From New York Observer writer Matt Chaban: "'Doing historic townhouses is basically the same as doing a piece of antique furniture, only bigger,' George Agiovlastis told The Observer last week. The artist-turned-antiquer-turned-home restorer had just sold his third revamped townhouse, 38 Grove Street, for $14 million, according to city records. Mr Agiovlastis purchased the 21-foot-wide redbrick beauty in October 2007 for $6.9 million, and then undertook a $3 million renovation. It had been divided up into five apartments, but the builder gutted the place and began a meticulous renovation based on clues found in the home. Behind a facade of expertly matched brick—500 are new, but it's impossible to tell—and a reconstructed stoop lies six bedrooms and seven baths, as well as nine working fireplaces. 'This was not going to be one of those homes with a terrible double-story glass wall in the back,' said Mr. Agiovlastis, referring to some of his overly modern neighbors." Full article here.
Miami New Zoning Impact on Small Buildings
From New Urban Network writer Tony Garcia: "We can all breathe easier one year later — the doomsday predictions offered by land-use attorneys during the final push to implement Miami 21 never materialized. As most of us in the land-use world know, our work takes generations to mature, and is measured in such small increments that we don’t even realize that urban change is happening until we look back on where we started. In spite of the ongoing economic doldrums development has continued, and one can already see the impact the code is having on city’s landscape. The shift is most notable outside of the urban core, where small residential projects are being built in accordance with the code with noticeable impact. In the instant gratification category, count the death of the 'snout house' as one of the most visible successes of the code to date. 
You’ve seen these structures before: a duplex or attached home whose façade is dominated by a protruding, snout-like parking garage. Miami 21 tackled this problem by restricting the amount of parking in the second layer to 30 percent of the total building frontage." Full article here.
Two Is Most "Civilized" Number of Stories?
From New York Times writer Christopher Gray: "Herkimer Street, from Bedford to Nostrand Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, is a perfect urban jumble: old frame houses smothered in aluminum siding; apartment buildings jammed in next to tiny brownstones; an empty mansion; a Baptist church in the Islamic style. Development reached Bed-Stuy after the Civil War, and most of the block’s buildings went up around 1880, including the standard brownstone row running from 13 to 27. There is a corresponding brownstone row on the south side, Nos. 18 to 26, still fairly unchanged. Over time, each one was treated to a different color: salmon, ivory, buff, gray, a chromatic miscellany far more charming than the original uniform brown. Back on the north side, the long row at Nos. 45 to 55 are two-story brownstone dollhouses with arched windows.The usual tall rowhouse imposes a tyranny on its owner -- lots of space, but just where you don't need it, four or five flights up! The two-story version is an exceptionally civilized solution. A curious thing is these were built in 1880, just like the taller houses on the street -- usually the smaller the building, the older it is. " Full article here. (Photo credit: Michelle Agins.)
New Era Statistics: Townhouses May Lead
I recently posted about Arthur Nelson's article that has sparked debate on the future of cities and suburbs. Predicting is fun, but what are the article's underlying statistics? "What do households want? Housing preference surveys routinely find that most people prefer single-family detached homes on large lots. But such surveys conducted since the late 1990s come to reasonable consensus on demand for other options. (See Malizia and Exline (2000) and Myers and Gearin (2001) for reviews.) The Fannie Mae Foundation (1997) found that between 16 and 19% of a national sample of households preferred townhouses, while a survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB, 1999) found 15% preferred townhouses. The NAHB study also showed that up to a quarter of people over age 55 preferred townhouses over other housing types.
"Although there have been no comprehensive surveys of housing preference since 1999, one recent stated-preference survey conducted in 2002 appears to corroborate the demand for small lots. Levine and Frank (in press) conducted a survey of 1,455 metropolitan Atlanta households to assess, among other things, their willingness to trade-off larger lots and cul-de-sac streets for more amenities (sidewalks, narrower connected streets, shops and services, parks, sense of community, etc.). Among those living in single-family detached neighborhoods (most on lots of over one quarter acre, which the study defined as large) they found that about 40% would trade large lots for smaller ones in exchange for those amenities." (Photo credit: NY Daily News.)
