Work In Progress -- Northwest Landing Residents Wait For The Day They Can Walk Their Children To School And Buy A Quart Of Milk On The Way Home.

Part 2 of 2

Northwest Landing, under construction 16 miles south of Tacoma, is the nation's fifth largest development based on the principles of New Urbanism, which stresses the needs of the pedestrian over the car. This week, a look at the project's prospects.

When her husband transferred to Intel's new facility at Northwest Landing, Patti and Ken Garriepy immediately rejected moving to a house in the large development. They wanted a couple of acres somewhere, and the lots in Northwest Landing were small - smaller even than typical suburban lots.

After four days of househunting, however, Garriepy remembers turning to her husband and saying, "Now, what was wrong with Northwest Landing?"

They wouldn't have five acres, but he would be within a mile of work. They wouldn't have a big yard, but they would have several nearby parks where their children could play. And it didn't hurt that prices were equal to, if not better than, what they'd found elsewhere. So they went back and bought a house on one-tenth of an acre.

Ken Garriepy still wants five acres someday, but for now, with small children, Northwest Landing made more sense, his wife says. He not only makes it home for dinner (and can easily return to work later if necessary), he also makes it home for lunch, and to school for special events. Patti Garriepy says finding friends for her kids was as easy as walking out the front door.

If Northwest Landing - a Weyerhaeuser Real Estate project of 3,000 acres - is going to achieve its goal of becoming more than just another subdivision, then it probably needs a lot more people like the Garriepys.

Or like Sarah McAfee, whose husband took a job at Intel just so the couple could move to the development.

They heard about Northwest Landing from Eric McAfee's brother and sister-in-law, who moved there first.

"They called us and said, `Hey, move here!' I never thought we'd DO that . . ." she said.

But they liked the small-town feel with the porches, and old-style architecture. They were looking for a place to start a family, a place where they would know their neighbors.

"It's nice to blend in sometimes, but we've done that long enough," McAfee said.

And although their new house isn't finished, they've already sold their second car and replaced it with a rain suit so Eric can walk to work no matter what the weather.

These are the kind of stories that suggest Northwest Landing is starting to achieve its goal of offering residents an alternative to suburban car culture. It's one thing to build a quaint-looking town with sidewalks and narrower streets; it's another to provide jobs, stores, schools and, ideally, transit stations.

Yet that's the planning philosophy on which Northwest Landing is based. And as one of the largest such projects in the nation, the development will be watched to see if it succeeds.

It's early yet. Although builders have been selling houses for three years, only about 300 of a planned 4,300 houses are built. And about half of those 300 households moved in just in the last year.

But it's already clear that the availability of jobs is one of the development's strengths. Work force: 2,600 and growing

"The thing I admire most about Northwest Landing are the workplaces there," says Peter Katz, author of "The New Urbanism" and former executive director of the Congress for New Urbanism.

J.J. McCament, Northwest Landing general manager, came to the project with a background in industrial recruitment. She started working to bring businesses to Northwest Landing five years before residential construction started.

The biggest catch so far is Intel, the massive manufacturer of computer chips and other computer products. It now employs about 2,000 people at the Northwest Landing site and expects the workforce there to grow to 6,000 by 2003.

In 1995, State Farm Insurance opened the doors of a new regional office that serves Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. It has 500 employees now, with 150 more expected by September.

The other two employers are Westblock Pacific, which has about 50 people making concrete block, mortar and dry-concrete mix, and Lone Star Northwest, where 70 people are working in a sand-and-gravel mining operation.

So far, about 16 percent of Northwest Landing's residents work at one of the four employers. Weyerhaeuser's goal is 30 percent by the time the development is finished 20 or so years from now. Shopping, schools to come

Shopping and schools, however, remain stuck in the planning stages.

If Northwest Landing residents complain about anything, it's the lack of stores and schools. They knew when they moved in that those wouldn't appear overnight, but they wish it could happen sooner.

"We'd like a supermarket," says Garriepy.

"Everything is a freeway drive," says Glenda Kairis. "But we knew that going in."

The closest grocery store is several exits up the freeway - about a 15-minute drive. Not far, but not walking distance, either.

The school sites are empty lots, too, in part because Northwest Landing sits within two school districts, with the businesses (and most of the tax revenue) in one, and the residences with most of the children in another.

