-work lofts in cities from Anaheim to Irvine, they hope Orange County residents who have long cherished their suburban lifestyle will shift to urban living.
With traffic piling up on the freeways, some homeowners say they're willing to give up the space and privacy of their single-family homes and pay big bucks for condos they once thought less desirable than a house with a yard.
With housing prices at all-time highs, economics has also led young professionals to look at urban options and developers to build in industrial areas and working class neighborhoods.
"It's not a bad thing to have a Manhattan lifestyle in Orange County," said Pat Veling, owner of Brea-based consulting firm Real Data Strategies Inc. "Would that have flown 10 years ago? Perhaps not. But when you look at the cost of land people have to pay, the only way to go is up."
Demographics changing
Developers say other forces are also at play. People are staying single longer, baby boomers are working well into retirement age, and well-to-do urbanites from cities with a long tradition of high-rise development are moving to Orange County.
For Nelson, the change jolted him when he sat down at his dining room table and realized he was looking into his neighbors' bedroom across the way. When he walks his two Italian greyhounds, he can see into people's garages.
"It really is a strange situation," said Nelson, a divorced father of two. "You're much more in a fish bowl. You're much more exposed to other people."
For some people, that's a tough adjustment to make.
Cynthia LaBlanc, who owns a video production company, loves the convenience of working below her Santa Ana loft. But she misses her quiet life in Crestline, where she watched squirrels play in her yard and listened to the birds chirp on summer nights.
Now, LaBlanc has traffic noise all night and worries about waking her neighbors when she works late.
"You never really get away from it," said LaBlanc, 46, who is looking into buying a country home for weekend getaways. "It is downtown and so it's not really quiet."
Another challenge is getting suburban-size belongings to fit in an urban space. Space-saving tricks include buying furniture with drawers to expand storage.
With smaller spaces, it's a no-no to do things like stock up on canned goods because they're on sale, or buy in bulk at warehouse-style stores, said Tiffany Schwartz, president of Irvine-based organizers Clearly Efficient.
"There's almost a freedom when they're forced to downsize," said Schwartz. "There's a freedom in letting go of things and making decisions."
one size doesn't fit all
Knowing the challenges residents face, Beazer Homes is installing 4-by-8-foot cages above parking spaces in its 265-unit Anaheim complex to create additional storage.
Developers recognize that living downtown isn't for everyone.
"We are in no way saying this is going to be a replacement," said Emile Haddad, president of the western region for Lennar Corp., which is leading Anaheim's Platinum Triangle project. "We're trying to provide an affordable alternative to buyers that is closer to where they work and gives them a better lifestyle. That is really the mission."
Nathan Sheridan, 32, an attorney from Mission Viejo, loved living in downtown San Diego with his wife.
But once they started planning a family, Sheridan wanted to live somewhere where his wife wouldn't fear for his future children's safety.
"When you live in a downtown area, you've got homeless people walking by your place all the time. You've got people making $2 million a year living next to you, too," Sheridan said. "You've got to be a lot more careful."
Many people will cling to a suburban lifestyle long after their children have left home, cherishing the vast space and backyard patios where they can barbecue with family – so long as they can afford it.
Gordon Klein, 74, of Anaheim, swore off apartment living after he visited New York as a young man and saw people running in and out of concrete buildings like ants.
But today, the retired teacher enjoys the freedom of his three-bedroom condo – which requires less maintenance than the house where he raised his family. Now, he's thinking about buying into the Platinum Triangle to sample the new urban feel.
"There were a couple of generations who were brainwashed – you have to have a house to 'be there,' to 'have arrived,'" Klein said. "But, you can own a condo. It's what you put into it."
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/life/abox/article_885176.php
Gone were quiet nights. Gone was floating on his back in a swimming pool, staring at the night sky filled with stars from his three-story house in the North Tustin hills.
But Nelson wouldn't change a thing about his new life in a Santa Ana loft, where he has less privacy but also a greater sense of community than in the suburbs.
"It's a lifestyle downsizing," said Nelson, 55, who also traded in his benefits-consulting job for retirement and the glass and ceramic work that he shows in his loft. "I don't have a gardener or pool anymore. I've gained a different kind of amenities."
"It just feels more like a neighborhood."
As developers build high-rise apartment buildings, condos and live-work lofts in cities from Anaheim to Irvine, they hope Orange County residents who have long cherished their suburban lifestyle will shift to urban living.
With traffic piling up on the freeways, some homeowners say they're willing to give up the space and privacy of their single-family homes and pay big bucks for condos they once thought less desirable than a house with a yard.
With housing prices at all-time highs, economics has also led young professionals to look at urban options and developers to build in industrial areas and working class neighborhoods.
"It's not a bad thing to have a Manhattan lifestyle in Orange County," said Pat Veling, owner of Brea-based consulting firm Real Data Strategies Inc. "Would that have flown 10 years ago? Perhaps not. But when you look at the cost of land people have to pay, the only way to go is up."
Demographics changing
Developers say other forces are also at play. People are staying single longer, baby boomers are working well into retirement age, and well-to-do urbanites from cities with a long tradition of high-rise development are moving to Orange County.
For Nelson, the change jolted him when he sat down at his dining room table and realized he was looking into his neighbors' bedroom across the way. When he walks his two Italian greyhounds, he can see into people's garages.
"It really is a strange situation," said Nelson, a divorced father of two. "You're much more in a fish bowl. You're much more exposed to other people."
For some people, that's a tough adjustment to make.
Cynthia LaBlanc, who owns a video production company, loves the convenience of working below her Santa Ana loft. But she misses her quiet life in Crestline, where she watched squirrels play in her yard and listened to the birds chirp on summer nights.
Now, LaBlanc has traffic noise all night and worries about waking her neighbors when she works late.
"You never really get away from it," said LaBlanc, 46, who is looking into buying a country home for weekend getaways. "It is downtown and so it's not really quiet."
Another challenge is getting suburban-size belongings to fit in an urban space. Space-saving tricks include buying furniture with drawers to expand storage.
With smaller spaces, it's a no-no to do things like stock up on canned goods because they're on sale, or buy in bulk at warehouse-style stores, said Tiffany Schwartz, president of Irvine-based organizers Clearly Efficient.
"There's almost a freedom when they're forced to downsize," said Schwartz. "There's a freedom in letting go of things and making decisions."
one size doesn't fit all
Knowing the challenges residents face, Beazer Homes is installing 4-by-8-foot cages above parking spaces in its 265-unit Anaheim complex to create additional storage.
Developers recognize that living downtown isn't for everyone.
"We are in no way saying this is going to be a replacement," said Emile Haddad, president of the western region for Lennar Corp., which is leading Anaheim's Platinum Triangle project. "We're trying to provide an affordable alternative to buyers that is closer to where they work and gives them a better lifestyle. That is really the mission."
Nathan Sheridan, 32, an attorney from Mission Viejo, loved living in downtown San Diego with his wife.
But once they started planning a family, Sheridan wanted to live somewhere where his wife wouldn't fear for his future children's safety.
"When you live in a downtown area, you've got homeless people walking by your place all the time. You've got people making $2 million a year living next to you, too," Sheridan said. "You've got to be a lot more careful."
Many people will cling to a suburban lifestyle long after their children have left home, cherishing the vast space and backyard patios where they can barbecue with family – so long as they can afford it.
Gordon Klein, 74, of Anaheim, swore off apartment living after he visited New York as a young man and saw people running in and out of concrete buildings like ants.
But today, the retired teacher enjoys the freedom of his three-bedroom condo – which requires less maintenance than the house where he raised his family. Now, he's thinking about buying into the Platinum Triangle to sample the new urban feel.
"There were a couple of generations who were brainwashed – you have to have a house to 'be there,' to 'have arrived,'" Klein said. "But, you can own a condo. It's what you put into it."
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/life/abox/article_885176.php
Home stagers will transform a space for the express purpose of attracting buyers
SELLING| When this chaotic, “eclectically” furnished one-bedroom Kitsilano condo was occupied by a tenant, no one cared how it was decorated. Then it went on the market. Suddenly, décor mattered. A lot.
If you want to sell in this market, sell fast and sell high, you’ve got to look good. Call in the stagers.
“The chaotic styling went throughout,” recalls Sandy Arthur, a former set designer turned home stager who transformed the condo into a calm modern enclave that everyone wanted to buy as is. “The furnishings were all too large for the small space, it had only one chair in the living room and it needed to be better defined as a living room.”
Luckily the tenant was moving out and taking her furnishings with her, leaving Arthur with a slightly dirty but otherwise clean slate from which to work. But she would have done much the same thing if the furnishings had been the owner’s. She’d clear out, re-arrange, fix.
Home staging is the trend in real estate. It takes a home or vacant space and temporarily furnishes it so that prospective buyers can visualize what it could be. It takes the boiling cinnamon or cookies in the oven trick to new heights. And according to anecdotal evidence and one ad hoc study, it seems to work like a charm, selling homes faster and for much higher prices that they would have sold before.
Sometimes stagers just rearrange the furniture and clear out the clutter and the personal effects, such as family photos, collections and ethnic art.
But the other times a lot of work needs to be done, says John Carter, of DEKORA, a West Vancouver-based home-staging company. Maybe there’s dog odour and hair, maybe there are really dramatic colours on the walls, maybe the carpet is a disaster. Maybe the design is all ‘80s peach tones and chrome. Maybe it’s eclectic.
The problem with the way we decorate our homes, is that we are so very personal about it. Prospective buyers get distracted; they start to feel like they are intruding into someone else’s space. What sellers want is for the buyers to feel like they are walking into something that is already theirs. They also want to minimize the negatives and accentuate the positives.
The Kitsilano condo was fairly dark and small. Arthur knew she needed to come up with a design that brightened it up and demonstrated the best uses for the rooms, without distracting the buyer.
First up was to freshen the paint and clean the carpets. The walls already had a neutral tone, so she just gave them another coat.
Then she carefully furnished the suite with pieces that fit its scale. She knew that people like to see a living room that can accommodate guests and good conversation. So she provided seating for four people rather than the one oversized seat facing a TV that the tenant had there.
She yanked the TV and the large entertainment unit, and used the space for chairs and a small chest. Arthur almost always removes the art from the walls and replaces it with choices that would appeal to most sensibilities. In this case she used monochromatics. It matched the black-and-white theme of
the furnishings.
