Village inspired by Seaside rises on Pacific coast

Early in this decade, doubters wondered whether an upscale new urbanist beach town could succeed in an economically depressed part of the Washington coast that’s soaked by nearly 80 inches of rain a year. Yet since 2004, Casey Roloff and his Seabrook Land Company have managed to sell 120 houses, at prices as high as $3 million, in the Seabrook development, a 3-hour drive west of Seattle.
On May 27, Seabrook was the subject of largely favorable feature articles in both the Tacoma News Tribune and The New York Times. The most negative observation The Times could make about Seabrook was that some visitors see it as too perfect — the same inverted compliment often bestowed on Seaside, Florida, where houses have fetched an average of $1.4 million apiece during the past year or so.
Designed by Portland architect Laurence Qamar, Seabrook has found its niche. The approximately 100-acre development offers tightly clustered traditionally styled houses about a five-minute walk from the beach. Its first retail business, a seafood café called Cafe Tashtego, opened in February. A neighborhood market is under construction, and a boutique hotel is also planned.
Eventually Seabrook will have 330 single-family houses, plus

...