The Steilacoom Historical School District has asked voters to approve building schools in the development, but so far, no luck. So school-age children are taking a bus about eight miles to Steilacoom schools.

Retail stores are at least five years away, if not more, McCament says. And stores aimed at luring freeway drivers probably will come first, she said. Those are unlikely to resemble a corner store.

A long wait for retail is a common problem for New Urbanist developments. But unless numerous residential rooftops are there, the stores don't come.

Peter Calthorpe, a leader of the New Urbanist movement and the main planner for Northwest Landing, says patience is necessary.

"A lot of people are worried about the retail side," says Calthorpe. "They're just not aware that retail has to wait until . . . there are enough people to support it."

After a very slow start in 1995 with just 26 houses sold, Northwest Landing's residential sales pace has picked up considerably. Last year, more than 200 households moved in, including 79 apartment renters.

"For the lack of services they have, I think they've done exceptionally well," says housing consultant Suzanne Britsch.

Ron Hackler, president of J.L. Scott/Tacoma and a principal in J.L. Scott offices in Lacey, Olympia and Yelm, says Northwest Landing is doing all right now, and probably will do better later.

With its small lots the project was about two years ahead of its time, he says, adding that many of the Intel employees with money have not gone the Garriepys' route. Instead, he says, they've chosen a commute and moved to Lacey, where they can get a house and half-acre for about the same price as a similar house in Northwest Landing.

But Hackler said small lots soon will be the norm in Pierce County and elsewhere. And when that happens, and the amenities arrive, he predicts Northwest Landing will do very well.

Some critics wonder whether New Urbanism, over time, will appeal to enough people to be a commercial success. Or will the movement promise more than it can deliver.

A recent, independent study done on Kentlands, a project in Maryland, concluded that people were paying more to live there, even though they could get comparable houses nearby for tens of thousands of dollars less.

Another study done by American Lives, a market-research firm, found that although many people are attracted to the concepts of New Urbanism, they make up only about 20 percent of the homebuying market. Most are warm to the idea, but don't like the idea of higher-density housing, or like regular suburbs just fine.

It's too early to know whether Northwest Landing will reach its goals, and too early to assess a movement in which only one or two projects have been completed.

Andres Duany, another architect and devotee of New Urbanism, sometimes compares building these developments with making a stew. You chop up a bunch of vegetables, mix them with spices and put them in a pot. But until you turn on the heat and they cook awhile, all you have is a bunch of vegetables in a pot.

At this stage, Northwest Landing is still a bunch of vegetables in a pot. Time will tell whether it simmers into a tasty stew. Linda Shaw's phone message number is 206-464-2359. Her e-mail address is: lshaw@seattletimes.com ------------------------------- Northwest Landing at a glance

Size: 3,000 acres, a mix of housing, workplaces, stores and open space. Housing: Plan is for 4,300 residences - single-family houses, condominiums, apartments. About 340 residences built and occupied today. Condo prices start at $90,000. Largest homes are priced in the high $200,000s. Developer: Weyerhaeuser has spent $60 million so far on infrastructure for the project, including the new freeway interchange, streets, landscaping and a new water system. Builders: Carino Homes, Centex Homes, Quadrant Homes, Rush Construction, Zetterberg Quality Homes. Employers: About 2,600 jobs today; plan is for about 10,000 in 20-30 years. Shopping: Plans for several clusters of commercial space for supermarkets, gas stations and other stores, including a town center that will connect all the housing areas. Schools: Several sites set aside; most children now attend schools in Steilacoom, eight miles away. Information: 253-964-1000 or http://www.nwlanding.com ------------------------------- The making of Northwest Landing

1906 - E.I. du Pont de Nemours buys land that's now Northwest Landing. Builds explosives plant and company town of DuPo 1951 - City of DuPont incorporated, residents allowed to buy their homes. 1976 - DuPont sells 3,000 acres to Weyerhaeuser. 1985 - DuPont approves plans for master-planned community of Northwest Landing. 1987 - DuPont placed on National Register of Historic Places. 1994 - First Northwest Landing resident moves in just before Christmas. 1995 - State Farm Insurance, LoneStar Northwest and Westblock Pacific open Northwest Landing operations. 1996 - Intel comes to Northwest Landing. 1997 - New freeway interchange completed. Northwest Landing's population surpasses that of DuPont. 1998 - Cleanup completed on 205 acres where DuPont had its explosives plant. An additional 636 acres remain to be cleaned.