And because people are said to make up their minds within minutes of seeing a place, she always adds all the small touches; the apples on the table, a new welcome mat at the door, a few flower planters hung outside and in a case of a house, power washing the walkway.
Home staging is different from having your home professionally decorated in that it is temporary and doesn’t have to appeal to the owners tastes. It is designed to offend no one, while showing off best used ones.
DEKORA generally rents most of its furnishings to keeps the costs down, but in this case, Arthur visited the West Vancouver home of owner Anne Marie DeLuise and selected a few pieces from there as well. As former film set decorators, the DEKORA home stagers know how to keep to a budget and where to find savings. It helps keep costs down, says Carter.
Not that staging is cheap. It cost DeLuise $2000 and because she was one of the first, she only paid for the materials. Arthur threw in her fee as a way to get started in the business.
Carter says the cost depends entirely on how much needs to be done. It can range from $150 to rearrange a few pieces of furniture and declutter to $10,000 to do major repairs. It also depends on the size of the home.
“A lot of people don’t want to put out that kind of money,” says DeLuise. “But I really believe that small investment will pay for itself.”
In this case, after it was staged, the DeLuises decided to increase the asking price by $10,000. The market was hot and the place looked great. They ended up selling it for $3,000 less than the asking price which was $7000 more than they had anticipated getting before they staged it.
“It was well worth it,” she says.
A real estate agent in Los Altos, Calif., conducted her own study to determine if staging really does improve prices and selling times. She analyzed 2,772 properties sold between March 1 and Sept. 30 1999, in eight Californian cities. Of those, 129 properties, including condominiums, townhouses and single family residences, had been staged. They ranged in list price from $229,000 to $4.8 million.
For the group of 2,772 properties, the average number of days on the market was 30.9, and the average difference in sales price over list price was
1.6 percent.
For the sample of staged homes, the average number of days on the market was 13.9 – less than half of the time for houses in the general sample. The average difference in the selling price over list price was 6.3 percent, nearly four times as much as for the other group of homes. The agent reported that the staged sample was not skewed by one or two outstanding properties. All the homes in the ample were fairly similar in terms of day son the market and net sales difference.
“Staging is great because it allows people to visualize,” says Vancouver realtor Andrea Kavanagh. It is tough for home owners to do it themselves because it is hard to be objective about your own stuff. And because home owners are busy enough getting their kids to soccer and baseball, doing the shopping a living their lives.
“now they don’t have to worry about it. There are people who will do it for you.”
Indeed. The Deluise’s condo sold in less than one week and everyone who saw it at the open house wanted to buy it “as is”.
http://www.dekora.com/news-media-time_to_sell.htm
If you want to sell in this market, sell fast and sell high, you’ve got to look good. Call in the stagers.
“The chaotic styling went throughout,” recalls Sandy Arthur, a former set designer turned home stager who transformed the condo into a calm modern enclave that everyone wanted to buy as is. “The furnishings were all too large for the small space, it had only one chair in the living room and it needed to be better defined as a living room.”
Luckily the tenant was moving out and taking her furnishings with her, leaving Arthur with a slightly dirty but otherwise clean slate from which to work. But she would have done much the same thing if the furnishings had been the owner’s. She’d clear out, re-arrange, fix.
Home staging is the trend in real estate. It takes a home or vacant space and temporarily furnishes it so that prospective buyers can visualize what it could be. It takes the boiling cinnamon or cookies in the oven trick to new heights. And according to anecdotal evidence and one ad hoc study, it seems to work like a charm, selling homes faster and for much higher prices that they would have sold before.
Sometimes stagers just rearrange the furniture and clear out the clutter and the personal effects, such as family photos, collections and ethnic art.
But the other times a lot of work needs to be done, says John Carter, of DEKORA, a West Vancouver-based home-staging company. Maybe there’s dog odour and hair, maybe there are really dramatic colours on the walls, maybe the carpet is a disaster. Maybe the design is all ‘80s peach tones and chrome. Maybe it’s eclectic.
The problem with the way we decorate our homes, is that we are so very personal about it. Prospective buyers get distracted; they start to feel like they are intruding into someone else’s space. What sellers want is for the buyers to feel like they are walking into something that is already theirs. They also want to minimize the negatives and accentuate the positives.
The Kitsilano condo was fairly dark and small. Arthur knew she needed to come up with a design that brightened it up and demonstrated the best uses for the rooms, without distracting the buyer.
First up was to freshen the paint and clean the carpets. The walls already had a neutral tone, so she just gave them another coat.
Then she carefully furnished the suite with pieces that fit its scale. She knew that people like to see a living room that can accommodate guests and good conversation. So she provided seating for four people rather than the one oversized seat facing a TV that the tenant had there.
She yanked the TV and the large entertainment unit, and used the space for chairs and a small chest. Arthur almost always removes the art from the walls and replaces it with choices that would appeal to most sensibilities. In this case she used monochromatics. It matched the black-and-white theme of
the furnishings.
And because people are said to make up their minds within minutes of seeing a place, she always adds all the small touches; the apples on the table, a new welcome mat at the door, a few flower planters hung outside and in a case of a house, power washing the walkway.
Home staging is different from having your home professionally decorated in that it is temporary and doesn’t have to appeal to the owners tastes. It is designed to offend no one, while showing off best used ones.
DEKORA generally rents most of its furnishings to keeps the costs down, but in this case, Arthur visited the West Vancouver home of owner Anne Marie DeLuise and selected a few pieces from there as well. As former film set decorators, the DEKORA home stagers know how to keep to a budget and where to find savings. It helps keep costs down, says Carter.
Not that staging is cheap. It cost DeLuise $2000 and because she was one of the first, she only paid for the materials. Arthur threw in her fee as a way to get started in the business.
Carter says the cost depends entirely on how much needs to be done. It can range from $150 to rearrange a few pieces of furniture and declutter to $10,000 to do major repairs. It also depends on the size of the home.
“A lot of people don’t want to put out that kind of money,” says DeLuise. “But I really believe that small investment will pay for itself.”
In this case, after it was staged, the DeLuises decided to increase the asking price by $10,000. The market was hot and the place looked great. They ended up selling it for $3,000 less than the asking price which was $7000 more than they had anticipated getting before they staged it.
“It was well worth it,” she says.
A real estate agent in Los Altos, Calif., conducted her own study to determine if staging really does improve prices and selling times. She analyzed 2,772 properties sold between March 1 and Sept. 30 1999, in eight Californian cities. Of those, 129 properties, including condominiums, townhouses and single family residences, had been staged. They ranged in list price from $229,000 to $4.8 million.
For the group of 2,772 properties, the average number of days on the market was 30.9, and the average difference in sales price over list price was
1.6 percent.
For the sample of staged homes, the average number of days on the market was 13.9 – less than half of the time for houses in the general sample. The average difference in the selling price over list price was 6.3 percent, nearly four times as much as for the other group of homes. The agent reported that the staged sample was not skewed by one or two outstanding properties. All the homes in the ample were fairly similar in terms of day son the market and net sales difference.
“Staging is great because it allows people to visualize,” says Vancouver realtor Andrea Kavanagh. It is tough for home owners to do it themselves because it is hard to be objective about your own stuff. And because home owners are busy enough getting their kids to soccer and baseball, doing the shopping a living their lives.
“now they don’t have to worry about it. There are people who will do it for you.”
Indeed. The Deluise’s condo sold in less than one week and everyone who saw it at the open house wanted to buy it “as is”.
http://www.dekora.com/news-media-time_to_sell.htm
Earth SmartSM Urban Living
When most people picture an "environmental" house, they see a spacious natural setting with trees, hills and lots of green. However, most people live in urban areas, where green is not the dominant color. Nevertheless, homes with certified environmental credentials are springing up in cities around the country.
Portland, Oregon, is a metropolitan area known for environmental concern that shows in its land use regulations. For more than 20 years, local governments have promoted higher population density as a way to make more efficient use of expensive urban services, such as roads, sewers and mass transit. Those goals are getting a boost from Portland General Electric's Earth Smart Program. In addition to building typical detached single-family homes, Earth Smart is helping make urban living more environmentally friendly. Two unique projects are City Life and the Belmont Dairy.
City Life
Normally a 40,000 sq. ft. parcel in southeast Portland would have been subdivided into eight lots averaging 5,000 sq. ft. with a single-family house on each lot. Instead, a coalition of local groups, including home builders, real estate professionals, architects and a community development group, collaborated on a project that squeezed 18 residential units into the same space. The project is called City Life. Portland General Electric (PGE) sold the site to project developers at 10 percent below market value. Then PGE's Earth Smart program provided technical assistance to improve energy and resource efficiency.
The urban setting puts the project within walking distance of an elementary school, a park and major bus lines. The emphasis on alternative transportation is reflected in the lack of garages. Automobiles are hidden from view behind City Life in an adjacent alley. Without garages, the units tend to be short on storage space, which is one of the few complaints of tenants.
Belmont Dairy
When the Carnation Dairy closed its doors in 1990, schools and homes lost a local source of milk and ice cream. At the same time, the neighborhood gained a post-industrial eyesore. The complex of five buildings--80,000 sq. ft. in all--deteriorated rapidly.
The site now houses 26,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail space and 85 Earth Smart apartments. The project is a successful example of mixing residential and retail uses in a densely-packed, inner-city neighborhood.
"What we're building here is the future of urban in-fill housing," says Douglas Obletz, president of The Belmont Partnership. "We're creating higher-density, environmentally friendly housing that enhances the neighborhood."
With the support of PGE staff and consultants, the project also made major strides on the environmental side. Roughly half of the existing buildings were retained, despite the need to reinforce aging brick walls to meet modern seismic requirements. Demolition debris was carefully sorted for recycling. Much of the material, especially brick and massive wood beams, were reused in the Belmont project itself.
The energy use of the residential units meets PGE's Good Cents requirements. In addition to high insulation levels and air tightening, huge windows and open spaces bring natural light into the units.
Sixty-six of the 85 apartments are targeted to people earning 60 percent of the median income. These one- and two-bedroom units rent for $450 to $550. The remaining units are market-rate lofts renting for up to $1,300. The affordable units are made possible with special financing from Fannie Mae, the Network for Affordable Housing and local governments.
