For most people, the Seattle Street of Dreams is a chance to ogle how the privileged live.
The event, which begins Saturday, showcases a new development of luxury homes each year. Thousands, an estimated 80,000 on average each year, come to see trends in design and decor, and they come to gawk at what serious moolah can do for a home.
For builders, the Street of Dreams is the marketing opportunity of a lifetime, probably the only time tens of thousands of people will pay to see their work firsthand.
This year is the 20th Street of Dreams and the second time it has been located in Snohomish County. The development of five homes is southwest of Monroe off Echo Lake Road. The 115-acre site will eventually include 48 homes, and most of the development will remain wooded and crisscrossed with trails.
At 4,200 to 4,750 square feet, the homes are smaller than in years past and so are the price tags, with list prices around $2 million each. The focus this year was creating an environmentally friendly community. All of the homes were built using some green techniques and products.
A neighborhood group’s concerns over septic runoff threatened the project. In April members of the Echo Paradise Community group sued the county, fearing future pollution could harm wetlands and an underground aquifer.
The developer had filed a lawsuit of its own last year, after the County Council insisted the project should be spread over several years.
Both agreed to withdraw their lawsuits in a settlement that proposed a faster building schedule and more environmental protections.
Still, the event is an opportunity for builders, interior designers, architects and others involved in the production of the homes to garner extra business.
Todd Lockie of Lockie Homes Inc. based in Snohomish was hand-picked to build an upscale Craftsman-style home, and he hopes the exposure will help bring in clients from King County’s east side looking for a luxury home builder.
From the beginning, the Street of Dreams has been about marketing. It started in 1983 as a way to give builders more exposure, said John Heller, president of Seattle Street of Dreams.
A similar event was happening in Portland, Ore., and although builders here were excited about the project, Heller worried nobody would show up.
“The idea someone would pay to get decorating ideas and look at news houses was novel,” he said.
The first year, close to 80,000 showed and the public’s appetite for the show hasn’t diminished.
None of this year’s homes has been sold yet. Bob Hoffman of Greater Realty in Seattle is the listing agent for Todd Lockie’s home on The Street of Dreams. The challenge of selling these homes will be the location: the homes have no views or access to a golf course. The homes are also set close together.
He said the quality of the workmanship is one of the good selling points for the home.
“The house is loaded to the max,” he said. “Todd Lockie does beautiful work, and this house has a tremendous amount of features.”
What does the buyer get for the money? Quality workmanship and materials, Lockie said. He used to work as a carpenter in tract home developments and says workers there are pushed to work rapidly, churning out similar houses.
His three-man company spends about six months on a home. He opts for better materials and will pay extra for better subcontractors, he said.
The 4,600-square-foot Craftsman-style home Lockie is building looks like an upscale lodge. It features four rustic fireplaces, a home theatre with a wet bar, a gourmet kitchen with a built-in espresso bar and an outdoor living room.
Many probably won’t notice some of the thoughtful touches he put into the house, including the extra money spent on raising the foundation of the house so headlights from approaching cars won’t beam into windows. He even set the house on the lot so the sunset would hit the back yard just right.
Lockie and his crew are working six or seven days a week, 12 to 14 hours at a stretch to complete the work. A recent visit to the construction site indicated he wasn’t the only builder pushing to meet the deadline. Dozens of trucks and machines plugged the road leading into the development and workers swarmed the site.
Lockie isn’t surprised people will pay $18 to attend. He equated it to attending a car show.
“Most of us can’t afford the Ferrari but we’re still enjoying having a look.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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