A 5,800-square-foot Georgian Colonial-style mansion sits prominently on a prime piece of Washington Park real estate at 821 34th Ave. E. Completed late last summer, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom house features 12-foot ceilings, seismic framing, a 200-square-foot walk-in closet, a sauna that seats 10, a 1,800-bottle wine cellar and classic cut-crystal Bohemian and Murano chandeliers. It’s a $5.65 million “spec house.”
The developers of the property are uncomfortable, however, with my applying that term to their masterpiece. By definition, “spec house” simply refers to a house that has been “built in anticipation of finding a buyer — that is, speculatively.”
But the practical implication of speculative development for much of the housing market right now is a glut of unsold houses nationally that continues to depress housing values and undermine the financial stability of many community banks. Thus, “spec house” has taken on some very negative connotations in the lower end of the market.
Nothing new in Park? Speculative development, however, has been a prominent feature of the Madison Park housing scene for many years, as older homes — often debilitated houses and cottages — have been replaced one lot at a time with much bigger, modern dwellings.
We reported last summer that spec houses represented a fifth of all the residences then listed for sale in the Park (exclusive of Broadmoor, where speculative building is not allowed). So there’s nothing new or noteworthy about developers building houses in our neighborhood without having specific buyers in mind.
What is perhaps a bit different about the situation today is the extent to which there are several very large, very high-end spec houses for sale here, all located in Washington Park and priced at more than $3.5 million.
The Georgian Colonial is the most dramatic of these houses. It was built by Old World Elegance L.L.C., whose three principals (real estate broker Wayne Boswell, financier Danny Campbell and architect Milan Heger) say they wanted to create a high-craftsmanship home in keeping with the essence of the Washington Park neighborhood.
I recently toured the property with Heger, who told me that the house was “customized to our concept of what the new owner will be like: a person who respects history and culture, has joie de vivre, loves travel and loves to live with references.” The concept was to create an Old World, European feel in a house with all of the modern amenities.
“We never conceived of this as a spec house. It has been built with an idea in mind of who is my typical architectural client,” he said.
A historic style Before he began designing the house, Heger said, he studied many of the early 20th-century Colonials on Capitol Hill to connect the historic Georgian style to that of Seattle. All of the interior woodwork and molding, he noted, was custom designed and milled to specifications.
The red mahogany that encloses the home’s living room is Forest Stewardship Council-certified, although not everything in the home is green.
“We went green wherever it made sense,” Heger commented.
In addition, many of the home’s elements are ergonomically designed, he noted.
The house features lots of marble, including the floor of the impressive entry foyer, and extensive use of tile work. The first floor “powder room” has, for example, a huge, carved-marble sink, intricately inlaid tiles and Venetian burnished plaster (which contains particles of marble).
The master bathroom on the upper floor is definitely a showpiece, with a woven-pattern tile floor and a shower that could probably accommodate six easily.
The house has a chef’s kitchen, a large entertainment room, a fitness center with steam room, an oversized laundry room that can double as a staging kitchen for event caterers, a large home office, three decks and the obligatory detached three-car garage.
There’s a grand wooden staircase off the main entry, a wireless backup to the wired security system, a residence-wide sound system and a leaded-glass-windowed, wooden wine-cellar door that was salvaged and refurbished from the original house that sat on the site.
Well, it’s quite a production, and one that will definitely not appeal to everyone’s taste. But Heger’s partner, Wayne Boswell, professes unconcern about ultimately selling the property, which has been on the market for about a year.
“We’re looking for the right buyer to come along who will appreciate the value,” he said. “We’ve created something special. I’m certain we’ll be successful.”
He noted that the principal motivation for selling this house is to be able to do the next one. “We’re neighborhood-oriented,” he explained, “and Washington Park is the only place we want to be.”
And he adds, “We don’t have any bank financing.” Still more spec homes Another “custom” Washington Park property currently on the market is a 6,330-square-foot house at 602 34th Ave. E., completed late last year by Babylon Gold L.L.C., which has developed other luxury properties in the area.
Listed at $3,750,000, the five-bedroom, four-and-a-half bathroom house features a gourmet kitchen with Calcutta marble counters, a home theatre/media room, multiple laundry rooms, wine cellar and vaulted ceilings. It has been on the market 145 days.
The one high-end spec house in Washington Park that has excellent views is the 6,990-square-foot “two-storey traditional” at 1217 39th Ave. E., built by Washington Park resident and real estate broker Lincoln Thompson. Listed at $4,290,000, the house has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a butler’s pantry, mud room, wine cellar, nanny’s quarters, media and billiard rooms and an “open-concept” kitchen. It has been on the market 270 days.
By my count there are presently five spec houses for sale in Washington Park and one spec house on the market north of East Madison Street. One spec house has been sold this year, and one was withdrawn from the market by its builder, unsold.
Another spec house has apparently been foreclosed upon by the bank that provided the financing, though that house is still for sale. At least three spec houses are still in some stage of construction in Madison Park.
When these are completed and on the market it may signal the end of speculative building for some time. Financing will be tough, and the market is still precarious. Developers have good reason for caution, for though it may not be true that timing is everything, it certainly is something.
BRYAN TAGAS is Madison Park resident and corporate banker who also writes the Madison Park Blog (www.madisonparkblogger.com), from which this column was excerpted.[[In-content Ad]]
