Continuing yesterday’s post, I’ve distilled the conversation we had about our G316 project at our Blogger Dinner down to a few main themes.

Retail Forthcoming?
One of the first topics centered around retail. Would this be a mixed use project? No surprises there— we’re big fans of mixed use and are itching to do more of this. At present, The Gallery is the only project that is situated with the right zoning according to the city’s master plan for the neighborhood, which has slated 3rd streets (where the Ziggurat and CalStyrs are located) and C Street as the retail strips. Based on our own research of this, we’d have a pretty hard battle ahead to get the city to change zoning laws in this neighborhood, especially since commercial requires even more parking, which is something we’re really trying to minimize in our existing projects.

But, regardless the point is valid: this neighborhood will need more retail if its going to become a thriving, healthy, walkable, urban community. Without enough diverse retail, Washington will simply become an urban bedroom community.

So, while we haven’t completely ruled out taking on this challenge with existing projects, we also think our resources might be better spent exploring opportunities to acquire parcels that already lend themselves to a retail use. We do know of 4-5 proposed retail projects, all within 4 blocks of each project; most, if not all, of these projects appear to be some kind of restaurant use. While this doesn’t necessarily translate to the self-contained Urban Village concept, it’s a start.

Also, as this neighborhood ages, the first floor studio flats facing G street on this project could fairly easily be converted to retail use: salons, stationary, clothing, etc. Maybe by that time, the prevailing perspectives on parking will have changed and be more accommodating. Who knows how peak oil will change cities priorities…

Where to Put the Bikes
Being bicycling enthusiasts ourselves, this theme was quite welcome. We’ll be looking at ways to maximize storage and/or include lockers. Accessibility and visibility (security) were articulated as considerations for location of bike storage. Small living space means that every square foot is precious: finding ways to keep the bikes secure and accessible without requiring bikes to be brought into the unit will be one of the issues we’ll be trying to tackle.

Death to the Community Center
So, we quickly axed the community center after some pretty resounding feedback that it wouldn’t really get used and would be a waste of resources. An apt comparison was made to college dorm community rooms: places where you never quite feel comfortable going because you never know if someone else is using it and wants privacy—the space feels contrived or somehow “artificial.” In contrast, a corner café or sandwich shop offers much more added value to most residents and much more natural as a hang-out space. Which brings us back to the retail dilemma…

In the aftermath of the community room’s demise, we’re now brainstorming what to use that space for. Hot tub? Private BBQ pads? A solar heated lap pool? Something exercise or recreation-related? Or just a nicely (xeri)-landscaped area.

What sounds like a cool use of open space to you?

Size Does Seem to Matter
What we think we heard was that while some buyers might like the bare-bones 600 sq. ft. units, more people are likely to want a bit more space. Based on the general feedback that it could be too risky to build too many of the 630 sq. ft. flats, we’re looking turning more second floor units from studio flats to flats with a Bedroom mezzanine by just popping up the roof.

Here’s what we had before
(1) 540 sf
(21) 630 sf
(8) 800 sf
(4) 1000 sf

Here’s what we’re now thinking
(1) 540 sf
(14) 630 sf
(15) 800 sf
(4) 1000 sf

One interesting unexpected insight we gleaned from this part of the discussion centered around the inclusion of an extra ½ bath. Several people articulated how they’d like to have a bathroom that guests could use apart from their personal bathroom and this seemed to resonate with the rest of the group; some even said they wouldn’t even consider a unit that didn’t have at least 1 ½ bathrooms, especially in a flat this small where the boundaries between private and non-private spaces get blurred. We think we can figure out how to add a ½ bath and we’ll be looking at making this change.

Demographics, Schlemographics
Singles. With such small units and only 1 bedroom, the group said that we’d be selling mostly to singles. Some felt that there would be some couples that might be interested in the mezzanine flat, since its nice to have a little buffer space when you are living with someone else.

Some pointed out that this type of product could have some appeal to the baby boomer demographic who is now looking to downsize and minimize. Also, the collegiate Davis demographic was mentioned as having a natural fit with our eco-urban values.

We didn’t dig very far into the income level, which I wish now we had since our overarching goal was to ensure a mixture of incomes in the neighborhood. One perspective I recall however was that, if indeed these units were more appealing to singles, they would probably be in a higher income bracket (ie. single young professional or downsizing baby boomer). We need to do some research on this to know more. If it proves to be the case, it might put some holes in our strategy to hit a more accessible price point by decreasing unit size. Of course, much could also depend on the mortgage industry, interest rates at the time these are for sale. Also, when it comes to looking at the health of this neighborhood over time, its difficult to predict demographic changes to a neighborhood.

Again, as peak oil hits and the value for real estate in the urban core goes up, the difference in incomes may simply be a division between for sale and for rent. At present, most of the residents in this neighborhood are for-rent but many of these properties will not likely last through the next decade and will likely be purchased and redeveloped. We’ve looked at this project as a potential for-rent project as a means of bringing more accessible housing into the urban core but haven’t been able to figure out how to make it pencil. At present, it looks like the costs would translate into rental prices that we don’t think the neighborhood is currently ready for, but this also could change as we dig deeper.

Another topic that caught our ear were the implications of building a for-sale project that by virtue of the small unit size would translate into “transitional” housing. We heard that if there weren’t enough units with “growing space,” people wouldn’t be able to see themselves living in the units for very long. People would either simply choose not to buy or would buy with the expectation to sell in a few years when their needs have outgrown the space. Is this kind of turnover healthy? Is this any different than “for rent”? Something for us to consider…

Name for the Project
We didn’t present this as a topic, but presently, the name “effica” is getting bounced around. Based on “efficacious”– having the ability or power to produce a desired effect.

Any positive or negative associations?

Do speak up. We’re making these kinds of efforts to get some creative, thoughtful dialogue around the projects in the hopes that answers and issues we’re not currently exploring come to the surface.

Jason