No Trouble for Iowa Brownstone Sales
From the Des Moines Register: "Hubbell Realty says the second phase of its downtown Des Moines brownstone project has sold out, and the West Des Moines developer will start the project's third phase. The project's success comes as sales are slow for downtown housing, hampered by the recession and financing challenges for some projects. 'It's a little unusual, but if you have the right product at the right location, it clicks, especially if you can get financing,' said Re/Max Real Estate Group's Jay Snyder. Hubbell said it's pre-sold 16 [three-story] townhomes in the second phase of its Brownstones on Grand project, located between Second Avenue and Third Street. Construction is under way on the [third phase] two-story townhomes, called Riverwalk Brownstones, on Watson Powell Jr. Way. Rachel Flint, Hubbell's sales manager, said buyers run the gamut - single professionals, young families with children, couples in their 50s and 60s. 'The common trait is that they all want downtown living,' she said. It also helps that the townhome project - viewed as a single-family home - is one of the few downtown housing projects that qualify for FHA financing, Flint said." Full article here.
Commercial to Residential in Washington, DC
From the Washington Post: "This townhouse didn’t start out as a townhouse. On a block in D.C.’s Chinatown, the three-story commercial building has a sober limestone facade interrupted at street level by a glass storefront that looks in on Chinatown Coffee Co. A discreet door on one side leads to the family home upstairs. When the Browns bought the building in 2005, moving from a traditional rowhouse in Georgetown, it was in part to get their sons, now 9 and 10, downtown to a 'more diverse, urban' setting, Max Brown says. Once home to a nonprofit group, the structure is 18 feet wide and almost 100 feet deep, basically taking up its entire lot: three full floors of dark, empty space. To turn the building from a commercial space to one that would incorporate light and air, the Browns’ architect Robert Gurney had to practically 
reinvent the skylight. First he removed a 12-by-18-foot section of the floor above the main living level, allowing for a broad staircase and creating front and back living spaces on the bedroom level, linked by a catwalk. Then he peeled back a similar-size chunk of the roof directly above the staircase, replacing it with a glass ceiling, or mega-skylight. The retrofitting of the building for the Brown family won Gurney an American Housing Award for 2011 from the American Institute of Architects." Full article here, and more coverage on Urban Turf. (Photo credit: Urban Turf.)
Chicago Vintage Rental Townhouse Now for Sale
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVKQ-9WUYQ8]From Chicago Magazine: "This four-story limestone townhouse built in the late 19th century is part of a block of nine known as the Fairbank Row Houses. The houses in the row were designed by the architect Charles Palmer for Potter Palmer (they may have been cousins), who built many of the homes in the Gold Coast. For being nine separate homes, the row’s vintage look is surprisingly intact. But there’s one thing missing: the steps that originally led from the sidewalk to the homes’ second level, their main floor. Nancy Joyce says they may have been removed on orders of the architect David Adler, who lived in one of the homes as a newlywed. With tall windows at both the front and back of all the floors, the home receives a lot of daylight for an interior unit. 'You can stand in one side [of the house] and see light in the other side because it’s only about 45 feet deep,' Joyce says." The accompanying video reveals another important fact: the townhouses were originally built as rentals. Full article with video here.
Townhouse Reuse: A Study in Contrasts
That a good townhouse can be adaptable for generations is nowhere more evident than in an old townhouse renovated to have a contemporary interior. Several such townhouses have been posted on this blog, but the importance of adaptability cannot be overemphasized. From the New York Observer: "It's always interesting to go inside a townhouse because you never know what might be lurking on the other side. Is it an immaculately restored pre-war wonder or a modernized white box hiding inside a prewar shell? A townhouse on West 85th Street definitely falls into the latter category. With a neighbor covered in ivy and a grand Queen Anne facade, it looks like it would be all crown molding and original details all the time on the inside. But instead we get exposed brick, an unusual double-height living room and a kitchen straight out of Star Trek." Full article with slideshow here.
