“Affordable” condo project in Manzanita gains approval

Published 4:00 pm Sunday, December 31, 2006

Tom Nash and Maureen McMahon, Neahkahnie Creek Condominium developers, successfully jumped through the project’s final hoop at Manzanita City Hall.

Recently, the Manzanita City Council approved rezoning the 11-acre property from commercial to commercial/planned development. The approval followed a recommendation by the Manzanita Planning Commission.

The property, located along US 101 south of the water treatment plant, will be the site of 60 condominiums, 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. The units will occupy five acres.

Nash and McMahon, who live in Manzanita and Portland, purchased the land for roughly $1 million, with the intention of building condominiums, a guest house and homeowners’ association office space, community garden, platform with views of Neahkahnie Creek and a path bordering the creek and eventually connecting to Manzanita.

Plans by previous owners included construction of commercial buildings, including a bank branch.

The “city council was a dream because they understood that we were down-zoning and supplying something that’s really needed in this community,” said Nash.

Although a few Manzanita residents expressed concerns regarding the possibility of any of the units being operated as short-term rentals, there is no need to worry, according to Eileen Corren, broker with Windermere Manzanita, and Neahkahnie Creek sales representative.

“The condominium association by-laws won’t allow short-term rentals,” she said.

While Nash continues to strive for “moderately priced units,” the pricing structure isn’t firm at this point. “I need to get a handle on the construction costs,” he said.

“It’s really hard to pin it down because there are a lot of variables involved,” said Corren. “Lumber prices may go up over the next year, for instance.” However, “Tom’s going to do his best to keep the units as cost-effective as possible.”

Corren projects basic studio units will start below $200,000, while basic two-bedroom units will “probably top out around $250,000.”

Nash plans to offer no-down financing as well.

In the mean time, Nash is planning to “do as much to protect the environment as possible, from porous parking materials, to bioswales (landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water).

“We are proud of the direction we are headed and the fact that we can develop and still protect some pristine property is a real plus,” he said.

Rehfeldt Construction, of Vancouver, Wash., is the project contractor.

“They have a very fine reputation,” said Corren. “It’s going to be a beautiful, beautiful project.”

Depending on the pace of sales, the contractor may build in three 20-unit phases, said Corren.

Nash 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.