Earth Smart
Earth Smart homes can be any size or shape. In fact, most projects are suburban homes typical in today's construction market. To get started, the builder fills out a worksheet to select the house's earth-friendly features. A point system allows flexibility to choose features in three key areas: health, resource efficiency and environmental responsibility. Energy features must meet Good Cents requirements. Program participants receive a printed resource guide and the assistance of consultants to identify techniques and select materials. The program offers blower door testing to promote effective air sealing in the building and ductwork.
NEW HOUSING TRENDS LURE DOG LOVERS TO URBAN LIVING
Urban living for dog lovers can be a challenge, especially when it comes to finding housing. "No dogs" is the rule at many otherwise promising properties, and those buildings that allow dogs often do so grudgingly, forcing pets to use service elevators or back entrances, and to avoid any common areas.
But there's a new trend in high-rise living: projects that not only allow dogs but also welcome them with animal-friendly features. In Washington, New York and Florida, high-rise condominiums are going up with dog parks and grooming rooms built in.
"The two hottest cultural trends in America: pets and real estate," said real-estate expert Bradley Inman, publisher of the Oakland, Calif.-based Inman News. "It is no surprise that they are being married in new and creative ways. Developers are quick to pick up on new trends to differentiate their products and find ways of feeding new niches."
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/uExpress/2004/10/25/607419?extID=10037&oliID=229
But there's a new trend in high-rise living: projects that not only allow dogs but also welcome them with animal-friendly features. In Washington, New York and Florida, high-rise condominiums are going up with dog parks and grooming rooms built in.
"The two hottest cultural trends in America: pets and real estate," said real-estate expert Bradley Inman, publisher of the Oakland, Calif.-based Inman News. "It is no surprise that they are being married in new and creative ways. Developers are quick to pick up on new trends to differentiate their products and find ways of feeding new niches."
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/uExpress/2004/10/25/607419?extID=10037&oliID=229
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Vancouver, BC, Canada Urban Living Lifestyle
Vancouver is the city that has it all: natural beauty and cosmopolitan flair. Set between the Pacific Ocean and the coastal mountains, it has a harmonious blend of nature and urban living. Gardens, parks, and beaches are as common here as heritage buildings, restaurants, and theatres.
While maintaining the laid-back attitude of North America's West Coast, Vancouver has managed to build an international spirit. As the third largest city in Canada, it shares an ethnic diversity and multicultural flavour with the rest of the country. It's young, lively, and the jumping-off point for many spectacular outdoor activities.
While maintaining the laid-back attitude of North America's West Coast, Vancouver has managed to build an international spirit. As the third largest city in Canada, it shares an ethnic diversity and multicultural flavour with the rest of the country. It's young, lively, and the jumping-off point for many spectacular outdoor activities.
Green Hills mixes urban living, Old World charm
Pedestrian-friendly complex going up on Bedford; single-family homes springing up on Glen Echo
The development of two properties in Green Hills will bring more residents and more businesses to the area.
Bedford Commons blends condos, offices
Bedford Commons, a mixed-use development on Bedford Avenue in Green Hills, is at mixed stages of occupancy.
The project that occupies a large plot of land on Bedford Avenue and Abbott Martin Road, just behind the Mall at Green Hills, will eventually house large condominiums, office space, a park and underground parking for residents.
"Some are coming," John Rochford, president of Rochford Realty and Construction, said of the development's tenants. "A lot of them are in. It's kind of an evolution as we build out the infrastructure."
"The medical building is full," Rochford said. "The Fifth Third Bank is doing very well on the corner. The next building is going to be Trumps on one corner."
Fifth Third Bank occupies one building, and some medical personnel have moved into another.
Once the complex is completed, residents of the upstairs condominiums will mingle with business tenants on the 11-foot sidewalks.
"I think the visioning process that the Metro Planning Staff had a few years ago that mixed office with residential is a very good plan," Rochford said of new pedestrian-friendly communities such as Bedford Commons.
"Cities are going to become tighter and tighter with all this urban infill. We're just a little microcosm of what's going on downtown."
Glen Echo calls for Tudor-style homes
Across Hillsboro Pike, just behind the fields of Hillsboro High School, backhoes are clearing land for a development called simply Glen Echo, which will consist of 16 single-family homes.
Bob Haley Builders will soon begin work on the homes, whose lot size will range from 7,000 to 11,000 square feet.
"He's going to do the first few houses right on Glen Echo," said John Sheridan with Main Street Realty, "and he'll probably start that in about 10 days."
Prices on the homes, whose Tudor-like designs were inspired by a trip to the Midwest, will range from $985,000 to $1.2 million.
"Bob's mother-in-law lives in Milwaukee, and he always drove by these Old World, Craftsman-style homes," said Charla Corn, designer for Bob Haley Builders, "and he just loved them."
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/MICRO02070505/703090446/1197/COUNTY01
The development of two properties in Green Hills will bring more residents and more businesses to the area.
Bedford Commons blends condos, offices
Bedford Commons, a mixed-use development on Bedford Avenue in Green Hills, is at mixed stages of occupancy.
The project that occupies a large plot of land on Bedford Avenue and Abbott Martin Road, just behind the Mall at Green Hills, will eventually house large condominiums, office space, a park and underground parking for residents.
"Some are coming," John Rochford, president of Rochford Realty and Construction, said of the development's tenants. "A lot of them are in. It's kind of an evolution as we build out the infrastructure."
"The medical building is full," Rochford said. "The Fifth Third Bank is doing very well on the corner. The next building is going to be Trumps on one corner."
Fifth Third Bank occupies one building, and some medical personnel have moved into another.
Once the complex is completed, residents of the upstairs condominiums will mingle with business tenants on the 11-foot sidewalks.
"I think the visioning process that the Metro Planning Staff had a few years ago that mixed office with residential is a very good plan," Rochford said of new pedestrian-friendly communities such as Bedford Commons.
"Cities are going to become tighter and tighter with all this urban infill. We're just a little microcosm of what's going on downtown."
Glen Echo calls for Tudor-style homes
Across Hillsboro Pike, just behind the fields of Hillsboro High School, backhoes are clearing land for a development called simply Glen Echo, which will consist of 16 single-family homes.
Bob Haley Builders will soon begin work on the homes, whose lot size will range from 7,000 to 11,000 square feet.
"He's going to do the first few houses right on Glen Echo," said John Sheridan with Main Street Realty, "and he'll probably start that in about 10 days."
Prices on the homes, whose Tudor-like designs were inspired by a trip to the Midwest, will range from $985,000 to $1.2 million.
"Bob's mother-in-law lives in Milwaukee, and he always drove by these Old World, Craftsman-style homes," said Charla Corn, designer for Bob Haley Builders, "and he just loved them."
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/MICRO02070505/703090446/1197/COUNTY01
Car-free Urban Living in Vauban, Germany
his year in Worldchanging's hometown of Seattle, one of our allies, Alan Durning, has been chronicling his 365-day commitment to living car-free in the city with his family. We've been following along, hearing about the challenges and triumphs of his undertaking. A little farther away, near Freiburg, Germany, a whole town has been working towards the same lifestyle goal, in a sustainable urban setting called Vauban which was completed this year, after 13 years of development.
On a former military base, 2,000 homes house 4,700 residents. It's designed to be an equally appealing alternative to suburban relocation for young families who want a good place to raise their kids. A number of planning criteria have created an atmosphere that incentivizes residents to bike or walk instead of drive. For one thing, a parking space costs $23,000USD, while an annual tram pass is free. To put into perspective the result of this costly arrangement, an article in the Christian Science Monitor tells us that just 150 in every 1,000 Vauban inhabitants owns a car, "compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper. In contrast, the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents."
From its first stages of planning, in the early 90s when the Vauban army based closed, the development was intended to be a beacon of ecological living, and a haven for younger generations in a country with an aging demographic. (According to CSM, one-third of Vauban residents are under age eighteen -- a sharp contrast to the age distribution across Germany.)
In 1998, Freiburg bought land from the German government and worked with Delleske's group to lay out a master plan for the area, keeping in mind the ecological, social, economic, and cultural goals of reducing energy levels while creating healthier air and a solid infrastructure for young families. Rather than handing the area to a real estate developer, the city let small homeowner cooperatives design and build their homes from scratch.
This distributed approach to the establishment of Vauban lent itself to a harmonious melding of grassroots community interests and government influence. A citizen's association was formed and legally recognized in 1995, and was actively involved in the planning and implementation of the district design.
In addition to encouraging car-free living, Vauban subscribed to principles of green building for the neighborhood homes. According to this abstract of the project:
Finally, in an effort to encourage social interaction and community engagement, the citizen association (Forum Vauban) "gives voice to the people's needs and supports their initiatives, invents innovative ecological and social concepts and sets up a communication and participation structure including meetings, workshops, a three-monthly district news magazine, publications on special issues and internet-presentations."
It's early on the Vauban's life, but like BedZED, this development appears to be a model for modern, urban, ecological living -- the sort that even a green-shy househunter would want, simply for its style, proximity and livability.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005639.html
On a former military base, 2,000 homes house 4,700 residents. It's designed to be an equally appealing alternative to suburban relocation for young families who want a good place to raise their kids. A number of planning criteria have created an atmosphere that incentivizes residents to bike or walk instead of drive. For one thing, a parking space costs $23,000USD, while an annual tram pass is free. To put into perspective the result of this costly arrangement, an article in the Christian Science Monitor tells us that just 150 in every 1,000 Vauban inhabitants owns a car, "compared with 430 per 1,000 inhabitants in Freiburg proper. In contrast, the US average is 640 household vehicles per 1,000 residents."
From its first stages of planning, in the early 90s when the Vauban army based closed, the development was intended to be a beacon of ecological living, and a haven for younger generations in a country with an aging demographic. (According to CSM, one-third of Vauban residents are under age eighteen -- a sharp contrast to the age distribution across Germany.)
In 1998, Freiburg bought land from the German government and worked with Delleske's group to lay out a master plan for the area, keeping in mind the ecological, social, economic, and cultural goals of reducing energy levels while creating healthier air and a solid infrastructure for young families. Rather than handing the area to a real estate developer, the city let small homeowner cooperatives design and build their homes from scratch.
This distributed approach to the establishment of Vauban lent itself to a harmonious melding of grassroots community interests and government influence. A citizen's association was formed and legally recognized in 1995, and was actively involved in the planning and implementation of the district design.
