Copper Lantern Townhomes: Before and After
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Real Estate | No Comments Yet!
Here’s a little tale of some recently-constructed homes here in Kenmore.
Copper Lantern Homes is a brand-spanking new development on 182nd Street composed of 33 townhome units. It was built by the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) on a plot of land just over one acre that they purchased in September 2005 for just under a million dollars.
Here’s a photograph of what the property looked like facing North from across the street in December 2007 before LIHI developed it:
The existing house looked like it was in relatively good shape. It probably could have used a new roof, but apparently the previous resident was living in it up until the sale. The vandalized white sign on the curb in the photograph above is the “Notice of Proposed Land Use Information,” which had been posted for nearly a year when the picture was taken. During the year and a half between when the LIHI purchased the property and when they developed it, the house and yard were a magnet for vandalism and illegal dumping.
In 2006, a representative of the Low Income Housing Institute stated that they would “save as many of the tall evergreens as we can.”
Here’s a photograph from roughly the same angle of what the property looks like today:
The trees on the left are on the neighboring property to the west. A grand total of two evergreens—27″ and 52″ in diameter—were saved (out of about 20 or more that originally populated the property—many of which were much larger). They appear on the left in this photograph (taken from within Copper Lantern, facing south-south-east):
The trees on the right are the same trees that appear on the left in the previous photo.
At right is another December 2007 photograph taken from a different angle that includes the same two trees that were left standing. So much for saving very many of the tall evergreens.
In order to purchase a townhome at Copper Lantern, families must have a household income “at or below 80% of King County area median income (AMI).” There are four floor plans: Three 3-story 4-bedroom units, nine 3-story 3-bedroom units, eleven 2-story 2-bedroom units, and ten 1-story 1-bedroom units.
The 4-bedroom units have already sold out, which is not surprising since they were priced a good 40% below comparably-sized homes elsewhere around Kenmore.
Two of the 3-bedroom units have “SOLD” stickers in the windows already (the end units, of course). These still look like they’re priced fairly competitively, at around 10% cheaper than similarly-sized condos for sale nearby.
The buildings that house the two-bedroom and one-bedroom units are still fenced off as the developer puts on the finishing touches. None of these look like they are sold yet. Interestingly, there are at least five two-bedroom units currently on the market just at the end of the block at the condo-conversion “Coventry Place Condominiums” with asking prices $15,000 (around 7%) less than the two-bedroom Copper Lantern units. On either end of 182nd you can find one-bedroom units bigger than those for sale at Copper Lantern on the market with asking prices 17% to 20% less than the Copper Lantern homes.
I understand the desire for “affordable housing,” but in my opinion it is a shame that in this case it comes at the expense of so much natural beauty. It will also be interesting to see how many people rush to sign up to purchase condos with low-income restrictions on the deeds that are priced higher than nearby units that have been on the market for six months to a year.
Here’s a Bothell/Kenmore Reporter article from back in March about the project: Home sweet home for Kenmore’s Copper Lantern
Tags: central-kenmore, copper-lantern, development, non-profit, Real Estate
