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Few new starter homes in my (non-trendy) city. However, once builders started working again around '12, they started putting up both McMansions and spectacularl

Few new starter homes in my (non-trendy) city. However, once builders started working again around '12, they started putting up both McMansions and spectacularly ugly apartment buildings (partially fills the role of the starter home, I guess, in that at least it's a place to live, if not a stepping stone to financial stability, so should take pressure off the market) at a crazy-fast pace. Construction everywhere, constantly. Downtown? New several new or converted high-rise apartment buildings. Just off downtown? Tons of new ugly-ass mid-rise apartment buildings in that new style everyone's using. 'Burbs? New and developing McMansion-filled neighborhoods everywhere, and a ton more of those same ugly apartment buildings. Doesn't seem to have done much to keep housing prices under control, and houses still sell so fast that you blink and a new listing will be gone. We can't possibly be a major location for internal migration—not like cities in California or Texas or anything of that sort—so IDK what's up with that. My 20ish year old McMansion has increased in value about 30% over the last two years, and was already way up from just a few years earlier. WTF.

lyaa 5y ago
The ugly apartment buildings you are seeing are probably one-plus-five buildings (one concrete + five wood floors) that are actually optimized for balancing zoning+codes+affordability for single-family apartments. At least theoretically, they should offer cheaper rent due to their much lower construction costs. I think of the ugliness of the facades as a bonus that would drive wealthier people to other buildings once options open up a bit.
- brimble 5y ago
  Yeah, it's those, I just couldn't recall the term for it. Much of the ugliness seems to be a choice, though—lots of weird, haphazard nooks and crannies and bump-outs, and bizarre color schemes that seem designed to dazzle you into not noticing how ugly the unevenly-bumpy exterior is. If they just flattened out the exterior walls a little and cooled it a bit with the crayon-box color scheme, they'd look much better.
  - letouj 5y ago
    In many cases, the superfluous nooks and crannies on 5-over-1's are mandated by local zoning rules that call for "façade articulation" on buildings occupying larger amounts of street frontage (I suppose to conceal the unthinkable horror of a big building existing in a city). See e.g. Portland, Oregon's façade articulation guidelines: https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2020/lu_building_length_facade_articulation_052218.pdf https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2020/lu_buildin...

lyaa 5y ago

The ugly apartment buildings you are seeing are probably one-plus-five buildings (one concrete + five wood floors) that are actually optimized for balancing zoning+codes+affordability for single-family apartments. At least theoretically, they should offer cheaper rent due to their much lower construction costs. I think of the ugliness of the facades as a bonus that would drive wealthier people to other buildings once options open up a bit.

brimble 5y ago
Yeah, it's those, I just couldn't recall the term for it. Much of the ugliness seems to be a choice, though—lots of weird, haphazard nooks and crannies and bump-outs, and bizarre color schemes that seem designed to dazzle you into not noticing how ugly the unevenly-bumpy exterior is. If they just flattened out the exterior walls a little and cooled it a bit with the crayon-box color scheme, they'd look much better.
- letouj 5y ago
  In many cases, the superfluous nooks and crannies on 5-over-1's are mandated by local zoning rules that call for "façade articulation" on buildings occupying larger amounts of street frontage (I suppose to conceal the unthinkable horror of a big building existing in a city). See e.g. Portland, Oregon's façade articulation guidelines: https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2020/lu_building_length_facade_articulation_052218.pdf https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2020/lu_buildin...