New York's Narrowest Up for Sale
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaQXh08WY2U]Two months after I posted about NYC's thinnest townhouses, the skinniest of them all is apparently renovated and for sale, whipping the real estate gossip mill into high gear. From Sara Polsky at Curbed (with before and after photos of renovation): "'The half is back!' proclaimed an excited e-mail from a tipster this morning. And indeed it is: 75 1/2 Bedford Street, NYC's skinniest house, is back on the market. Dramatic price increases with each flip attempt are nothing new for the townhouse, which sold for $1.6 million in 2000, was asking $2.75 million in 2009, and found a buyer willing to pay $2.175 million in early 2010. Even so, the new price is a whopper at $4.3 million. " From the London Daily Mail (with images including floorplans): "The narrowest house in the city, once home to Cary Grant and a modern tourist attraction in its own right, has gone on sale for a whopping $4.3million - double what it sold for just one year ago. That's some $4,343 per square foot. The hefty price increase is down to the renovations at number 75 1/2 Bedford St - though at just 9.5ft wide and 30ft deep, it's hard to envision what sort of renovations could have justified such a cost." From Stacey Doyle at the Examiner: "Proving size doesn't matter when it comes to coveted housing in New York City, the skinniest house in the city just hit the market for $4.3 million. It was built in the mid 1800s to fill in a carriage entrace leading to the property next door. The home was host to famous folks such as John Barrymore, Cary Grant, Margaret Mead and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The Greenwich Village home is three-story, 990-square feet. A balcony overlooks a garden." Bloomberg even has video (from last sale).
Update on Over-the-Rhine Revitalization
Back in the fall my previous employer sent me to Cincinnati for a few days, and I got an education. Not only are old townhouses being preserved and new ones built, but such efforts are part of a larger economic development agenda with broad stakeholder support -- neighborhood revitalization the way it was meant to be. This past weekend the newspaper of record, the New York Times, took note of Over-the-Rhine's success with a slideshow of new shops and restaurants (click to see the NYT photos, which are copy protected; the photo above is mine).
For the Man Who Has It All, Townhouse #2
A year after the WSJ reported that the worlds' richest person bought the last 5th Ave townhouse in NYC, New York Post writer Steve Cuozzo reports on the purchase of NYC townhouse #2: "The world's richest man, Carlos Slim, has bought the former Felissimo townhouse on 56th Street for $15.5 million in cash, Realty Check has learned. We expect Slim's people to deny it, but reliable sources said the LLC is a front for Grupo Carso, the conglomerate controlled by the Mexican mogul. The whirlwind deal closed last week within five days of the cash offer." Full article here.
Photos, Part 3 with Rant About Required Parking
The final installment of the latest flurry of Flickr pool activity is a gallery of South Beach small commercial buildings (non-residential, mostly non-hotel) on the main commercial streets. These buildings are attached or not wide, and are at least two stories at or near the sidewalk. There are a variety of styles, but an overall absence of finesse. (I apologize for the fingerprint smudge on the last several photos.) Note the lack of garage or other on-site parking, allowing the small lots and buildings to be more efficient in creating rentable square feet and taxable property value. Required parking may be the largest single threat to the preservation of old small buildings because any new building requires a garage, which requires a large assembly of land, i.e. demolishing a group of old small buildings, and then the new building with parking renders any remaining old small buildings that much more obsolete and unattractive for investment. Regarding new small-scale urban infill development as opposed to preservation, the largest single obstacle to such new small development is without a doubt required parking.
In Brooklyn, While Big Waits, Small Moves Ahead
From WSJ writer Joseph de Avila: "Like projects in many sections of Brooklyn, numerous condo developments planned for Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill got caught up in the financial crisis and were never finished. But while many of those plans remain in limbo, some smaller developments are on the horizon for the two neighborhoods. Lenders remain skittish about funding large condo projects in Brooklyn. The expiration of a popular city tax break for new construction has also made larger condo developments difficult to get built, driving some developers to smaller projects. Townhomes, however, are less costly and easier to finance. 'The primary appetite for land we are seeing is for townhome development,' said Michael Amirkhanian, director of sales at Massey Knakal Realty Services. Construction is nearly complete on five townhomes on Stockton Street [pictured] in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn." Full article here. (Photo credit: Philip Montgomery.)
