| Most unusual, but the fact is, everybody is happy about Poulsbo Place and its progress. Poulsbo has become an icon of “Smart Growth” with its award-winning inner city housing development off Jensen Street.
Once the abandoned, crumbling, rat-infested remnant of World War ll. military housing, this 168 acre parcel has been transformed into an artistic residential district currently featuring 161 quality homes, architecturally designed with steeply pitched roofs of varying heights in the style of 1920 Seattle’s Pine Street cottages. The new neighborhood will have a total of 265 homes when phases two and three of the project reach completion.
Some 8,000 potential buyers have visited the “Place” since its inception in August, 2000 when more than 2,000 visitors came to the opening. Potential buyers find choices in color, exterior and interior, and five interior designs among four product types: a cottage or rambler with courtyard; two-story bungalows; or hillside townhomes with views of Liberty Bay and the Olympics. Each home will have one or two garages with maintenance free landscaping.
Every home is built the old-fashioned way... with two-by-six studs, one or two garages, hardwood flooring, GE appliances, cable, internet, and maximum insulation, roofs guaranteed 50 years, and 9-foot ceilings. Sizes range from 850 to 2,400 square feet.
Richard Bruskrud and Bill Creager, members of the design-winning architectural firm, Mithum Partners, of Seattle, are credited with the “old charm” design with the best of modern convenience. Not yet completely constructed, Poulsbo Place has already won three awards from the Seattle Masters Builders Association, including “The Community of the Year,” according to Metropolitan Magazine in its January 2001 issue. Winners will again be announced in the May 2001 issue.
The project will also gain additional exposure with three of its homes entered in the Homebuilders Association of Kitsap County’s annual Parade of Homes. The Parade is the premier event for local builders to showcase their latest product. This year’s event will be held the first weekend in June.
Security Properties, Inc., with a leadership team of 15 Seattle real estate developmental specialists, began studying the site fifteen years ago. In 1994, they purchased the property from a group of seven local owners and presented a master plan to Poulsbo officials. Three more years passed before final approval from engineers, the planning commission, and lastly, the city council.
“It is an unusual land site,” explains Security Properties President Tom Curran. “No environmental challenges, no citizen opposition because it was a blight on the city. We look for such sites to redevelop. It was well worth the wait.” The firm now has presence in 41 states.
It is not always smooth-sailing during planning stages. “We were the third owners of an original tract of 68 acres in Orange County once dispensed by the Spanish Land Grant. We proposed a residential area on the landfill where the view extended across L.A. to Catalina Island. But during the planning hearings, one objector declared a 400-foot knoll on the property was an active volcano,” recalled Security Property Vice President Steve Dymoke. “Another announced the acreage was a former missile site.” In the initial stage of grading, the State of California said they would buy the site for a State Park. We closed the deal at a record price for California State acquisition. So all ended well.”
“People have to be people... they resist change if it affects them and sometimes want to hold to the past,” Curran injected. “There can be a tendency to make the developer the ‘bad guy.’ Actually, we are trying to correct what increasing population and city growth is causing. People need housing.”
No argument in Poulsbo. The city is proud of the colorful array of housing in its inner-city neighborhood. Economically, Poulsbo considers the new housing a big positive.
Poulsbo Mayor Donna Jean Bruce proudly states, “We worked a very long time for this wonderful neighborhood, which is so consistent with proper inner city development.”
John Stevenson, city engineer, sees Poulsbo Place as the eradicator of an “eyesore and a liability” for an aging infrastructure. “The 1994 comprehensive plan for Poulsbo called for redevelopment of that area. Selling it to Security Properties Inc. accomplished that goal.”
Glenn W. Gross, Poulsbo Planning Director, agrees. “Everybody is pleased. We feel this is a perfect example of ‘Smart Growth’... a redevelopment and infill, rehabilitation of aging infrastructure, providing a walkable community, located near the downtown core, environmentally friendly, and preventing urban sprawl. What more can we ask?”
The night the Master Plan was approved by the city council, the developers received a standing ovation... probably an historical “first.”
The first home sold for $199,000 according to Judy Curran, Windermere representative and wife of Security Properties, Inc. president. Still half the price of comparable Seattle residences, the Poulsbo homes are selling between $150,000 and $180,000, with increasing demand. Tom Curran estimates total cost in the redevelopment at $45,000,000. The first million was spent on demolition of the decaying structures, repair and replacement of sewer-water connections, and ground installation of all utility lines.
“Two-garage larger homes in Phase Three may reach $245,000,” said Tom Curran. Phase One is built. Phase Two in progress, Phase Three to begin.
Poulsbo can look in the mirror and see who is prettiest of all. | 
