ULI’s UrbanLand magazine asked: How Are Developers Accommodating Walking and Cycling? Four developers working in Houston; London; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; and Seattle responded.
Matt Griffin, managing partner at the Pine Street Group in Seattle, referenced his current project, Via6:
Walkability is everything for us. A great apartment site has to be in a walkable neighborhood and near good mass transit. Our Via6, in Seattle, has a “walkability score” of 100 out of 100.
Walkability is about more than being healthy; getting out of the car makes life simpler and better. But it’s also about economics. Amazon’s decision to locate in downtown Seattle was huge; they realized that walkable, vibrant urban neighborhoods help recruit talent..
So I went to take a look at the Via6 website – and clicked on the promo video. I think it’s fair to say I’ve never seen anything quite like the mix they’ve designed and integrated within the project. See what you think.
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Further:
Griffin: We did a lot of marketing around the Velo Bike Shop and ViaBike Club; they became part of our identity. We advertised with the Cascade Bicycle Club. We teamed up with the Downtown Seattle Association and Commute Seattle during Bike to Work Month, which they hold every May. We took a high-visibility role in sponsoring activities, including offering the services of our bike mechanics. We want bicyclists coming into downtown to see us as a bicycling hub.
Reminds me of a large full service hotel with pretty much everything one needs. Like the 4 Seasons. Never seen a condo development like it though.
It’s not a condo – it’s a rental. 500 sq. ft. studio units rent from $1,175 to $2,090; 1-bed from $2,185 to $4,150 – oddly, the two-bedroom units are slightly less expensive than some 1-bed, but that’s presumably related to how high they are up the tower. The whole thing is so new that Google Streetview just has a hole in the ground. The new Amazon campus is within sight of the building, (at least for now) which might suggest who it’s aimed at.
This is really interesting, and I mean *really* interesting. Biking is meaning real business out side of the ‘burbs and it’s fascinating to see how marketers are utilising this. Although they would know their target market, and that is 20 – 30 somethings, this promo completely excludes women. Not just visually (the camera follows men, not women), but also in the services offered – a barber shop and a bike shop. Is this because really biking is still seen as the domain of a man? Or because the ad is actually aimed *at* men, and not women? Food for thought.
As we’d already decided to rent downtown when we get really old, this kind of development in Vancouver would be a wonderful option. So much better than the advertised ones that think old people just want to go in a minibus to the casino for socializing or do minimal body movement aerobics for exercise.
Their current advertising soundtrack seems to be targeting the disco generation though. DOA might attract us seniors more effectively.
I have lived in this building since its opening (March 2013) and it really is everything I had hoped for in downtown living. I would also say that Tom Douglas (Seattle restauranteur) is also part of the Via6’s identity…all the shops and amenities are his.
Yes, a typical Gen-Y building .. but when they have kids in their late 20’s or early to mid 30’s will they still live there ? So, suburbs and houses with fences – or far bigger condos – are still required. We need BOTH: dense downtown neighborhoods, walkable, no car, small foot print .. but as kids arrive all of a sudden a sense of space and a need for a 3BR ideally over 1200 or 1500 sq ft makes condos unaffordable ..
It’s young, it’s edgy, it’s hip, it’s happening. Too bad that most of us aren’t. It fits a narrow and temporary demographic, but it would have an appeal to that group. It’s also dark and claustrophobic, for those who oppose fresh air and space, who want to live, or have to live, downtown next to their work. One can’t have any possessions yet to fill up the 500 square feet. In my young and foolish days, maybe, but now, no. Probably the way of the future, though, when vertical is all that is left.