SPEARFISH, S.D. (AP) - Even as he works with other developers on the $210 million Dakota Meadows development in Spearfish, Joe Jorgensen has another project in what might be called his hip pocket.
In June 2015, he began work on Crow Peak Places, which when finished will add 13 new homes near downtown Spearfish. But what makes the project unique is the creation of a “pocket neighborhood,” which encourages a more neighborly lifestyle, the Rapid City Journal (https://bit.ly/1T2SP27 ) reported.
“The whole purpose of the pocket community is to have the houses face each other with their front porches so people can communicate with each other,” said Jorgensen, who added the development includes a community room.
The classically styled cottages range from 1,100 square feet to more than 1,800 square feet and are expected to cost from $300,000 to $460,000. The average listing price of a home in Spearfish in February was $278,000, according to realtor.com.
One home has been built, sold and is occupied. Two more are in various stages of completion. Jorgensen hopes to finish all 13 homes and the community room in two years.
Mike and Liz Manning bought the first home. They moved from the Mountain Plains subdivision after selling their much larger home. Now, the couple is going through the challenge of downsizing to a home about two-thirds the size of their previous house, but they are enjoying their new neighborhood.
“Nothing came in up in old-town Spearfish until this came along,” Mike Manning said. “Moving to the smaller place was attractive to us after we gave it some thought.”
Jorgensen and an investment group bought the site, originally zoned commercial because of the presence of a former motel at which Black Hills Passion Play customers stayed.
The motel was converted to apartments after the play ended its 70-year-run in 2008. The buildings had been unoccupied for several years when Jorgenson started his novel project.
“Everything was in pretty sad repair,” he said. “We made the neighbors happy.”
Jorgensen said he initially envisioned a high-rise structure for the site, but Spearfish architect Steve Williams suggested adapting the pocket neighborhood idea to the space after attending a seminar by Seattle architect Ross Chapin.
Two decades ago, Chapin pioneered the idea of high-density tracts of smaller homes designed to maintain a sense of privacy, while also featuring a community room or commons area to enhance the feeling of a cohesive neighborhood in which residents are on a first-name basis.
According to Chapin’s website, the term “pocket neighborhood” came from his feeling that his first such development near a busy Seattle street in 1996 seemed to be “a pocket safely tucking away its possessions from the world outside.”
Williams said plans for four of the five home designs for Crow Peak Place were purchased from Chapin’s firm.
“There really wasn’t a reason to re-invent the wheel,” he said.
Privacy is maintained by having what Williams called the “active side” of a home, the side with multiple or large windows facing the “inactive” or smaller window façade of its neighbor.
“The smaller windows would be higher up and on a hallway or a closet, something you wouldn’t be looking into anyway,” he said.
With finished basements, some of the homes might exceed 2,800 square feet of livable space, said Jorgensen’s niece, Merideth Pangburn, who is joined by her brother, Chris, as both general contractors and real estate agents for the project.
“Some of these houses are turning out to be bigger than a lot of people expected,” she said.
Plans for seven homes include attached two-car garages. Two other homes will have unattached single car garages.
The primary lure of the neighborhood is its location, which is within walking distance of downtown shops and restaurants and Spearfish Creek.
“People are pretty excited about it because it is something new, and also there isn’t a lot for sale as far as housing in downtown Spearfish,” Pangburn said
Another perk: all exterior building and grounds maintenance and snow removal will be handled by a homeowners association.
Jorgenson, one of five developers of the Dakota Meadows project that is expected to include housing, retail, restaurants, hotels and a sports arena, said a diverse group has inquired about what life might be like in a pocket neighborhood.
“We’ve had single, young professionals, college teachers, a combination of various folks look at our homes,” he said.
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Information from: Rapid City Journal, https://www.rapidcityjournal.com
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