In addition to encouraging car-free living, Vauban subscribed to principles of green building for the neighborhood homes. According to this abstract of the project:
- All houses are built at least with improved low energy standard (65 kWh/m2a, calculated similar to the Swiss SIA 380/1 standard) plus at least 100 units with "passive house" (15 kWh/m2a) or "plus energy" standard (houses which produce more energy than they need, another 100 plus energy houses are planned).
- A highly efficient co-generation plant (CHP) operating on wood-chips is operating since 2002 and connected to the district's heating grid.
- Solar collectors (about 450 m2 until 2000) and photovoltaics (about 1200 m2 until 2000) will be common "ornaments" on the district's roofs.
Finally, in an effort to encourage social interaction and community engagement, the citizen association (Forum Vauban) "gives voice to the people's needs and supports their initiatives, invents innovative ecological and social concepts and sets up a communication and participation structure including meetings, workshops, a three-monthly district news magazine, publications on special issues and internet-presentations."
It's early on the Vauban's life, but like BedZED, this development appears to be a model for modern, urban, ecological living -- the sort that even a green-shy househunter would want, simply for its style, proximity and livability.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005639.html
A pinch or two later urban living claims a convert
For 25 years, Bennie Baldwin lived comfortably in a lovely four-bedroom home in the Oakbrook neighborhood of Lakewood. Raised a family there.
Then on Nov. 5, 2004, she picked up The News Tribune’s Business section, saw the headline, “Pinch yourself, this is Tacoma,” and believed these words I wrote about a downtown condominium project that had just broken ground:
“If you step into the Marcato showroom … the color and classiness of the faux dining room, kitchen and living spaces will slap you in the face so hard you’ll want to peek outside just to remind yourself that, yes, you’re still in Tacoma.”
Then last week I opened an e-mail from Baldwin’s daughter, Michelle, who informed me, “Because of your article on urban living a couple years ago, my mother made the move into the Marcato in January. … She keeps saying that the reason she moved was due to your article!”
Gulp.
People don’t really listen to the pontifications of a business columnist, do they? Certainly no one would risk a life decision worth several hundred thousand dollars based on my words, right?
“Yes, your article is what really got to me,” Baldwin said Wednesday when I met her and her sister/roommate, Liz DeCaterina, at their new condo on the fourth floor of Reverie, the Marcato village’s first building.
“Within a couple of days, I went down there to the showroom. I walked in and looked at the model, and I think I scared the girl,” Bennie recalled. “I said I’d sign the papers, and she said, ‘Are you sure?’ I made a reservation right then.”
OK, Bennie, but do you like it here? Or did I wrongly steer you into a 1,050-square-foot condominium in a neighborhood still trying to shake the dust of decline?
“I absolutely love it down here. Every day, I say, ‘Pinch me,’” she said. “I was ready to leave the suburbs.”
Whew!
And how about you, Liz?
She likes it much better than the apartment she moved from in Puyallup.
“I was never one to really sit. But you know,” Liz said, nodding toward the sweeping view of Tacoma from Mount Rainier to Commencement Bay, “life here is just happening all around. I could just sit, and time gets away from me.”
Wednesday morning’s sitting session including catching the 7:05 a.m. sunrise and watching the window washers dangling from the roof of the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel.
To Bennie, Tacoma isn’t foreign territory. From her corner condo’s wall of windows, she can see the AT&T office building where she started work in 1952 as a telephone operator. In those days, if you wanted to call Puyallup from Tacoma, you had to dial the operator to patch you through, she recalled. In 1995, she retired as the local manager of operator services.
Consequently, Bennie experienced downtown Tacoma’s 1950s zenith and 1980s nadir. Now she’s joined its nouveau resurrection.
“At one time, I belonged to the Downtown Tacoma Association, the board of directors of the Tacoma Symphony and the Tacoma Urban League,” she said. “I was involved in downtown, and it was pretty dead. I kept rooting for it and hoping it would get better and better, and it has.”
“I haven’t seen anything scary around here,” Liz added.
The two urban pioneers have, in barely a month, discovered Sixth Avenue eateries – Primo Grill, Asado, Masa. They regularly walk four blocks to the main branch of the Tacoma Public Library. Down the South 15th Street hill sits Sea Grill, one of their new favorite restaurants. They’ve seen independent films at the Grand Cinema.
Next week, they’ll walk to the Sheraton for the Daffodil Festival’s formal Princess Promenade, at which Bennie’s granddaughter, Gabrielle Baldwin, will participate as the princess from Eatonville.
“I tell people, ‘I read that Dan Voelpel’s column, and here I am,’” Bennie said, causing me to cringe again. “There’s a world of things to do down here. It’s coming back. It really is, and I love it.”
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/columnists/voelpel/story/6386282p-5696472c.html
Then on Nov. 5, 2004, she picked up The News Tribune’s Business section, saw the headline, “Pinch yourself, this is Tacoma,” and believed these words I wrote about a downtown condominium project that had just broken ground:
“If you step into the Marcato showroom … the color and classiness of the faux dining room, kitchen and living spaces will slap you in the face so hard you’ll want to peek outside just to remind yourself that, yes, you’re still in Tacoma.”
Then last week I opened an e-mail from Baldwin’s daughter, Michelle, who informed me, “Because of your article on urban living a couple years ago, my mother made the move into the Marcato in January. … She keeps saying that the reason she moved was due to your article!”
Gulp.
People don’t really listen to the pontifications of a business columnist, do they? Certainly no one would risk a life decision worth several hundred thousand dollars based on my words, right?
“Yes, your article is what really got to me,” Baldwin said Wednesday when I met her and her sister/roommate, Liz DeCaterina, at their new condo on the fourth floor of Reverie, the Marcato village’s first building.
“Within a couple of days, I went down there to the showroom. I walked in and looked at the model, and I think I scared the girl,” Bennie recalled. “I said I’d sign the papers, and she said, ‘Are you sure?’ I made a reservation right then.”
OK, Bennie, but do you like it here? Or did I wrongly steer you into a 1,050-square-foot condominium in a neighborhood still trying to shake the dust of decline?
“I absolutely love it down here. Every day, I say, ‘Pinch me,’” she said. “I was ready to leave the suburbs.”
Whew!
And how about you, Liz?
She likes it much better than the apartment she moved from in Puyallup.
“I was never one to really sit. But you know,” Liz said, nodding toward the sweeping view of Tacoma from Mount Rainier to Commencement Bay, “life here is just happening all around. I could just sit, and time gets away from me.”
Wednesday morning’s sitting session including catching the 7:05 a.m. sunrise and watching the window washers dangling from the roof of the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel.
To Bennie, Tacoma isn’t foreign territory. From her corner condo’s wall of windows, she can see the AT&T office building where she started work in 1952 as a telephone operator. In those days, if you wanted to call Puyallup from Tacoma, you had to dial the operator to patch you through, she recalled. In 1995, she retired as the local manager of operator services.
Consequently, Bennie experienced downtown Tacoma’s 1950s zenith and 1980s nadir. Now she’s joined its nouveau resurrection.
“At one time, I belonged to the Downtown Tacoma Association, the board of directors of the Tacoma Symphony and the Tacoma Urban League,” she said. “I was involved in downtown, and it was pretty dead. I kept rooting for it and hoping it would get better and better, and it has.”
“I haven’t seen anything scary around here,” Liz added.
The two urban pioneers have, in barely a month, discovered Sixth Avenue eateries – Primo Grill, Asado, Masa. They regularly walk four blocks to the main branch of the Tacoma Public Library. Down the South 15th Street hill sits Sea Grill, one of their new favorite restaurants. They’ve seen independent films at the Grand Cinema.
Next week, they’ll walk to the Sheraton for the Daffodil Festival’s formal Princess Promenade, at which Bennie’s granddaughter, Gabrielle Baldwin, will participate as the princess from Eatonville.
“I tell people, ‘I read that Dan Voelpel’s column, and here I am,’” Bennie said, causing me to cringe again. “There’s a world of things to do down here. It’s coming back. It really is, and I love it.”
http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/columnists/voelpel/story/6386282p-5696472c.html
Making Room for Salmon - many urban living standards must be environmentally adjusted if salmon are to survive in the Northwest
At a recent community meeting about restoring salmon to Puget Sound streams, a homeowner got up to complain. "They re talking about taking away lawns to save salmon," he said. "My kids need someplace to throw around a football."
In March, when the National Marine Fisheries Service listed nine runs of salmon and steelhead trout as "endangered," people living in cities and suburbs were forced to contemplate--some for the first time--their complicity in extinction. The listing area--huge portions of Oregon and Washington--includes Portland, Salem, and the fast-growing Seattle region, home to the Puget Sound chinook.
"This species is different; it lives where we live," says Curt Smitch, salmon advisor to Washington Governor Gary Locke (D). "We're going to try to accommodate rapid population growth, maintain a vital economy, and protect a natural resource. That's unprecedented."
Not much of the natural resource is left. At the turn of the century, hundreds of thouSands of chinook salmon returned to Puget Sound and swam up dozens of streams, where they spawned and died. Today, even with the addition of hatchery fish, the run is only a quarter of historic levels. The condition of other listed runs is as dire or worse.
The salmon listing means that residents of the Seattle area are going to have to cope with the sometimes major economic and lifestyle changes formerly borne by rural people called upon to save creatures such as the spotted owl. To restore salmon habitat, urban areas will have to rethink how homes and offices are built, how wastewater is handled, and yes, what herbicides and pesticides can be used on lawns. "Millions of people are going to have to change the way they live if salmon are going to be saved," says Susan Bolton, director of the University of Washington's Center for Streamside Studies.
And that is a tough sell. Governor Locke's initial, relatively mild salmon-restoration proposal--which included improved water management, logging guidelines on state lands, and stream-restoration projects--was rejected by the state legislature. And now that urban areas are affected, some new players are at the table. "With all due respect to the grazing and timber interests," Bolton notes dryly, "when it comes to lobbying, they're bush-league compared to the real-estate industry."
Despite such resistance, Jim Baker of the Sierra Club's office in Pullman, Washington, believes that the Northwest's salmon runs can be pulled back from the brink. Many important steps--like preventing runoff by keeping parking lots and roads away from streams--just require intelligent planning. "Salmon are remarkable for their resilience," Baker says. "What they need is clean, cold water and clean gravel for spawning beds. Then, just get out of their way."
