“Utopian” Condos proposed for Manzanita

Published 5:00 pm Wednesday, April 19, 2006

According to licensed general contractor Nash’s vision, the 11 acres he owns along U.S. 101 and Neahkahnie Creek, near Manzanita, will feature small clusters of “moderately-priced” condominiums, a community garden, a community building, a platform with views of the creek and a path bordering the creek and eventually connecting to Manzanita.

“You should headline this story, ‘Utopia plan – is it feasible?'” said Nash, who, along with his wife, Maureen McMahon, divides his time between Manzanita and Portland.

Although he has played a large role in creating a number of area developments – one of the more recent being the Shearwater Condominiums, on Classic, Division and Dorcas, in Manzanita – this time Nash is targeting local residents who long to, but can’t afford to buy homes in the community. By building 60 condominiums on the Neahkahnie Creek property, he will attempt to offer that demographic a solution.

“This is not low-income housing – this is moderately priced housing,” he said. “There’s no government money involved in this.”

The idea is to construct units that will cost buyers roughly the same in a monthly mortgage as they’re currently paying in rent, he noted.

“The pricing structure, although not written in stone as of this moment, should range from $145,000 to a high of $250,000.”

What drives Nash and McMahon in large part is their dismay at an apparently shrinking year-round resident population, particularly among families and younger people.

“We’ve been down here since the 1980s,” said Nash. “One thing we’ve noticed is that there are fewer people living in the community than there were 15 years ago. You can’t run a town with absentee landlords.”

Condominiums will be clustered in groups of six-to-eight, with each unit ranging in size from 600-square-foot studios to 800-square-foot one-bedrooms to 1,100-square-foot two-bedrooms.

“These units aren’t going to be that big. What you’re really buying into here is the environment,” he said.

Brian Johnstone, of Manzanita, is drafting architectural plans for the project, which Nash expects to see completed in three years.

“I hope to break ground next spring,” he said.

So far, Nash and McMahon haven’t selected a builder for the project.

“Any contractor is going to have to realize that we do have a very sensitive area here,” said Nash. “I’m sorry, this sounds utopian-we’re going to try to build as green as possible. We’ve got to do something to protect this creek in perpetuity. It’s just a beautiful wildlife area that hasn’t been touched in probably 75 years.”

Nash and McMahon, who invested more than $1 million of their own money into the project, are passionate about seeing the development succeed on all levels. That includes receiving a financial return.

“So we’re very serious about this,” he said. “The first thing I always tell people is, ‘We’re here to make a profit.’ But that being said, how much of a profit do we want to make?”

The developers plan to complete the Neahkahnie Creek project in two phases, with construction of the first 30 units to begin this summer and the second phase 18 months later.

For more information, visit www.neahkahnie.net/ncc/, or contact Nash and McMahon at (503) 806-6995, or TNASH26170@aol.com.