We held our client appreciation event at the 2010 Portland Street of Dreams yesterday and had a chance to walk through the three on site single family homes and two of the detached condominiums in neighboring Macleay Overlook. The show pass is good for the main site and three other locations where the $1.7M home is located (near the parking lot at the intersection of NW Skyline and NW Cornell Rd.), the IdeaBox which was supposed to be on-site but rumored to be unable to make it up the hill and the Indigo Condominiums in the Pearl District.
Hearth and Home’s “Transitions” is a modern day split level. It will be a great home for a specific buyer and I wouldn’t be in that buyer pool. The general consensus yesterday was you are either going to love it or leave it. The spaces are very separated and my feeling was that the master bedroom was too small for an asking price of $849,000. It has the best territorial views of the homes in Cresap Summit. Note: I get to eat my words as it is sale pending according to RMLS.
Renaissance Homes’ “The Graduate” is the most livable and mainstream of the homes. It is LEED gold certified and the floor plan is repeatable on other building sites. It doesn’t surprise me that it is presold. The home has a blend of “show trim” and what the buyer has specified. The lot is surrounded by other lots so it has a much more manicured yard than the other houses that are able to use the natural beauty of the site.
Hearth and Home’s “Refinement” had the best coolness factor for me. It’s a modern home, a far cry from our 1902 historic home. It is listed for $869,000. The a builder also has a proposed home next door listed in RMLS for $869,000.
Eight of 16 detached condominiums are completed in Macleay Overlook. The two we walked though have open lofted master suites to the living area but the builder said that is easy to enclose.
I must say that I appreciate the honesty in this blog. I am a very frank person so I like to see when other Realtors will give their clients true opinions on a property.
Actually, the $1.7M home isn’t the one by the parking lot, but is on the shuttle route back to the parking lot. A very nice house, with a great secluded location; definitely worth checking out.
Thanks David for the clarification. The map in the magazine makes it look like the house on the corner but the description didn’t quite line up.
Really disappointed with the ‘Street of Dreams’ this year and last. I understand the down economic climate but if you can’t pony up more than one dream house then don’t have it for a year or two. It’s supposed to be a showcase of extreme architecture, luxury, and excess.
The main street this year was nothing more than a little higher end with zany architecture in 2 of the 3 homes. Each was around 2500-3000 sq ft. The small ‘condo’, which isn’t a condo in any sense of the word, was maybe 1400 sq ft and wasn’t unique or special. Custom paint and nice furniture should not give a house the Street of Dreams seal of approval.
Throwing in the IdeaBox was insulting. If I wanted to see a 2-bedroom modular home that costs more than a real house (‘real’ because it includes the lot it was built on), I would’ve just headed to the home show.
Mind you, the $1.7 million home is truly Street of Dreams caliber. A home theater, a swimming pool, a workout room twice a big as most peoples living rooms, and a large unfinished room behind a bookcase. I wonder how many people missed the Narnia reference? I think the brochure said 6000 sq ft – that is something you pay to see.
Grego, sorry I missed the approval on your comment until now. I don’t disagree that the $1.7M house was the only real dreamy house of the show. I’m not sure what the balance is otherwise. Building a subdivision of spec homes at that price range would be a really bad idea. Would you bus to a bunch of homes within a certain radius? I did like last year’s show and thought the penthouses made good of a bad situation in light of the economy.
Awesome Pictures! For what I have liked the house is it has much more manicured yard than the other houses that are able to use the natural beauty of the site. The house has also got best territorial views and lot of spacious rooms.