For Silverdale, big change from eggs to markets

Still no word on which came first, but here in Silverdale both chicken and egg are the stuff of history.

It was nearly a century ago that this area in Kitsap County boasted of being "Egg Capital of the World." These days, just tracking down a local farm-fresh dozen could require quite a bit of scrambling.

Silverdale has undergone a transformation over the years: from an egg-producing hot spot to the hottest retail center west of Puget Sound.

First settled as a logging town in the mid-1800s, Silverdale had shifted to farming and egg production by the early 1900s. With a waterside location on the Dyes Inlet, it also attracted commercial trade opportunities, but for the most part the community stayed small and somnolent.

That began to change in the 1970s when the construction of Naval Submarine Base Bangor kick-started the local economy and created demand for a new bedroom community. The opening of Kitsap Mall in 1985 cemented Silverdale's fate as a no-longer-sleepy town.

Over the following decades, smaller strip malls and big-box stores have sprung up along both sides of Silverdale Way, the main artery through town, and the local population has jumped as well. About 90 percent of the homes now for sale in Silverdale have been built since 1975.

A similar percentage are a family-friendly size of three bedrooms or more. "It's a good place to raise kids," said Bob Vergeer, a real-estate agent and longtime resident.

Plenty of others seem to agree. Families with children made up nearly 70 percent of the area's population in 2000, with many of them gravitating to the Ridgetop community.

Just northeast of the Kitsap Mall and within easy access to local schools, homes in that area range from the low-$300,000s to mid-$400,000s, offering 1,500 to 2,700 square feet on mostly 1/4-acre lots.

Larger lots and pricier homes can be found in the Anderson Hill and Newberry Hill areas, both west of Highway 3. With a location that affords spectacular views of the Olympics and Hood Canal, many are in the less-affordable category.

Set on lots that often run a 1/2-acre or more, typical houses in this area ( 2,500-3,000 square feet) range from $450,000-$600,000.

Silverdale's highest-end homes tend to be on the western side as well. The two priciest properties recently on the market have waterfront locations on the Hood Canal. With acreage for breathing room and breathtaking views, the price tags are, respectively, $2,750,000 and $1,956,600.

More-affordable options can be found in Silverdale's town-house communities.

Summerwind, just to the east of the Kitsap Mall, offers three-bedroom, 1,400- to 1,600-square-foot homes for under $300,000, as does Breckinridge in the Ridgetop area.

Lakeland Heights, a townhouse community in Silverdale's Island Lake area, offers three-bedroom homes for an even more budget-friendly $250,000 or less.

No matter the price range, Vergeer says, residents can expect to feel at home.

"One of the nice things about this area is that we have a pretty broad spectrum of folks here," he said.

"And a thing that I really like is, it's kind of hard to tell the difference. ... Even the very wealthy people are as ordinary as apple pie.

"It's a pretty down-to-earth community."