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Mon. October 15, 2007, 07:29am PDT

2007 Tour of Urban Living ~ The Roberson

The Roberson in Tacoma After 21 months of construction The Roberson is showing itself to be formidable in the downtown condo market competition. Though visitors this weekend had to remove their shoes airport-style or dawn little baby blue booties it was fun to see inside the new place. Here's a quick list of my likes and dislikes:

Likes

the building fits in well with it's partially brick facade
"work/live" units will offer great options for local small business owners and will make good use of Court "D" behind the building
the interior (but open air) courtyard will offer residents a nice respite from life outside and breaks up the building nicely
love the floor to ceiling windows on units facing east
available on-site parking and in-home appointments from the attached Serenity Spa
care taken to dampen interior and exterior sound (e.g. air space between units, double sheetrock, etc)
Pantages floor plan has a great layout and was the favorite of the units we saw even though it wasn't a finished model
Heating and cooling uses an efficient heat/cool exchange system (again, a little help Steve?)
actual power and cable plugs on mantles where cardboard flat panel TVs are suggested to sit

Dislikes

Long, bland hallways connect units around the interior courtyard -- hopefully the HOA will allow some decoration, potted plants, something to break things up a bit
Planters on the ledges above the courtyard, even something like a climbing vine would help soften that space, murals in the walled archways would also make it feel far more special
the view of the Vintage Y right next door for units on the south side (which they hide in the model with drawn shades) -- fortunately, the brick work on that building makes it tolerable
awful tile back splash in the Pantages floor plan kitchen (was this in other units?)
plush carpeting in the elevator is a huge mistake -- remember how much it rains here

Friends Angela, Steve, wife Sarah and I enjoyed this year's Tour of Urban Living together and will review them together here on KFnet this week. Feel free to join in anytime with your comments below!

Mon. October 15, 2007, 07:36pm PDT

'Chaos into Order' video

Received via the TacomaArt listserv:

David Derickson created this six minute 'review' of Chaos into Order, a six hour performance art piece at Art on the Ave 2007, Tacoma, by 75 local artists, orators and musicians. If you like it let David know: universalagent@yahoo.com.

And as an added bonus, here's a video Sarah and I put together from the day.

Also via FeedTacoma Videos