A Garden of Homes Grows In Reno

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[["a",["href","https:\/\/www.hawkinsarchitecture.com\/","target","_new"]],["a",["href","https:\/\/www.hawkinsarchitecture.com\/gallery.php?id=modern-on-cheney","target","_new"]]],"sections":[[1,"h2",[[0,[],0,"Infill development in the city\u0027s Midtown District aims to offer residents sustainability and community. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"By Ben Schulman"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Architect Jack Hawkins, AIA, first arrived in Reno, Nev.,\nmore than 30 years ago. Despite the city\u2019s seedy reputation at the time,\nHawkins was drawn to its relative low cost of living and myriad outdoor\nopportunities, given the proximity to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada\nMountains. Hawkins set up his firm, "],[0,[0],1,"Hawkins \u0026 Associates, Inc.,"],[0,[],0," in the\nMidtown District, a short jaunt\u2014but a world away\u2014from Downtown Reno\u2019s\nurbanist fever dream of Modernist kitsch, faded Old West grandeur, surface\nparking lots, and superblock casinos."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The Midtown District is home to an eclectic, diverse group\nof retailers and restaurants. Virginia Street serves as the main commercial artery,\nflanked by residential neighborhoods of humble, but handsome bungalows. The\ncommercial corridor was nearly abandoned and the residential neighborhoods were\nstruggling when Hawkins arrived, but now, the area is a healthy commercial and\nresidential destination. It benefited from a revisioning of Virginia\nStreet to make it more pedestrian-friendly and accessible, and larger economic\nforces that have sent headwinds in Reno\u2019s direction since the financial crisis\nof 2008-2010."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cReno has experienced exponential growth after the crash,\u201d\nsays Hawkins. \u201cThe shattering of the Bay Area\u2019s housing prices has been driving\npeople to places like Boise and to Reno, and that hasn\u2019t stopped.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Even before the financial crisis hit, Hawkins\u2014whose architectural style deftly blends a contemporary and clean\nmodernist approach with a hint of rusticated lodge\u2014foresaw the opportunity for infill development\nin Midtown. Newcomers were already starting to arrive in the area, and Hawkins\nbelieved that appropriately scaled infill development could become a draw for\nneighborhood stabilization, retention, and attraction. He believed it was also\na challenge to model sustainable practices through various approaches."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u0022Sustainability is, at its core, an economic\nissue,\u201d he says. \u201cIt is not just a material issue.\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hawkins set out to develop a project that could establish a\nprinciple of economic sustainability from a land-use perspective, as well as material\nsustainability, embedded within the architecture of the project itself. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In 2008, he\ndeveloped "],[0,[1],1,"Modern on Cheney"],[0,[],0,", four contemporary infill residences on Cheney Street in The Wells Avenue\nDistrict. Hawkins and his wife have\nlived in one of the units since their\ndevelopment. Their roughly 1000 square feet of living space is made more\nexpansive by\nthe airiness that pervades throughout, with a long span of clerestory windows\nand glass doors,\nclever use of recessed spaces, and a meshing of indoor\/outdoor spaces offering\nexquisite views\nof the nearby mountains. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"The success of Modern\non Cheney established a precedent for density in an area of predominantly\nsingle-family housing. Coupled with Reno\u2019s increasing population and economic growth, Hawkins reasoned that similar style developments would\ntake root in the area. Roughly 15 years after his first development, Hawkins is\nteaming up\u2014as an architect and designer\u2014with a local couple to develop Midtown Garden Homes, an extension\nof his original idea at a different scale."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cWe are looking holistically at incorporating all of the\ngreat things about the area and geography,\u201d Hawkins says. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"This will manifest in a program that mixes a single-family\nhome and a duplex that both meet the street, plus three additional duplexes in\nback offering units of 400 and 700 square feet, respectively. All of the units\nwill be connected through interior courtyard garden spaces that are intended to\ncreate an intentional community. Sustainability is baked into the program,\ncalling for passive solar, minimal duct work, landscaping that acts as a\nblock-level mitigation technique to minimize climate effects, and potentially,\nlow-cost, vernacular cooling systems\u2014also known as \u201cswamp coolers\u201d\u2014that are common in\ndry climates like Reno\u2019s."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Hawkins\u2019 clients for the project are Piper Stremmel and\nChris Reilly, who most recently developed The Jesse, a meticulously designed\nsix-room boutique hotel and high-end taqueria and bar on the outskirts of downtown. Stremmel is a Reno native, an artist\nand entrepreneur who moved away from Reno and traveled the world before\nreturning. Reilly works for Tesla by day. Together, they are carving out a\ndevelopment niche within the city. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cIt was not our intention to be developers,\u201d Reilly says.\n\u201cBut we loved the neighborhood\u2014it\u2019s our neighborhood\u2014and we wanted to\ninvest in it too.\u201d"]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Stremmel sees the different perspectives that each partner\nbrings to the project\u2014she as the boomeranger back to Reno; Hawkins as the\nneighborhood visionary; and Reilly as the new blood excited by its prospects as\na determinant of their combined focus for an equitable, sustained effect. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"In turn, Hawkins sees Stremmel and Reilly\u2019s equity approach\nas more than just a labor of love, but as a mechanism to make the economics\nbehind Midtown Garden Homes work."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cThe only reason that Midtown Garden Homes pencils is that\nthe developers can hang onto it for the long term,\u201d Hawkins says. Noting the frontloaded\nsoft costs associated with rezoning concerns, among other development hurdles,\nHawkins was strategic in advising the developers to separate the individual\nparcels that compose the entirety of the project. In the event of liquidity\nneeds, one part of the project could potentially be sold while the other\ncomponents are maintained. "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"It\u2019s another way in which sustainability from an economic\nperspective is built into the design model."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"\u201cWe all want to make money, but how do we do so responsibly?\u201d\nHawkins asks. \u201cHow can you increase density with an urban infill project and\ncreate a better overall environment at the same time?\u201d "]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Midtown Garden Homes aims to find out. "]]]]}