How Much Does a Stoop Cost?
From New York Times writer Christopher Gray: "The Landmarks Preservation Commission has proposed three sprawling West End Avenue historic districts. They happen to capture a particularly picturesque little row of houses at 316-326 West 85th Street, among the earliest of the designs by the remarkable Clarence True. In 1890, he made a sudden and successful entry into the Manhattan market, with 22 houses in a single year on the Upper West Side [including] a three-house row for the west side of West End Avenue, from 88th to 89th Streets, no longer standing. Built for the developer Richard G. Platt, these were in a pleasant Renaissance style, but instead of the usual 10- or 12-step stoop, their entrances were nearly at grade, only two or three steps up. In early 1893 True spoke on the subject of domestic architecture with The Real Estate Record and Guide. He considered the money spent on the high stoop wasted — half the cost of the entire front." Full article here. (Photo credit: Marilynn Yee.)
Small Urban Building Photo Parade, Part 2
This latest gallery added to the Townhouse Center Flickr photo pool is of Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands, aka Borneo-Sporenburg, a massive redevelopment project that transformed three industrial piers into maybe the largest collection of contemporary townhouses in the world, planned by West 8 and designed by MVRDV. At first glance the townhouses display wild variety, even among the several models that are repeated, but upon closer inspection a few consistent design elements tie it all together, such as a rigid cornice line or a palate of brick, concrete, wood, and other natural materials. Next up: South Beach. Please join the pool and add you small urban building photos.
Small Urban Building Photo Parade, Part 1
The Townhouse Center Flickr pool will be seeing a bit of action in the next several days. Prompted by moving some photos from an old account, I remembered some photo sets from my wanderings, some of which I have posted elsewhere (but will be new to Townhouse Center), and some never-before-posted-anywhere. In today's edition: every building in Miami's central business district (Flagler Street and surrounding) that is approximately 50 feet wide or narrower. Many variations, but what is the theme? There should be more of them and less vacant land in the CBD. Coming soon: Amsterdam's Eastern Docklands. Please join the pool and add you small urban building photos.
Small Lot, Big Outdoor Space in the City
From the New York Post writer Katherine Dykstra: "After a crushing winter, the entire city is now delirious with spring — just witness the swarms of people standing dazed on street corners, soaking up the sun. What’s even better — if far rarer — is having your own private space in which to bask. Over at a new boutique five-unit building on E 30 St, outdoor space comes with each and every apartment. When the building’s developer, Mark Pariti, first happened upon the lot, it housed a three-story Federal-style townhouse with office space and two floors of residential on top. Pariti, owner and president of MP Design Consulting, who purchased the Kips Bay property in 2008, says: 'My vision was to bring a little brownstone Brooklyn . . . to the East Side.' He did this by maximizing the 25-by-99-foot lot for outdoor space, which included excavating a courtyard one floor below street level for the first-floor duplex apartment. He also used the top of the duplex, which winds L-shaped around the courtyard, to create a terrace for the apartment above it. In fact, the five new units boast a whopping four different types of outdoor space, including a roof deck and 4-by-12-foot Juliet balconies, in addition to the courtyard and terrace." Full article here. (Photo credit: Lorenzo Ciniglio.)
Australia's Most Beautiful Buildings Are Townhouses
From the North Shore Times: "A group of eco townhouses in Lane Cove have been declared the greenest and most beautifully designed in the country. The six luxury townhouses [developed by Evergreen Living] won three categories of the 2011 Building Design Association Excellence Award including best townhouse and environmental sustainability. James Cooper, who designed the townhouses, was awarded the overall excellence award for the best designed development in Australia. Mr. Cooper, who is director of Sanctum Design, said the owner and builder had gone well beyond the usual 'greenwash' outcomes. 'The builder embraced recycling on the building site and we had a lot of recycling bays for different materials. We also used recycled sandstone, timber and bricks as part of the development.' And despite ideas to the contrary, building in a sustainable way did not cost more, he said." Full article here.
