Ep.15 - Building Towns for People, Not Cars: How Casey Roloff Made New Urbanism Real at Seabrook

What if the real fix for America’s housing challenges isn’t just more supply, but better-designed towns?In this episode, Nadine and Ryan sit down with Casey Roloff, the visionary behind Seabrook, Washington, a walkable coastal town built from scratch on the principles of New Urbanism. From starting with a $500 land option and a cold-calling hustle, Casey shares how his early experiences shaped a mission to build places that prioritize people over cars.They explore why free “third places” are the social infrastructure we overlook, how zoning and capital markets make human-scale communities harder to replicate, and what developers often miss when trying to foster authentic connection. Casey also shares lessons from studying towns abroad, what he’d do differently if he built Seabrook today, and why the future of housing may look a lot more like the past.This episode is for anyone rethinking what livability actually means and how to build communities that feel like home from day one.Show Notes:0:10: Introduction1:30: Best practices for the conference circuit 9:17: Why we need a different kind of town?11:02:  How growing up with limited resources inspired Casey Roloff to build a new kind of town 19:20: From painting houses for college tuition to designing and building houses 25:35:  Let’s build a town! New Urbanism and Seaside, FL26:20:  The birth of cars and the death of town building 29:35: From vision to reality; designing the town Casey wanted to live in 37:05: The biggest misstep in modern day American developments42:15: What policy updates are needed to bring back the art of town building48:26: Striking the balance between effective town building and technology55:00: Drawing inspiration from international travels for domestic town building 59:39:  A preview of Casey’s Blueprint talk 1:00:46 How does Casey unplug? If you love what you hear, please take a moment to rate and review us. Your feedback helps us grow and improve!Be sure to visit our website at ⁠creunplugged.com⁠ for all the latest news and updates. Have thoughts or suggestions? We'd love to hear from you! Drop us a line at [email protected] to our YouTube channel at ⁠@CREUnplugged1⁠ and be sure to follow CRE Unplugged on⁠ LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠!This episode is sponsored by our awesome partner, ⁠HILO⁠, making connectivity and engagement a breeze in commercial real estate.