Even though the cost of restoring salmon is sure to be high--$200 million from Washington State and another $200 million from the feds in just the next two years alone--some far-sighted politicians see salmon restoration as an opportunity to restore clean water and stem surburban sprawl. "By saving the salmon," says Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, "we may very well be saving ourselves."
And as high as the cost of restoration may be, the alternative may cost more. In 1990, the Northwest salmon fishery employed some 66,000 people, and contributed $1 billion to the regional economy. If the salmon go extinct because government failed to protect them, major lawsuits against federal, state, and. local entities are sure to follow from the fishing industry, Indian tribes, and others whose livelihoods have been destroyed.
The challenge facing the urban Pacific Northwest is one that many more regions are likely to face in coming years. Are we willing to alter our way of life to accommodate wild creatures? It may come down to whether we look on these necessary changes as Impositions that rob us of our bug-free lawns, or opportunities to improve our communities while keeping our natural heritage intact.
In March, when the National Marine Fisheries Service listed nine runs of salmon and steelhead trout as "endangered," people living in cities and suburbs were forced to contemplate--some for the first time--their complicity in extinction. The listing area--huge portions of Oregon and Washington--includes Portland, Salem, and the fast-growing Seattle region, home to the Puget Sound chinook.
"This species is different; it lives where we live," says Curt Smitch, salmon advisor to Washington Governor Gary Locke (D). "We're going to try to accommodate rapid population growth, maintain a vital economy, and protect a natural resource. That's unprecedented."
Not much of the natural resource is left. At the turn of the century, hundreds of thouSands of chinook salmon returned to Puget Sound and swam up dozens of streams, where they spawned and died. Today, even with the addition of hatchery fish, the run is only a quarter of historic levels. The condition of other listed runs is as dire or worse.
The salmon listing means that residents of the Seattle area are going to have to cope with the sometimes major economic and lifestyle changes formerly borne by rural people called upon to save creatures such as the spotted owl. To restore salmon habitat, urban areas will have to rethink how homes and offices are built, how wastewater is handled, and yes, what herbicides and pesticides can be used on lawns. "Millions of people are going to have to change the way they live if salmon are going to be saved," says Susan Bolton, director of the University of Washington's Center for Streamside Studies.
And that is a tough sell. Governor Locke's initial, relatively mild salmon-restoration proposal--which included improved water management, logging guidelines on state lands, and stream-restoration projects--was rejected by the state legislature. And now that urban areas are affected, some new players are at the table. "With all due respect to the grazing and timber interests," Bolton notes dryly, "when it comes to lobbying, they're bush-league compared to the real-estate industry."
Despite such resistance, Jim Baker of the Sierra Club's office in Pullman, Washington, believes that the Northwest's salmon runs can be pulled back from the brink. Many important steps--like preventing runoff by keeping parking lots and roads away from streams--just require intelligent planning. "Salmon are remarkable for their resilience," Baker says. "What they need is clean, cold water and clean gravel for spawning beds. Then, just get out of their way."
Even though the cost of restoring salmon is sure to be high--$200 million from Washington State and another $200 million from the feds in just the next two years alone--some far-sighted politicians see salmon restoration as an opportunity to restore clean water and stem surburban sprawl. "By saving the salmon," says Seattle Mayor Paul Schell, "we may very well be saving ourselves."
And as high as the cost of restoration may be, the alternative may cost more. In 1990, the Northwest salmon fishery employed some 66,000 people, and contributed $1 billion to the regional economy. If the salmon go extinct because government failed to protect them, major lawsuits against federal, state, and. local entities are sure to follow from the fishing industry, Indian tribes, and others whose livelihoods have been destroyed.
The challenge facing the urban Pacific Northwest is one that many more regions are likely to face in coming years. Are we willing to alter our way of life to accommodate wild creatures? It may come down to whether we look on these necessary changes as Impositions that rob us of our bug-free lawns, or opportunities to improve our communities while keeping our natural heritage intact.
Lofty ambitions Show spotlights urban living
Take a walk on the urban side today during Urban Affair, a showcase of artistry, fashion, homes and more.
You'll find displays and activities depicting the urban lifestyle, as well as entertainment, at the Phoenix Convention Center.
"Urban living is coming of age across the country and no more so than in the Valley," said Catrina Knoebl, Adrenaline Marketing owner and Urban Affair producer. "Urban Affair celebrates this exciting emergence with a one-of-a-kind event featuring the energy, activity, allure and attitude of loft and urban living."
advertisement
Find out about:
• Urban design. There will be exhibitors showing products such as custom-made countertops, sinks and furniture and environmentally conscious building and remodeling flooring, tiles and paints.
• Downtown living. See what urban lifestyles are all about during the Downtown Phoenix Loft & Home Tour, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. DASH buses will provide transportation among more than a dozen residences, including Orpheum Lofts, Artisan Lofts on Central and 44 Monroe models.
• Urban media. Attend the 30-Second Film Challenge, featuring the top three teams of student, amateur and professional filmmakers. Teams each completed a 30-second commercial about urban living. These teams will be given a cash award during a presentation that begins at 1:30 p.m. The top commercial will be shown on various Cox TV channels during October.
• Urban fashions. A fashion show will feature semicasual, cocktail and special-occasion attire by top Arizona designers. Kara Janx, one of the top four finalists from the second season of Bravo's Project Runway show, will provide commentary on fashions created by many of Arizona's top designers. Janx will be available for questions and autographs after the fashion show.
• Urban music. You'll hear the sounds of Carlos Urtebey, 10 to 11:30 a.m.; Subterranean Jazz, noon to 1:30 p.m.; the Energy Trio, 2 to 3:30 p.m.; and the Chris Putrino Project, 3:45 to 5 p.m.
Urban Affair is produced by Adrenaline Marketing in collaboration with Downtown Phoenix Partnership and the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0930urban0930.html
You'll find displays and activities depicting the urban lifestyle, as well as entertainment, at the Phoenix Convention Center.
"Urban living is coming of age across the country and no more so than in the Valley," said Catrina Knoebl, Adrenaline Marketing owner and Urban Affair producer. "Urban Affair celebrates this exciting emergence with a one-of-a-kind event featuring the energy, activity, allure and attitude of loft and urban living."
advertisement
Find out about:
• Urban design. There will be exhibitors showing products such as custom-made countertops, sinks and furniture and environmentally conscious building and remodeling flooring, tiles and paints.
• Downtown living. See what urban lifestyles are all about during the Downtown Phoenix Loft & Home Tour, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. DASH buses will provide transportation among more than a dozen residences, including Orpheum Lofts, Artisan Lofts on Central and 44 Monroe models.
• Urban media. Attend the 30-Second Film Challenge, featuring the top three teams of student, amateur and professional filmmakers. Teams each completed a 30-second commercial about urban living. These teams will be given a cash award during a presentation that begins at 1:30 p.m. The top commercial will be shown on various Cox TV channels during October.
• Urban fashions. A fashion show will feature semicasual, cocktail and special-occasion attire by top Arizona designers. Kara Janx, one of the top four finalists from the second season of Bravo's Project Runway show, will provide commentary on fashions created by many of Arizona's top designers. Janx will be available for questions and autographs after the fashion show.
• Urban music. You'll hear the sounds of Carlos Urtebey, 10 to 11:30 a.m.; Subterranean Jazz, noon to 1:30 p.m.; the Energy Trio, 2 to 3:30 p.m.; and the Chris Putrino Project, 3:45 to 5 p.m.
Urban Affair is produced by Adrenaline Marketing in collaboration with Downtown Phoenix Partnership and the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0930urban0930.html
Monday, March 12, 2007
Living in the Past
Nowhere better illustrates Vancouver's brief history, and its transition from a city of labour into a city of leisure, than Yaletown and its immediate surroundings. New towers gleam against the sky as if freshly burnished with spit and polish, rising from the distant memories of wooden, working-class rowhouses. Expensive cars wend their way down narrow streets over the ghosts of railway tracks, wary of pedestrians weaving in and out of designer boutiques and swank eateries.
Late in the 19th century, the Canadian Pacific Railway relocated its mechanical and repair facilities from Yale in the Fraser Canyon to the northeast end of False Creek (hence Yaletown's name), and sweating workmen toiled on loading docks where people now line outdoor cafés. Less obvious are the alterations going on behind the façades and windows of what were once storehouses of industry. Some, like the McMaster Building at 1180 Homer, are being transformed into luxurious, loft-style living quarters for people with deep pockets. When its renovation is completed in fall 2005, the McMaster will be among the city's most exclusive warehouse conversions.
John Bingham moved here from England in the sleepy '70s, when Yaletown was low-rise and lifeless, False Creek was an industrial wasteland, and the West End had supplanted its grand early-20th-century homes with monochromatic skyscrapers seemingly made for Sarajevo. He is enthusiastic about the district's recovery over the last decade. A partner with Howard Bingham Hill Architects, he is designing the McMaster's renovation for owner Rick Illich, under the auspices of Townline, a Richmond-based residential-development company. Bingham's firm renovated the Murchie's Building (1912) down the street, and designed the Oscar and Hamilton buildings a few shops, salons, and cappuccino bars away.
Standing in the spring sunshine as noontime traffic courses by, Bingham regards the Homer Street side of the boarded-up, five-storey, Edwardian-era warehouse. "They don't build them like they used to," he says. "And sometimes that's a good thing."
He's referring to the original contractors' use of substandard brick and limestone. Back then, builders were more interested in speed than durability, and failed to estimate the degrading effects of a moist West Coast climate. While the imported, high-quality, white-glazed brick façade on Homer remains intact, the cheaper brickwork on the building's rear Hamilton Street aspect was long ago covered in tar to prevent chunks from falling onto hapless shippers and receivers. Fortunately, some sturdy local materials were also employed.
"We're preserving the heavy fir posts, beams, and floorboards as features," says Bingham, patting a gargantuan wood pillar inside the building.
Along the floor and walls, a montage of graffiti and pigeon residue testify to the long, narrow space's most recent occupants. If this were a Hollywood movie, at any moment two pockmarked, ponytailed hit men would emerge from the freight elevator's wire cage, greasily mumbling vendettas. But let's not kill the architect just yet. He and the interior-design team at Graham & deAraujo Design Studio have a lot of work to do in order to turn things around from blue collar to blue blood. The final result will contain 15 two-bedroom units--including a penthouse--and, on the main floor, an upscale retailer. Over the phone, Illich had described his target market as empty-nesters, singles "starting over", individuals and couples who want a downtown experience with quality amenities, and public figures who crave privacy and low-profile lodgings. Prices range from $619,000 to almost $1.8 million.