Real Estate Must Change, Townhouses Are Change
In Urban Land magazine, Jim Heid of Urban Green sums up the larger conversation that this blog is trying to be part of: "The still looming waterfall of maturing commercial mortgage – backed securities, the slowly thawing capital markets, and the ongoing uncertainty about where the next market will come from have left real estate professionals searching for solid ground. But is the industry retooling?
"After World War II, real estate development changed from an industry of locally focused entrepreneurs who took great pride and responsibility in their communities, to one of a global nature that delivered a range of 'products.' As companies sought to make these products conform to a formula or easily replicated template — be they garden apartments, grocery-anchored shopping centers, subdivisions, or suburban office parks — they provided diminishing returns in terms of their contribution to the natural environment and society.
"Recently, industry leaders are shifting the discussion from the topic of real estate to the built environment. Changing how the industry thinks about what it does as less 'immovable land and improvements' and more 'providing the setting for human activity' is anything but subtle. While similar predictions for change have been heard at the end of previous downturns, there are reasons why this time can be different:
- The changing calculus of value. Buyers and tenants in the next cycle will be calculating costs and value in a more multidimensional way than ever before. Quality of life, walkability, access to cultural facilities and events, a smaller environmental footprint, and even being part of the 'urban vibe' are among a more complicated set of variables that will help users determine perceived value. Cost of place — housing cost plus transportation burden — has become more evident in an era pushing toward $4-a-gallon gasoline. The WalkScore phenomenon and its increasing role in real estate listings is evidence of this new calculus of value.
- A movement from niche to portfolio. Today, responsible real estate investment is rapidly moving into the mainstream, fueled by institutional investors who see green as a proxy for increased long-term value—an insurance policy against future obsolescence, a sign of higher-quality construction, and a more holistic definition of their fiduciary responsibility.
"The next 24 months provide the industry with a strategic opportunity to build on what it does well, while adding the additional skills needed to emerge from the downturn as a powerful force for solving many of today’s most challenging problems. This moment presents a wonderful opportunity to retool the profession, reteach company teams, and expand the definition of value." Full article here (must be ULI member), and six practical suggestions from the author here.
Boca Raton Townhouses Save the Day
Yesterday I went to a fascinating presentation about a development rescued by townhouses. The original proposal for the community called Centra in Boca Raton, Florida was a mix of expensive 3-story townhouses and detached houses, but then 2008 happened and the respected developer, Stiles, found itself with no sales, a piece of land, and a $25M debt to Bank of America with a personal guarantee for $12.5M. The land appraised for $6M and Stiles' top priority was not to have to write a check for the other $6.5M. Stiles considered drastically changing the site plan to garden apartment buildings, but BoA did not want the delay of such change. So Stiles turned to Label & Co. to come up with an innovation, a similar site plan but with more density of a product familiar enough to sell but differentiated enough not to compete with foreclosed detached houses. The answer: moderately-priced, 2-story townhouses. But if Stiles was going to develop its way out of debt, it would need a construction loan, so BoA agreed to an additional $7.5M revolving loan. Currently, once Stiles has pre-sold a certain number of units, BoA releases the funds to build them ($48 PSF hard costs), and Stiles sells the units to pay down the construction loan and personal guarantee, while continuing to pre-sell units for the next phase. Stiles said during the presentation that it looks like it will be able to pay back all its obligations. (Stiles also said that, as buyers got comfortable with the 2-story unit, some asked for more space, so now Stiles is selling one of the 2-story models with an 3rd-floor, 800 SF "bonus room" and higher price.) I think that if Stiles could start over now, buying the land for $6M, it would be making an attractive return, so note to other developers: let's get started building more townhouses!