Madison Park just isn't the neighborhood it used to be as demographics shift to a younger, more affluent set of residents, according to U.S. Census figures.
Speaking from a ground-level perspective, longtime resident and Madison Park Times columnist Richard Lehman doesn't think what appears to be inevitable changes are for the better.
"The middle class is almost completely nonexistent," the 72-year-old lamented. "As it is now, it's like the old guard is being replaced by the new guard," Lehman added.
That seems to be happening all over Seattle as the housing market remains hot, despite a slight downturn on a national level, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service statistics.
REAPING RESPONSES
It is the housing market in Madison Park that has gotten Lehman's dander up, and he points to one developer in particular as symptomatic of the problem.
It all started when he got a May 18 letter from Cascade Ridge Real Estate, representing Blueline Developers, asking if recipients of the letter would be interested in selling their homes. "As you may be familiar with the name, Blueline Developers has been building custom Craftsman-style homes for the past two years in Madison Park," the letter says.
"I hardly read the thing; it pissed me off. I gave it to my wife," groused Lehman, who has lived in the neighborhood most of his life. And it isn't just Blueline asking about buying his home; Lehman gets calls all the time from Realtors asking the same thing, he said.
Lehman isn't interested in selling, but others in Madison Park have been, said Mike Oaksmith, president and owner of Blueline, a small outfit with only seven employees.
"Yeah, we've gotten some calls," he said of responses to a selective mailing of the letter.
And the letter isn't the only thing that's sparked a response. "I actually have Realtors calling me every day," Oaksmith added.
STAYING WITHIN THE FOOTPRINT
Unlike some companies, Blueline isn't in the business of tearing down old homes and replacing them with larger structures that max out the allowable lot coverage, he said.
"We try to stay within the same footprint," said Oaksmith, who explained that the homes are enlarged by going down to add a daylight basement and up to add a new floor.
"We're rebuilding in the same [Craftsman] style," he said of a 1920s and 1930s type of house that has large windows, door wraps, crown molding and shingles or shakes instead of siding.
Matching the additions to the original style is a complicated process, according to Oaksmith. "If we didn't have years of experience, we could get ourselves in trouble," he said.
The result essentially doubles the size of the homes Blueline remodels, and there is a solid market for the houses, Oaksmith said.
Almost every buyer is a family that has four or five kids and has been looking for a place in Madison Park for years, he added.
The solicitation letter stresses that Blueline strives to provide the neighborhood with affordable homes that will stand the test of time. But like so much of Seattle, "affordable" is a relative term.
Oaksmith said the eight to 10 homes he's already remodeled in Madison Park have sold for more than $1 million. That price range doesn't seem to be much of a barrier, either.
"We rarely have something on the market for more than a month," he said. "The last three or four homes were pre-sold."
Blueline also remodels homes in other parts of town, such as Queen Anne and Laurelhurst, said Oak-smith, who has deep roots in Madison Park.
NEIGHBORHOOD 'REVITALIZATION'
Oaksmith's aware that there are some Madison Park residents who don't care for the growth Blueline brings to the area, but he has another take on what his company is doing. "I see it more as revitalizing the neighborhood," he said.
Perhaps, but even Lehman admitted there's nothing anyone can do to stop the growth in Madison Park. Still, the trend fills him with regret.
"I just wanted [the neighborhood] to stay small and have everybody get along," the longtime resident said.
Staff writer-at-large Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
[[In-content Ad]]
