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Seabrook: A brand-new beach town celebrates old-fashioned neighborhoods

Roddy Scheer
Seattle Magazine

Seabrook
A brand-new beach town celebrates old-fashioned neighborhoods

Less than a three-hour drive from Seattle and nestled on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean, Seabrook (south of the town of Pacific Beach, along State Route 109) may be a new town—incorporated in 2004—but it harks back to days long gone, when neighbors were friends and neighborhoods were friendly. The brainchild of developer Casey Roloff, Seabrook’s layout and design are informed by the concept and home design of New Urbanism (think Florida’s Seaside or even Nantucket Island, off Cape Cod), whereby single-family homes are situated right next door to one another on small lots, with front porches, shops and other amenities just a hop, skip and a jump away. Most homes are privately owned, but available for rental (360.276.0099; seabrookwa.com; from $150/night for two-bed, two-bath cottage; larger houses available as well). Indeed, once at Seabrook, the car can stay parked, with bikes or boots handling all the transportation needs, whether to the cafe/wine bar, Cafe Tashtego, or to the beach.

Most of the time, though, flip-flops work just fine for the shuffle between the hot tub for a soak, the front porch for cocktails, and the town-square-like park with fire pits perfect for sing-alongs and making s’mores. While not every house is the same, many feature similar types of amenities.

Those with cabin fever can hop aboard any two dozen or so of the yellow cruiser bikes stashed at bike racks carved out of logs, available for free use to residents and guests. Cruise along pathways lined with oyster shells that seem to sing underneath your wheels, as you travel the neighborhood.

Or hike a meandering, gently sloping quarter-mile forest primeval trail—complete with mammoth cedar stumps riddled with springboard scars that hint at prior land uses—down to the driftwood-festooned beach, where eagles circle overhead and the sun sets in sometimes riotous colors over crashing waves. While the build-out of Seabrook is far from complete—only about 100 of the planned 450 homes are finished—the future promises to be even sweeter for residents and visitors alike.

“We are just starting the design process for a boutique hotel that will include a first-class spa, roof-top bar viewing the ocean, movie theater, billiards room and indoor pool,” says Roloff, who expects the building to be the anchor of a new, as-yet still imaginary Main Street complete with shops, restaurants and other amenities that current Seabrookers have to drive dozens of miles to find.

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