New year, new layout! For looking back on the last year of blogging, Wordpress has some pretty great statistical tools. From Townhouse Center posts, people clicked through to hundreds of other sites and articles about small urban buildings, but the top three links of the last year were about:
- Art Cowie's Struggle for Rowhouses in Vancouver (linked article strangely taken down)
- Miami Townhouse Panel Discussion (linked site and video parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)
- Brooklyn Historic Brownstone Renovated to Passive House (linked article)
In honor of Mr. Cowie's tenacity, the latest from Vancouver from Straight.com writer John Lucas: "Let’s hear it for the townhouse. For those buyers who are looking for something a bit more roomy than the standard shoebox-sized Vancouver condo but who find themselves priced out of the single-family-house market, the townhouse is often the happy middle ground. It offers more indoor and outdoor space plus your very own front door, but without the price tag of a detached house on a lot. New developments seem to be popping up everywhere. For instance, stroll through the East Van neighbourhood of Cedar Cottage and you’ll notice townhome and row-house projects like the Works, Stories, and Brix [pictured] beginning to dominate the streetscapes.
"RE/MAX’s Ken Leong tells the Straight that he has seen the townhouse market explode in Fairview over the past decade. 'When townhouses came into the West Side, it was probably only 10 years ago. Mosaic Homes did a project at 15th and Laurel [Redbricks?], which is very unique because most of the multifamily stuff that we had was apartments or duplexes. And they’ve become more popular now, because you get the benefits of a single-family house: front yard, back yard, and sometimes attached parking.' Wherever they might pop up, though, don’t expect the townhouse market to dry up anytime soon. 'We only have so much land here,' Leong says." Full article here.
And from Vancouver Sun writer Mary Frances Hill, another benefit of townhouses: compact, dense development can be linked to preserving green space. "It’s a rare thing to find a 1,300-square-foot townhouse — priced at less than $350,000 — that is surrounded by protected green space. That green space, and the trails and creeks that will grace the land, have been a big draw for many buyers and interested browsers who tour Sequoia. [Fairborne Homes] has won respect for its innovations in building neighbourhoods that are sensitive to transit issues and landscape protection." Full article here. If you like insights like these, please tell your contacts about Townhouse Center!