Builder - December 2008 - (Page 68) Plug and Play Flexible condos fill in the holes in a master plan. I t’s not uncommon for a master plan developer to end up with scattered bits and pieces of unused land once a major phase of the community nears completion. It’s happened a few times in Stapleton, the famed airport redevelopment outside Denver that’s become a model for New Urbanism. “Forest City [Enterprises] often comes to us when they need to solve a problem,” says Caroline Hoyt, co-founder and concept adviser at McStain Neighborhoods. “The problem this time was that there were little leftover pieces of land sprinkled throughout the community, such as oddshaped tracts that don’t subdivide themselves into a typical New Urbanist alley/ street configuration,” she explains. One of McStain’s earlier responses to such a challenge materialized as a series of small carriage homes stacked above garages, which could be plugged into all sorts of odd nooks and crannies. When these coupe-sized homes sold out quickly, the builder realized they were fi lling a void not just in the site plan, but also in the marketplace, catering to smaller households and single buyers. The latest variation on that theme, The Casitas, places 22 units— similarly designed with living spaces atop garages at grade—on roughly an acre (110 feet by 450 feet), with homes separated by walking paseos. Each mix-and-match plan can stand alone as a detached house or can become part of an attached cluster in which units are conjoined at the garages. “The building forms are like LEGOs. You can attach them in many different ways so you almost never have to repeat a building,” Hoyt says. “As long as you have a site that’s relatively flat, you can make these fit on the strangest piece of ground imaginable.” The first enclave of Casitas opened in late September and snagged five reserva- BIG ON CHARM: Interiors are simple but not bland. Too small to fit a closet, this entry vestibule includes a bench nook and coat peg. tions within a week. “Sometimes the most challenging restraint can produce the most gratifying result,” Hoyt says. “Here’s something you can do with an oddball, unwanted piece of land and get something great out of it—in this case, at 20 units to the acre.” The Casitas Location: Stapleton, Colo. Builder: McStain Neighborhoods, Denver Developer: Forest City Enterprises, Cleveland Architect: Wolf Lyon Architects, Boulder, Colo. Web site: www.stapletoncasitas.com photos: Cheryl Ungar 68 ■ B U I LD E R de c e m ber 2008 W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM http://www.stapletoncasitas.com http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
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