Branching out
It was bound to happen. Stung by the slumping condo market, Portland developer Homer Williams and his partner in crime, Dike Dame, are planning a press conference Monday to announce that they're going to start building single-family homes as well as condo towers. Apparently they've been working quietly for the past several months to come up with a certifiable "green" design, and it's already been approved by the City of Portland, the PDC, Metro, and the DEQ.
The boys on the City Council will be falling all over each other to see who gets to cut the ribbon on the first of these homes. Some will be "affordable" at a mere $199,995. To keep the project under wraps, Williams & Dame has been building a prototype in Skamania County. It's expected that the media will be bused out to take a look at it on Monday. But as usual, you read it here first.
| Posted at 1:38 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (10)
wait, is the first part a joke?
yeah, of course it...wait...is it? no, couldn't be...or is it? yes...
ow.
Posted by Ecohuman | February 16, 2007 2:23 PM
Actually, it's a joke. Homer thinks the model pictured may not come in under $200K.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 16, 2007 2:24 PM
It looks spacious and roomy, with good access for natural light.
How will it fare in a 100-year flood?
Posted by godfry | February 16, 2007 3:13 PM
Jack, I don't think this design will fit on the new skinny lots that the city is approving for infill.
Tell Homer to go back to the drawing board.
Posted by Rob Kremer | February 16, 2007 4:24 PM
What's pictured is the luxury model. The affordable units will of course be smaller.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 16, 2007 4:28 PM
no garage? hmm.
Posted by Ecohuman | February 16, 2007 5:51 PM
And extra points for no downspouts.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 16, 2007 6:10 PM
Actually that model is one of Trammel Crow's 48 "affordable housing" units they were going to stick in the parking garage of the 340 unit Alexan luxury apartment tower in SoWa,,, had they been been given the requested 10 year property tax abatement.
Posted by Howard | February 16, 2007 9:24 PM
Homer and Dike are like bloodhounds. They know how to follow the money and what's "in" with the planners. First generation, they obliterate the WestHills with their Forest Heights single family homes-planners loved it. Second generation, they decide Condomania in the Pearl is the answer with planner blessing's. Third generation, they claim "green" is the answer and obliterate the Willamette riverfront with "thin pinnacles" of high density, urban greyness-where's the green and the "pinnacles" allowing views? Planners love it. Now they are proposing urban affordable housing with "green", but still grey. Jack, this latest may not be fiction-if the planners like it and they hand out the subsidies.
Posted by Lee | February 16, 2007 10:00 PM
And when it gets too hot, they get nice jobs working for Homer and Dike. Back east, this sort of thing is called corruption. Here in Portland, it's called denial.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 16, 2007 10:27 PM