Cinematic clichés aside, heritage redevelopment isn't all that different from creating celluloid magic. You have to reshape historical values for modern tastes. The McMaster's external detailing hasn't changed much and must be refurbished with materials and colours in keeping with the city of Vancouver's Heritage Agreement. The interior, though, has seen some notable reincarnations over time and requires major reconstruction to make it not just suitable for contemporary living, but spectacular.
Built in 1910 by local entrepreneur James McMaster, it houses stockrooms that were, at various times, piled with bedding and stationery unloaded off trains, and later trucks, onto the Hamilton Street loading dock. A storefront housed a variety of businesses over the years, including a Royal Bank. In 1945, three firefighters tackling a blaze were killed when heavy machinery crashed through the second floor. Miraculously, much of the solid-wood skeleton withstood the conflagration and was raised so that floors ran level with those of the building on its southern flank. Consequently, bottom windowsills currently languish beneath floor level. This is one of several anomalies that will be corrected before tenants move in.
Although the building's façade will whisper of days gone by, the interior will wave the past farewell and focus on future buyers. That means high-end, contemporary accessories and finishes, not to mention Yaletown's first private car elevator. New Urbanists, who celebrate mixed-use buildings, promote living, working historical sites that contribute to a city's livelihood, rather than static preservation. But they are torn about how to finance and maintain heritage structures such as this. Truth is, inner-city heritage redevelopment costs more than tearing the whole building down and starting from scratch. To offset expenses, sometimes the city can offer developers incentives like tax holidays, zoning relaxation, and other carrots.
But sometimes that's not enough. Without support from all levels of government for heritage, affordable housing in historical buildings will remain elusive. Catering to affluent consumers is one way of ensuring that we maintain at least some vestiges of the past, which is pretty important in a young town like ours. The McMaster Building tells us something about where we've been, and, more importantly, where we're headed. Someone's got to pay for the conversation.
http://www.straight.com/node/1927
Late in the 19th century, the Canadian Pacific Railway relocated its mechanical and repair facilities from Yale in the Fraser Canyon to the northeast end of False Creek (hence Yaletown's name), and sweating workmen toiled on loading docks where people now line outdoor cafés. Less obvious are the alterations going on behind the façades and windows of what were once storehouses of industry. Some, like the McMaster Building at 1180 Homer, are being transformed into luxurious, loft-style living quarters for people with deep pockets. When its renovation is completed in fall 2005, the McMaster will be among the city's most exclusive warehouse conversions.
John Bingham moved here from England in the sleepy '70s, when Yaletown was low-rise and lifeless, False Creek was an industrial wasteland, and the West End had supplanted its grand early-20th-century homes with monochromatic skyscrapers seemingly made for Sarajevo. He is enthusiastic about the district's recovery over the last decade. A partner with Howard Bingham Hill Architects, he is designing the McMaster's renovation for owner Rick Illich, under the auspices of Townline, a Richmond-based residential-development company. Bingham's firm renovated the Murchie's Building (1912) down the street, and designed the Oscar and Hamilton buildings a few shops, salons, and cappuccino bars away.
Standing in the spring sunshine as noontime traffic courses by, Bingham regards the Homer Street side of the boarded-up, five-storey, Edwardian-era warehouse. "They don't build them like they used to," he says. "And sometimes that's a good thing."
He's referring to the original contractors' use of substandard brick and limestone. Back then, builders were more interested in speed than durability, and failed to estimate the degrading effects of a moist West Coast climate. While the imported, high-quality, white-glazed brick façade on Homer remains intact, the cheaper brickwork on the building's rear Hamilton Street aspect was long ago covered in tar to prevent chunks from falling onto hapless shippers and receivers. Fortunately, some sturdy local materials were also employed.
"We're preserving the heavy fir posts, beams, and floorboards as features," says Bingham, patting a gargantuan wood pillar inside the building.
Along the floor and walls, a montage of graffiti and pigeon residue testify to the long, narrow space's most recent occupants. If this were a Hollywood movie, at any moment two pockmarked, ponytailed hit men would emerge from the freight elevator's wire cage, greasily mumbling vendettas. But let's not kill the architect just yet. He and the interior-design team at Graham & deAraujo Design Studio have a lot of work to do in order to turn things around from blue collar to blue blood. The final result will contain 15 two-bedroom units--including a penthouse--and, on the main floor, an upscale retailer. Over the phone, Illich had described his target market as empty-nesters, singles "starting over", individuals and couples who want a downtown experience with quality amenities, and public figures who crave privacy and low-profile lodgings. Prices range from $619,000 to almost $1.8 million.
Cinematic clichés aside, heritage redevelopment isn't all that different from creating celluloid magic. You have to reshape historical values for modern tastes. The McMaster's external detailing hasn't changed much and must be refurbished with materials and colours in keeping with the city of Vancouver's Heritage Agreement. The interior, though, has seen some notable reincarnations over time and requires major reconstruction to make it not just suitable for contemporary living, but spectacular.
Built in 1910 by local entrepreneur James McMaster, it houses stockrooms that were, at various times, piled with bedding and stationery unloaded off trains, and later trucks, onto the Hamilton Street loading dock. A storefront housed a variety of businesses over the years, including a Royal Bank. In 1945, three firefighters tackling a blaze were killed when heavy machinery crashed through the second floor. Miraculously, much of the solid-wood skeleton withstood the conflagration and was raised so that floors ran level with those of the building on its southern flank. Consequently, bottom windowsills currently languish beneath floor level. This is one of several anomalies that will be corrected before tenants move in.
Although the building's façade will whisper of days gone by, the interior will wave the past farewell and focus on future buyers. That means high-end, contemporary accessories and finishes, not to mention Yaletown's first private car elevator. New Urbanists, who celebrate mixed-use buildings, promote living, working historical sites that contribute to a city's livelihood, rather than static preservation. But they are torn about how to finance and maintain heritage structures such as this. Truth is, inner-city heritage redevelopment costs more than tearing the whole building down and starting from scratch. To offset expenses, sometimes the city can offer developers incentives like tax holidays, zoning relaxation, and other carrots.
But sometimes that's not enough. Without support from all levels of government for heritage, affordable housing in historical buildings will remain elusive. Catering to affluent consumers is one way of ensuring that we maintain at least some vestiges of the past, which is pretty important in a young town like ours. The McMaster Building tells us something about where we've been, and, more importantly, where we're headed. Someone's got to pay for the conversation.
http://www.straight.com/node/1927
Urban living on the rise
When David and Jennifer Staciokas bought a unit at Orpheum Lofts in downtown Phoenix two years ago, lofts were still a novelty here.
Not anymore.
The Staciokases, who wanted to "help shape downtown," are part of an urban-living heat wave. Now, urban living - lofts and the newest trend, high-rise condos - is taking off, not only in Phoenix, but in Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler and other Valley cities.
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At the time, the Staciokases looked at several projects. These days, they could choose from thousands of units that are planned or in the works.
The numbers tell the story: From 1995 to 2004, 1,500 housing units, mostly lofts and condos in new and refurbished buildings up to six stories, were built in Phoenix. An additional 1,000 units are in the works, from conception to construction. In the next four years, the city expects to double the amount built in the past 10 years.
But is construction short-lived? Is the market just a fad?
Housing experts and city officials are cautiously optimistic, saying that, at least at the time being, condos represent a small submarket that doesn't compete with the single-family-housing boom occurring throughout the Valley.
Many buildings, such as Optima Biltmore Towers, are selling out before they are completed. Others are taking pre-sales. Demand was so great for one 65-unit project that developer Grace Communities scrapped it and started over with a new building, new name and more units. Now, 44 Monroe features a 34-story residential tower and 176 units.
Fueling the urban-living renaissance, experts say, are several factors, among them light-rail construction, ever-increasing commute times from outlying areas, Tempe Town Lake development and downtown Phoenix projects such as the Translational Genomics Research Institute and the Arizona State University campus.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0813lofts0813.html
Not anymore.
The Staciokases, who wanted to "help shape downtown," are part of an urban-living heat wave. Now, urban living - lofts and the newest trend, high-rise condos - is taking off, not only in Phoenix, but in Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler and other Valley cities.
advertisement
At the time, the Staciokases looked at several projects. These days, they could choose from thousands of units that are planned or in the works.
The numbers tell the story: From 1995 to 2004, 1,500 housing units, mostly lofts and condos in new and refurbished buildings up to six stories, were built in Phoenix. An additional 1,000 units are in the works, from conception to construction. In the next four years, the city expects to double the amount built in the past 10 years.
But is construction short-lived? Is the market just a fad?
Housing experts and city officials are cautiously optimistic, saying that, at least at the time being, condos represent a small submarket that doesn't compete with the single-family-housing boom occurring throughout the Valley.
Many buildings, such as Optima Biltmore Towers, are selling out before they are completed. Others are taking pre-sales. Demand was so great for one 65-unit project that developer Grace Communities scrapped it and started over with a new building, new name and more units. Now, 44 Monroe features a 34-story residential tower and 176 units.
Fueling the urban-living renaissance, experts say, are several factors, among them light-rail construction, ever-increasing commute times from outlying areas, Tempe Town Lake development and downtown Phoenix projects such as the Translational Genomics Research Institute and the Arizona State University campus.
http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/articles/0813lofts0813.html
Urban Accessories
GLASS ACTS Sleek and space-agey, they look like the kind of martini glasses you might sip from at the bar on the deck of the Starship Enterprise. Two Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design students are finalists in Bombay Sapphire's annual contest to create innovative versions of the cocktail nation's ultimate accessory. Brian Paschke's Transtini, made of curving double-walled glass, has a slightly oval base for easy handling and a soft rubber bottom; check out the little slots on the rim where olive picks can lie across the drink. Meanwhile, Paul Falcon's entry lives up to its name, Fluidity: his tinted-blue vessel is balanced on a slooshing wave form, a sculptural metaphor for the taste of the martini flowing down your throat. They're up against Carleton University grad Dolly Audit for a chance on March 10 to proceed to the international finals in Milan, Italy, during the prestigious Salone del Mobile design show.
