When you consider the history of Washington’s coastline, 20 years is nothing. Much of the beauty—from the cedars to the shore—hasn’t changed in millennia. But in 2004, when the ground broke on Seabrook’s first home, the town was nothing more than a dream, a set of sketches, and 34 acres of beachfront real estate. Now there’s a bustling town center, hundreds of homes, miles of trails, and an infectious enthusiasm for what is possible. For Seabrook, 20 years has been everything. And we’re just getting started.

 

In the early 2000s, Casey and Laura Roloff were hot off their accomplishment building a village community called Bella Beach in Oregon, when they set their sights on the Olympic Peninsula. They sought to further promote the design principles of new urbanism—creating a beautiful, sustainable, environmentally-conscious community that prized walkability and human relationships—that they’d seen people fall in love with in Seaside, Florida. As with any start-up, that early success is mainly about igniting your passion in others.

 

“We asked a lot of people to put a lot of faith in us,” says Stephen Poulakos, one of the Roloffs’ early adopters, and Seabrook’s Vice President of town planning and design. For him, it was an easy sell: He’d lived in Florida when Seaside got started in 1981 and grew up playing on that village’s beaches. The idea of creating something similar, but closer to major cities and with a national park in its backyard, was a no-brainer.

 

“The first 20 years have been really exciting, establishing ourselves as a destination for people to vacation with their friends and family,” says Casey Roloff. “There were only a few true pioneers who just moved out here and wanted to be here from the beginning. But the next five years are going to be the most exciting. We’re going to mature beyond this great vacation destination into somewhere where folks can say, ‘Wow, we get to live here.’”

 

Of course, there have long been folks who have lived on and cared for these lands, and Poulakos mentions the importance of Seabrook’s ongoing relationship with the Quinault Indian Nation as the original stewards of this breathtaking natural place. To best understand the history and culture, Poulakos says in those early days that tribal members shared stories and passed down information regarding the importance of the beach, the lifecycle of the local salmon, the native plants, and much more.

 

From those first rows of houses—including the Roloffs—along Crescent and Bella streets, Seabrook bloomed into a hidden gem vacation spot. As the years passed and the layout and vibe of the town began to truly reflect the key attributes of new urbanism, it grew exponentially in popularity. The current transition that Roloff mentions, from weekend getaway to desirable home turf, has been largely facilitated by some key components that promise to make full-time living at Seabrook more comfortable and accessible. These game changing developments, as Roloff calls them—the finalization of the town center with Pacific Landing and the northwest block, scheduled to double the retail real estate; the building of a K-6 school and adjacent community center a mile up the road; a medical center with urgent care; and an 80-acre regenerative farm that will allow greater food independence—will dramatically change the landscape of the town.

 

But these amenities aren’t the end of Seabrook’s planned development. The next phase, which has already broken ground about a quarter mile north, will be a village called Makers, where the emphasis will be on what Roloff calls 'experiential retail'. He says, “People want handcrafted items, but they also want the experience with the owner and the artist who’s making them. Makers will attract more of an industrial vibe, a more youthful and creative class. We’ve always wanted Seabrook to be designed and built for everyone, not just a certain demographic.”

 

What this means is not only live/work space for creatives, but more attainable housing in general, including four- and sixplexes, accessory dwelling units, and multi-generational housing, which Roloff says is a big part of Seabrook’s future. There’s even a plan for a 7-bedroom assisted living facility with onsite nursing, but with walkability that allows people the independence to age in place.

 

After Makers to the north, Seabrook will expand south with a village tentatively referred to as Pacific Bluff--think high-end properties with a view plus Seabrook’s first hotel—a luxury wellness retreat that Roloff compares to Leavenworth’s Post Hotel, but at the beach. Currently in the design phase, Pacific Bluff is perhaps three years out. Roloff says they’re in no rush—“we just want to do it right.”

Doing it right is, after all, what Seabrook has always been about. The town planning may be the physical embodiment of that principle, but there’s a less tangible, though equally important, element when it comes to overall happiness of guests and residents alike: hospitality.

 

Nadine Huck is Seabrook’s Director of Guest Services. She and her team have the ambitious goal of making Seabrook the number one vacation destination in the west by 2031. When asked what that looks like, she says “unreasonable hospitality” without missing a beat. She’s referring to the bestselling book of the same name, written by Will Guidara of New York’s most illustrious restaurant, Eleven Madison Park, who touts the importance of fostering meaningful connections with guests, not only meeting their needs but exceeding them, giving customers an extraordinary experience beyond their imagination.

 

To do that, Huck and her team use a combination of data, tech, and good old fashioned human-to-human relationship building to go above and beyond guests’ expectations, whether that’s leaving a welcome basket full of s’mores fixings and puzzles for a family or helping execute the perfect engagement. Recently, Seabrook swapped out the COVID-era, remote-only check-in for a hybrid check-in model, where guests are invited into the main office at 301 Front St. for Happy Hour—mainly so they know there’s a person there to help them with anything they may need throughout their stay.

 

“It’s like the character, Joy, in Inside Out,” Huck says. “We really want to build those core memories on a visit to Seabrook, whether that’s helping guests create the perfect event or just making sure they feel welcome and heard and have everything they need.”