About a month after the rezone, Nor’west Properties approached the city with its City Villa idea. The “urban neighborhood” would include seven commercial buildings with ground-floor retail, professional offices on the second floor, and condominiums on the third level. A total of 315 residential units would be created, with about a third of them condos; the rest would be single-family detached homes, and so-called brownstones — houses built or faced with brick that share a common wall.

New urbanism is an international movement that encourages the creation of mixed-used neighborhoods that are walkable, compact, and mingle many uses including residential, retail, hospitality and office space. The idea has been thriving in large cities, but in recent years has been shifting toward suburbs as well.

“The concept goes way, way back to ancient cities — you’d work downstairs and live upstairs,” said Paul Eberharter, principal at Nor’west Properties LLC who also owns Eberharter Architects Inc. in Kingston. “We’ve gotten away from it over the past 80 years or so with the zoning simply because the daily uses we go through have been separated by zoning codes.”

Eberharter, who has a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in architecture from the University of Washington, has studied urban planning for many years. He has looked for ways to be involved in these types of projects but found that not many developers were doing them. To get started, he helped create Nor’west Properties, a group of investors who so far have raised $2 million for purchasing the land and paying for architectural and engineering work. Current project costs are estimated at $55 million although Eberharter said they will grow closer to $60 million.

Nor’west Properties has seven other projects in the works around Kitsap County, most of them focused on urban infill. The company feels urban infill is important because the Growth Management Act directs the majority of growth to urban zones, which will increase the demand for urban style housing.

Urban-style condominiums are part of entry-level housing, and are attractive to families because they provide trails, recreational opportunities and other amenities.

City Villa will be developed in seven phases. Eberharter hopes to start construction in two years, with the entire project to take three to five years to complete after that, based on the absorption rate. The buildings will have a Northwest theme, with natural stone, concrete, brick, tile and wood finishes.

As part of a deal with the city to change the zoning from R10 (10 residencies per one acre) to R15, Nor’west Properties is developing a master plan for the entire Wheaton/Riddell District. The public review process will include an open house, planned for September, followed by two October workshops and another open house next year.