EVERY LITTLE BREEZE Options in the interior-décor world can be dizzying. Adding to the vertigo, Lampe Berger (available at Lothantique [2655 Granville Street] and Atkinson's [1501 West 6th Avenue]) is much more than a scented candle or essential oil can ever be. This Parisian fragrance system, created in 1898, simultaneously acts as an air purifier. The porcelain base burns specially created oils that drift through the air and kill up to two-thirds of the bacteria residing there. Coco Chanel was a fan, and Paris's Le Plaza Athénée hotel is purified with this small piece of French ingenuity and elegance. Rarefied air just took on a whole new meaning.
ROCKS OF CHOICE Ingenuity and the DIY credo can always take the mundane to designer heights. A current trend is to use industrial materials in a more refined context. For example, gabions (available at Nilex [3963 Phillips Avenue, Burnaby]) can make for great looking structures in the back yard. Often used as highway retaining walls, these flexible wire cages can be filled with a rock of choice (try Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply at 5883 Byrne Road, also in Burnaby) and stacked to build a partial wall. Use cut stone for a more refined appearance or broken rock to keep with the industrial feel. Decorate the yard's new accent with vines and hanging flowers. You can also fill with soil, seed with grass, and-presto!-a giant chia pet or grassy knoll.
ABSTRACT MATS Patricia Baun's hand-painted canvas rugs may have their roots in folk art, but this season, her collection of floor art brings to mind Mondrian, modernism, and mid-century mosaics. The Vancouverite recently unveiled a range of strikingly abstract stripes and grids in time for her debut at Toronto's Interior Design Show earlier this month. The repeating patterns come in colours that evoke vintage Marimekko or coolly contemporary interiors: oranges and yellows with brown, say, or varying shades of sage green. The mats, made hardy with layers of wax and sealer, cost $50 to $55 per square foot through her Web site, www.pmbdesigns.com/.
GOOD WOODS Tropical woods can bring a warm exoticism to contemporary interiors, but you never know what kind of environmental devastation they're leaving behind in their home countries. Enter the new Kroehler Coastal Home Store (1401 West 8th Avenue, 604-733-6824), which, alongside its 150-odd styles of couches, ottomans, and chairs, has brought in eco-friendly furniture from the far reaches of the world. Check out the plantation-grown shesham (a type of rosewood), whose reddish hue evokes the parlours of colonial India, or rich-brown plantation-grown rubberwood in glossy or rustic finishes. Tall teak display stands are starkly modular but rippled with a warm grain: they work alone as a night table or grouped at varying heights to show off collectibles. Add texture to a room with seagrass, Filipino abaca (banana-tree bark), or even coconut. (Overall prices range from about $300 to $700 for coffee tables up to $1,200 to $2,300 for dining tables.)
STICK 'EM UP For the extremely creative, or extremely lazy, blik self-adhesive graphics will transform pretty much any room in the house or office. And no paint can need be opened to accomplish the feat. The blik temporary adhesives (you can find them at Koo-Koo [2152 Main Street]) stick to practically any surface?-from floors to walls to windows-and take very little time to apply. Imagine a flock of birds flying across the night sky of your ceiling or a poem on your bathroom wall.
http://www.straight.com/node/6183
EVERY LITTLE BREEZE Options in the interior-décor world can be dizzying. Adding to the vertigo, Lampe Berger (available at Lothantique [2655 Granville Street] and Atkinson's [1501 West 6th Avenue]) is much more than a scented candle or essential oil can ever be. This Parisian fragrance system, created in 1898, simultaneously acts as an air purifier. The porcelain base burns specially created oils that drift through the air and kill up to two-thirds of the bacteria residing there. Coco Chanel was a fan, and Paris's Le Plaza Athénée hotel is purified with this small piece of French ingenuity and elegance. Rarefied air just took on a whole new meaning.
ROCKS OF CHOICE Ingenuity and the DIY credo can always take the mundane to designer heights. A current trend is to use industrial materials in a more refined context. For example, gabions (available at Nilex [3963 Phillips Avenue, Burnaby]) can make for great looking structures in the back yard. Often used as highway retaining walls, these flexible wire cages can be filled with a rock of choice (try Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply at 5883 Byrne Road, also in Burnaby) and stacked to build a partial wall. Use cut stone for a more refined appearance or broken rock to keep with the industrial feel. Decorate the yard's new accent with vines and hanging flowers. You can also fill with soil, seed with grass, and-presto!-a giant chia pet or grassy knoll.
ABSTRACT MATS Patricia Baun's hand-painted canvas rugs may have their roots in folk art, but this season, her collection of floor art brings to mind Mondrian, modernism, and mid-century mosaics. The Vancouverite recently unveiled a range of strikingly abstract stripes and grids in time for her debut at Toronto's Interior Design Show earlier this month. The repeating patterns come in colours that evoke vintage Marimekko or coolly contemporary interiors: oranges and yellows with brown, say, or varying shades of sage green. The mats, made hardy with layers of wax and sealer, cost $50 to $55 per square foot through her Web site, www.pmbdesigns.com/.
GOOD WOODS Tropical woods can bring a warm exoticism to contemporary interiors, but you never know what kind of environmental devastation they're leaving behind in their home countries. Enter the new Kroehler Coastal Home Store (1401 West 8th Avenue, 604-733-6824), which, alongside its 150-odd styles of couches, ottomans, and chairs, has brought in eco-friendly furniture from the far reaches of the world. Check out the plantation-grown shesham (a type of rosewood), whose reddish hue evokes the parlours of colonial India, or rich-brown plantation-grown rubberwood in glossy or rustic finishes. Tall teak display stands are starkly modular but rippled with a warm grain: they work alone as a night table or grouped at varying heights to show off collectibles. Add texture to a room with seagrass, Filipino abaca (banana-tree bark), or even coconut. (Overall prices range from about $300 to $700 for coffee tables up to $1,200 to $2,300 for dining tables.)
STICK 'EM UP For the extremely creative, or extremely lazy, blik self-adhesive graphics will transform pretty much any room in the house or office. And no paint can need be opened to accomplish the feat. The blik temporary adhesives (you can find them at Koo-Koo [2152 Main Street]) stick to practically any surface?-from floors to walls to windows-and take very little time to apply. Imagine a flock of birds flying across the night sky of your ceiling or a poem on your bathroom wall.
http://www.straight.com/node/6183
Vancouver offers tips on vibrant urban living
Condominium developers in this city's bustling downtown are required to build dining room floors with washable hard surfaces -- easy to clean when kids spill juice or cereal.
In a neighborhood of glassy seafoam-green high-rises, a quarter of new apartments must be designed for families with multiple bedrooms and outdoor play areas that parents can see.
David Lam Park
Zoom Joshua Trujillo / P-I
David Lam Park, which borders Yaletown, helps make high-rise living more family friendly in Vancouver, B.C.
Cited as a model for Seattle's efforts to create lively urban neighborhoods, Vancouver's downtown population has nearly doubled in the past two decades. The first new downtown elementary school in 50 years opened last fall.
But it's not just the shimmering, skinny buildings touted by Mayor Greg Nickels and others pushing to raise building heights in downtown Seattle that have made our Canadian counterpart's urban lifestyle so popular.
Vancouver requires developers to fund a broader range of public amenities in its downtown neighborhoods -- community centers, art, playgrounds, school sites, waterfront promenades, lush flower gardens flanking stair-stepped water fountains.
Comparing the 2 cities
Planners have specific guidelines for making condos family friendly, preserving views, landscaping sidewalks and maximizing sunny spots when designing downtown plazas.
Even some who support Nickels' efforts to raise building heights and give downtown developers more flexibility worry that Seattle hasn't focused enough attention on other ingredients that go into creating great downtown neighborhoods.
"It hasn't been well thought out," said Phillip Wohlstetter, a past president of Allied Arts of Seattle, which advocates for urban design in concert with quality of life.
"In principle it's a great idea, but we need to talk about what kind of place we're going to have at the end of the day. How many parks are we going to have? What kind of shops will be there? Are we going to have blank plazas with paper blowing around or Italian plazas with lots of life?"
There are substantial differences between Seattle and Vancouver, where the government exercises broader authority in controlling land use, and private property rights are not so revered.
But Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck believes there are lessons to learn. He hired top Vancouver planners Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman to evaluate the mayor's proposed zoning changes.
Too often, Beasley said, cities try to attract downtown residents by focusing narrowly on a housing strategy.
What's needed is a living strategy -- identifying all the things that people and families want and need when deciding where they want to settle, he said.
"Seattle is too good to get this wrong," said Beasley, who will offer specific recommendations to the City Council on Monday. "There are many other aspects of a great community than just the private development."
More height, more space
Nickels' plan would substantially raise building heights in parts of downtown, including the Denny Triangle, the office core and a sliver of Belltown. It grew from neighborhood plans in which downtown condo dwellers said they wanted more residents, livelier streets and better amenities.
In places where the city wants to encourage residential development, those buildings could rise to 400 feet.
Office towers in commercial areas could be built to 600 or 700 feet.
Residential developers wanting to build taller would be required to use environmentally friendly principles and contribute financially to an incentive program for the first time. Three quarters of the money would be used to build low-income housing, with the rest going toward open space, day cares or historic preservation.
The mayor's office is considering setting the fee at roughly $10 a square foot.
Several downtown neighborhoods in Vancouver have a similar blanket development charge. But landowners who benefit from zoning changes that make their property more valuable also pay a negotiated fee that can reach nearly $30 a square foot.
Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the downtown zoning changes are part of a larger strategy to create dense and livable center city neighborhoods.
"When people say there's too much focus on the height issue, they're missing the broader picture of what's happening," he said. "What we're doing is implementing these strategies piece by piece."
For instance, Nickels unveiled plans this week to start charging developers building in Seattle's urban center fees to pay for parks and open space. While the amount has not been set, it could range from $1 to $2 a square foot.
Over the next two decades, the money could add 12 acres of parks, plazas or sculpture gardens to the current inventory of 81 acres in the center of Seattle, officials said.
That includes downtown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Lower Queen Anne, Pioneer Square, the International District and South Lake Union.
The city's goal is to create 1 acre of open space per 1,000 households plus 1 acre per 10,000 jobs. By comparison, Vancouver planners require developers to provide 2.75 acres of parks for every 1,000 new residents they add.
