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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

October 2, 2005

SR's mini-housing boom

Visions to revitalize downtown take shape in 5 projects adding 148 housing units

Looking toward retirement, John and Jennifer Laxton bought into a neighboring row house project and will rent it out until their kids are grown.

Nancy McCrea-Hendrix wants to buy a downtown town home as a place to stay on trips from Chico to visit North Bay friends and enjoy Santa Rosa restaurants and shops.

These buyers are part of a burgeoning group of Americans, often single professionals, couples without children and empty nesters, who are spurning suburbia and embracing downtown living.

To meet demand, developers are investing some $50 million to build the first housing in downtown Santa Rosa in 15 years. Five projects with 148 for-sale and luxury rental units are under construction within a half-mile of Old Courthouse Square.

"We believed that there was now a market to sell units downtown," said developer Hugh Futrell, who is building two town home projects downtown. "They're not attracted to a tract house. What they're attracted to are the amenities of downtown living and the sense of community that comes with it."

Several other projects are in various stages of development or planning, including proposals to build a pair of 10- and 11-story towers with housing and commercial space in the heart of downtown Santa Rosa. Just to the west, in Railroad Square, developers are in the process of converting several old warehouses and vacant lots into housing and commercial space.

In joining other Bay Area cities that are filling in downtown spaces, Santa Rosa is finally reflecting a longtime planning charge to build up after decades of spreading out.

While confident they will be successful, developers had to sell the ideas to lenders, appraisers and others in the local real estate market. This skepticism stems from the lack of new high-density housing downtown or mixed-use projects in the city - until now.

The projects underway fit with the city's plan to revitalize its core by encouraging people to live, work and shop downtown.

"With the development going on in downtown Santa Rosa, downtown has just mad potential. It's kind of like build it and they will come," Styles said.

Styles plans to rent his Santa Rosa house and move downtown when his live-work row house is completed at Mendocino Place, a seven-unit development on Mendocino Avenue. He will live upstairs and open a storefront office downstairs facing Mendocino Avenue.

The 1,250-square-foot unit, priced at $570,000, is plenty big for the single real estate agent. He likes the idea of living next door to others who want to be downtown.

"It's going to be fun. It's awesome," Styles said. "Just to walk out early in the morning and take a stroll downtown, to me, that's just the heart of the city. It's going to liven it up at nighttime."

Mendocino Place fills in a lot created by the demolition of a small commercial building. The design for the two-story homes is inspired by new housing in downtown areas across the Bay Area, notably the row house layout and spacious interiors for both large home offices and open living areas. Styles' unit is smaller than the six others, each featuring 1,500 square feet and selling for $575,000.

"Everywhere you go you see these row houses in densely populated cities. We're trying to bring it here and we're pretty excited about it," said Dan Rumrill, who is building Mendocino Place with partner Bob Fischer.

Architectural finishes are intended to reflect surrounding buildings. There are stucco walls, wrought iron balconies and fencing, and cobblestone courtyards.

One block away, Fischer is using a similar layout and design at Museum Place, a six-unit development on B Street.

Where an old house and small commercial addition once stood, Fischer is building two-story row houses. Each home has 1,350 square feet and sells for $575,000.

To make additional room for work and living space, the developers eliminated garages at both projects. But covered parking is a short walk away - residents pay $110 a month for a space in the neighboring city garage.

"I think it's fabulous. I can't even get in my garage now," said Laxton, a Windsor resident. "If I don't have one, I won't have all the stuff. I just want to park my car somewhere, as long as it's covered."

Getting out of cars is one reason residents move downtown. Another is stepping out front doors and walking to restaurants and coffee houses, theaters and bookstores, and other shops.

The Laxtons look forward to living downtown once they move into Museum Place. And they expect many more Santa Rosa residents will be joining them.

"The more the merrier," said Laxton, a real estate broker who has lived in other city centers, including Toronto, London and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "It's time for Santa Rosa to grow up. You need people not only working there but living there to support all the things they want happening down there."

The row houses at the two downtown projects are selling without an active marketing campaign, a sign that buyers are interested in the concept.

"We've had so many inquiries about it. The minute we get on the Multiple Listing Service, we will just be bombarded," said Mary Ann Walker, who is listing the row houses for Frank Howard Allen Realtors

"I think once they're completed they will be gone," said husband Gordon Walker, also an agent with Frank Howard Allen Realtors.

Both row house projects should be finished in December.

Further along is Railroad Square Terrace, where Futrell is completing 29 two-story town homes above ground-floor retail. The units should be ready by the end of October, though Futrell has not decided whether to rent or sell them.

Ranging from 800 to 900 square feet in size, Futrell has said in the past the units might sell for about $300,000 each.

Building a mixed-use project in high traffic areas and in the middle of a city block is challenging. The complex is between Fourth and Fifth streets, Davis and Wilson streets.

"When you're building in a downtown environment with buildings on either side, it creates complexities," Futrell said, noting construction is six months behind schedule.

Before getting started, Futrell worked with preservation advocates so the design would fit within Railroad Square, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Initial plans called for 46 apartments and three floors facing both Fourth and Fifth streets. He came back with 29 town homes, given parking concerns, and two stories facing Fourth Street.

For compatibility with surrounding architecture, stucco walls face Fourth Street. Alternating brick and stucco walls face Fifth Street.

A sushi restaurant and a wine bar will go on the ground floor on Fourth Street. Another restaurant space is being built on the Fifth Street side.

Coming upon Railroad Square Terrace during a visit to Santa Rosa, McCrae-Hendrick now wants to buy a downtown town home.

"I liked the area because it feels cosmopolitan," she said.

The retired Marin native comes over from Chico monthly and would eventually like moving to Santa Rosa. Railroad Square Terrace is the kind of affordable, smaller downtown home away from home she wants.

"Downtown, that's what I'm looking for because I've never lived in an urban setting and I would really love that," she said. "If something is attractive, I'm going to jump at it."

Across Highway 101 on the northern edge of downtown, the largest of the housing projects is going up on the site of a former beauty college.

The project, the Moore Building, is the sole apartment complex in the new downtown housing mix. With 80 units featuring luxury amenities rivaling other high-end complexes in Santa Rosa, the Moore Building is on track for occupancy about a year from now. Rents could range from $1,500 for a one bedroom to $2,600 for two bedrooms.

"Some people thought I was crazy at first with the high end," said Bill Jereb, partner and general manager for the family corporation building the apartments and ground floor retail spaces.

The family already owned the Healdsburg Avenue lot, allowing them to put more money into constructing a nicer building, including top of the line windows and doors, kitchens, lighting fixtures and other features.

The complex is named after Freddie and Jeannie Moore, who owned and operated a beauty college on the site.

Both Railroad Square Terrace and the Moore Building are endorsed by the Greenbelt Alliance, a Bay Area nonprofit. The group advocates residential, mixed-use and commercial development that uses land efficiently, is designed around pedestrians and public transit, and provides affordable housing.

The developments make good financial sense, too, Jereb said. Putting luxury apartments downtown should assure low vacancy rates, Jereb said, even if the market remains flat and continues favoring renters.

Another draw should be the development's four storefronts. A popular local pizzeria will be one tenant and Jereb plans to open a coffee roaster and deli in two other retail spaces.

"For overall success, businesses need to complement the building and the clientele in the building," he said. "I'd just rather have these things up and running when the building opens to get the foot traffic."

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