Over the next year, the Nickels administration also plans to work on development fees that would help cover the cost of transportation improvements as urban centers grow, Ceis said. Improving downtown's streetscape guidelines and looking for ways to attract families are also priorities, he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235217_vancouver04.html
In a neighborhood of glassy seafoam-green high-rises, a quarter of new apartments must be designed for families with multiple bedrooms and outdoor play areas that parents can see.
David Lam Park
Zoom Joshua Trujillo / P-I
David Lam Park, which borders Yaletown, helps make high-rise living more family friendly in Vancouver, B.C.
Cited as a model for Seattle's efforts to create lively urban neighborhoods, Vancouver's downtown population has nearly doubled in the past two decades. The first new downtown elementary school in 50 years opened last fall.
But it's not just the shimmering, skinny buildings touted by Mayor Greg Nickels and others pushing to raise building heights in downtown Seattle that have made our Canadian counterpart's urban lifestyle so popular.
Vancouver requires developers to fund a broader range of public amenities in its downtown neighborhoods -- community centers, art, playgrounds, school sites, waterfront promenades, lush flower gardens flanking stair-stepped water fountains.
Comparing the 2 cities
Planners have specific guidelines for making condos family friendly, preserving views, landscaping sidewalks and maximizing sunny spots when designing downtown plazas.
Even some who support Nickels' efforts to raise building heights and give downtown developers more flexibility worry that Seattle hasn't focused enough attention on other ingredients that go into creating great downtown neighborhoods.
"It hasn't been well thought out," said Phillip Wohlstetter, a past president of Allied Arts of Seattle, which advocates for urban design in concert with quality of life.
"In principle it's a great idea, but we need to talk about what kind of place we're going to have at the end of the day. How many parks are we going to have? What kind of shops will be there? Are we going to have blank plazas with paper blowing around or Italian plazas with lots of life?"
There are substantial differences between Seattle and Vancouver, where the government exercises broader authority in controlling land use, and private property rights are not so revered.
But Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck believes there are lessons to learn. He hired top Vancouver planners Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman to evaluate the mayor's proposed zoning changes.
Too often, Beasley said, cities try to attract downtown residents by focusing narrowly on a housing strategy.
What's needed is a living strategy -- identifying all the things that people and families want and need when deciding where they want to settle, he said.
"Seattle is too good to get this wrong," said Beasley, who will offer specific recommendations to the City Council on Monday. "There are many other aspects of a great community than just the private development."
More height, more space
Nickels' plan would substantially raise building heights in parts of downtown, including the Denny Triangle, the office core and a sliver of Belltown. It grew from neighborhood plans in which downtown condo dwellers said they wanted more residents, livelier streets and better amenities.
In places where the city wants to encourage residential development, those buildings could rise to 400 feet.
Office towers in commercial areas could be built to 600 or 700 feet.
Residential developers wanting to build taller would be required to use environmentally friendly principles and contribute financially to an incentive program for the first time. Three quarters of the money would be used to build low-income housing, with the rest going toward open space, day cares or historic preservation.
The mayor's office is considering setting the fee at roughly $10 a square foot.
Several downtown neighborhoods in Vancouver have a similar blanket development charge. But landowners who benefit from zoning changes that make their property more valuable also pay a negotiated fee that can reach nearly $30 a square foot.
Seattle Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said the downtown zoning changes are part of a larger strategy to create dense and livable center city neighborhoods.
"When people say there's too much focus on the height issue, they're missing the broader picture of what's happening," he said. "What we're doing is implementing these strategies piece by piece."
For instance, Nickels unveiled plans this week to start charging developers building in Seattle's urban center fees to pay for parks and open space. While the amount has not been set, it could range from $1 to $2 a square foot.
Over the next two decades, the money could add 12 acres of parks, plazas or sculpture gardens to the current inventory of 81 acres in the center of Seattle, officials said.
That includes downtown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Lower Queen Anne, Pioneer Square, the International District and South Lake Union.
The city's goal is to create 1 acre of open space per 1,000 households plus 1 acre per 10,000 jobs. By comparison, Vancouver planners require developers to provide 2.75 acres of parks for every 1,000 new residents they add.
Over the next year, the Nickels administration also plans to work on development fees that would help cover the cost of transportation improvements as urban centers grow, Ceis said. Improving downtown's streetscape guidelines and looking for ways to attract families are also priorities, he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/235217_vancouver04.html
Bureau of Urban Living to bring modern home accessories to Midtown
Claire Nelson and her husband, Francis Grunow will open Bureau of Urban Living, a “modern-day urban general store,” in the ground-floor of the Canfield Lofts at 460 W. Canfield in Midtown in April. The store will be stocked with both basic necessities—like bedding, towels and dishes—as well as “more unique designer wares,” says Nelson.
The basic goods that Bureau will offer will be “universal and neutral,” describes Nelson, who is working to keep prices competitive with chain retailers. “We hope our basics are attractive to lots of different kinds of people, whether you have historical house or a modern loft.” Products the store will carry include organic cotton bedding from Coyuchi, home and office accessories from Design Ideas, dishes from Syracuse China and Libbey Glass and kitchen accessories from Tablecraft.
Bureau’s designer products, such as “accent pillows or a cool vase or cool plates,” will run at a higher price point, but Nelson has brought in products from renowned designers such as Dora Drimalas of Hybrid-Home, notNeutral and Jessica Bellemare's Quilt Baby.
Nelson explains that she and Grunow are considering this location to be a pilot store. “Our long-term vision a to create a general store with all the basics for living. The reality is that we are trying to carry as wide an assortment of products with a only few choices within each product type.” Based on customer feedback, they plan to expand their selection and ultimately, their space.
http://www.modeldmedia.com/developmentnews/bureau83.aspx
The basic goods that Bureau will offer will be “universal and neutral,” describes Nelson, who is working to keep prices competitive with chain retailers. “We hope our basics are attractive to lots of different kinds of people, whether you have historical house or a modern loft.” Products the store will carry include organic cotton bedding from Coyuchi, home and office accessories from Design Ideas, dishes from Syracuse China and Libbey Glass and kitchen accessories from Tablecraft.
Bureau’s designer products, such as “accent pillows or a cool vase or cool plates,” will run at a higher price point, but Nelson has brought in products from renowned designers such as Dora Drimalas of Hybrid-Home, notNeutral and Jessica Bellemare's Quilt Baby.
Nelson explains that she and Grunow are considering this location to be a pilot store. “Our long-term vision a to create a general store with all the basics for living. The reality is that we are trying to carry as wide an assortment of products with a only few choices within each product type.” Based on customer feedback, they plan to expand their selection and ultimately, their space.
http://www.modeldmedia.com/developmentnews/bureau83.aspx
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Living Room Furniture Terms Explained
A living room is a room for reading, watching TV, entertaining guests and other activities. It is one of the most important rooms in a home. Usually, a living room will be furnished with sofa and chairs, storage bookcases, curio cabinets, occasional tables, bookshelves, entertainment centers, as well as other furniture like ottomans, rocking chairs, bombe chests, electric fireplaces, home theater seatings, entertainment wall units, TV stands, lighting sources and area rugs.
Now, let's take a look at a short list, not claiming to be exhaustive, of living room furniture terms you may not understand, although you see them often on furniture related websites.
If you need additional information about living room furniture, or shopping recommendations, check out Living Room Arrangements
Now, let's take a look at a short list, not claiming to be exhaustive, of living room furniture terms you may not understand, although you see them often on furniture related websites.
- Armoire - A movable wardrobe, usually with one or two doors.
- Bookcase - Furniture with horizontal shelves, used to store books.
- Chaise longue - An upholstered couch in the shape of a long chair to support the legs.
- Chest - A rectangular piece of furniture with four walls and a liftable lid, used for storage.
- Divan - A type of couch-like long seat.
- Dresser - Furniture with multiple drawers stacked on each other.
- Footstool - A short, wide, upholstered stool, used to allow a seated person to rest his/her feet upon it.
- Loveseat - A smaller couch for only two person.
- Ottoman - A padded, upholstered seat used as a footstool.
- Recliner - An armchair that reclines when the sitter lowers the back and raises the front.
- Rocker - A chair with two curved pieces of wood at the bottom of the legs.
- Sectional - Sofa formed from multiple sections.
- Sofa - Furniture for the comfortable seating of more than one person.
- Upholstered - Furniture provided with padding, springs, webbing and covers.
If you need additional information about living room furniture, or shopping recommendations, check out Living Room Arrangements
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com
Source: http://www.articlealley.com
Living Will Why you need one now
Living Will � Why it's critical that you have one!
A Living Will is a legal document that allows you to direct healthcare professionals to act on your behalf regarding life-sustaining intervention and treatment if you can no longer speak for yourself. A new survey finds that only 33% of Americans have a living will. Sixty-seven percent of Americans lack a living will, potentially leaving them with no control over whether they wish to receive life-sustaining medical treatment in the event they should become incapacitated or terminally ill.
All fifty states have laws regarding the ability of patients to make decisions about their own medical care before the need for treatment arises through the use of advance directives. This allows patients to draft living wills that set forth the type and duration of medical care that they wish to receive should they become unable to communicate those wishes on their own. The court case involving Terri Schiavo brought this problem to national attention. Now it's time for you to make sure that your wishes are known to your family by creating a living will.
Brought to you by www.Prepaid-Legal-Help-4U.com where you have complete legal protection 24/7 for less than $1 day.
I developed http://www.prepaid-legal-help-4u.com to help the 'little guy' have access to legal services previously reserved for the wealthy!
A Living Will is a legal document that allows you to direct healthcare professionals to act on your behalf regarding life-sustaining intervention and treatment if you can no longer speak for yourself. A new survey finds that only 33% of Americans have a living will. Sixty-seven percent of Americans lack a living will, potentially leaving them with no control over whether they wish to receive life-sustaining medical treatment in the event they should become incapacitated or terminally ill.
All fifty states have laws regarding the ability of patients to make decisions about their own medical care before the need for treatment arises through the use of advance directives. This allows patients to draft living wills that set forth the type and duration of medical care that they wish to receive should they become unable to communicate those wishes on their own. The court case involving Terri Schiavo brought this problem to national attention. Now it's time for you to make sure that your wishes are known to your family by creating a living will.
Brought to you by www.Prepaid-Legal-Help-4U.com where you have complete legal protection 24/7 for less than $1 day.
I developed http://www.prepaid-legal-help-4u.com to help the 'little guy' have access to legal services previously reserved for the wealthy!
This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com
Source: http://www.articlealley.com
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