West Seattle’s former Fire Station 37 now officially on the market

12:20 PM: The “for sale” sign is now up at the former Fire Station 37 (35th/Othello). The city process of putting it on the market – since it’s been replaced by a bigger new station a few blocks south – has been under way for a long time (here’s the 47-page city analysis); last month, the city announced it had chosen Colliers to handle the listing. What the new owner can do with the ex-station and its 9440-square-foot lot will be limited, since – as the sign points out – it’s in a single-family zone, plus, the building is an official city landmark. We haven’t found the listing online yet, but have messages out to the brokers whose names are on the sign.

12:59 PM UPDATE: Arvin Vander Veen from Colliers replied to our question about the asking price among other things:

We are gathering all of the pertinent materials … now and will be ready in about one week to blast it out. There is no asking price, only a minimum bid of $250,000. We are going to have two open houses coming up, and then in April we will call for offers from all of the people that fill out the Confidentiality Agreement needed to receive all of the due diligence materials. All offers must be noncontingent, all cash with proof of funds attached, from which we will pick the buyer and close escrow immediately.

18 Replies to "West Seattle's former Fire Station 37 now officially on the market"

  • Michelle February 9, 2012 (12:47 pm)

    Can somebody make it a bar like this: http://www.facebook.com/EngineHouseNo9

    Not sure the rules behind a “single family zone and official city landmark”

  • Service Dog Academy February 9, 2012 (12:53 pm)

    OMG, this would make a super cool dog training studio.

  • Dave February 9, 2012 (1:08 pm)

    It would be SO cool to live in a firehouse…
    And $250,000 is nothing for something like that.

  • jiggers February 9, 2012 (1:09 pm)

    A temporary homeless shelter?

  • heidi February 9, 2012 (1:30 pm)

    Now accepting investors for coffee shop/restaurant/bar
    Heidi@birdonawirespresso.com ;)

  • datamuse February 9, 2012 (1:37 pm)

    Any parapsychologists out there want to start a ghost-hunting business?

  • WS Steve February 9, 2012 (1:54 pm)

    Does the zoning mean no businesses?

  • ScottA February 9, 2012 (2:08 pm)

    TR –
    From reading the Colliers note it sounds like there’s some aspect of “choosing” an offer. If it’s all cash with no contingencies then would it not just be the highest bidder who gets the property? Are there other considerations that will favor one bidder over another? Thanks.

  • Wendy February 9, 2012 (2:44 pm)

    How about a ShowBox West Seattle, we need a live music venue

  • MAS February 9, 2012 (2:44 pm)

    Folks wishing for coffee shops and the like are going to be disappointed unless someone wants to go through the process of re-zoning that area for commercial use.

    Folks looking for institutional uses like homeless shelters and the like are going to be disappointed due to “dispersal requirements” (see page 7 of the Disposition Report.)

    Single family restrictions are fairly narrow and mostly self-explanatory, The exceptions are actually also spelled out in the Disposition Report.

  • cj February 9, 2012 (6:37 pm)

    I’m trying to imagine a fire station as a home and I think it would just be sad for it to just be a house. I would hope some kind of zone adjustment would be available otherwise IMO it would be a waste. Would make an awesome restaurant. Would be a shame for someone to strip it of all its fire house flavor and do something mundane with it.

  • funkietoo February 10, 2012 (9:24 am)

    A non-profit animal adoption center! Cool.

  • Yardvark February 10, 2012 (9:27 am)

    This is such a failure.

  • sam-c February 10, 2012 (9:58 am)

    cj- regarding ‘stripping it of all its fire house flavor’ : since it is an official city landmark as WSB notes, the changes would be reviewed by the Landmarks Board.
    http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/makingchanges.htm

  • MJ February 10, 2012 (12:36 pm)

    WSB – if you get info for when the open houses will be, please publish. It would be cool to get the chance to walk through it before it is sold.

    • WSB February 10, 2012 (12:39 pm)

      Oh, absolutely.

  • hopey February 10, 2012 (3:17 pm)

    Why does it have to lose its “fire house flavor” to become a single family home? The fire station could be renovated into a car guy’s dream house. Plenty of room to park all his toys! That kind of renovation wouldn’t need to change the exterior one bit.

  • Yardvark February 11, 2012 (2:40 pm)

    I am still curious how much has been spent on getting this property ready for sale.

    It’s already been a two year long process, I believe, involving numerous city employees, hearings, evaluations, publications, reevaluations, and follow up hearings. If the starting bid is only $250K, I’d imagine there’s a chance that we’ll actually loose a good deal of money on this transaction. Would it have been a smarter financial decision to donate it to a local organization, working in the public interest? Or possibly to offer a short term lease until the real estate market picks up a little?

    I’m just putting the question out there, as I don’t know how much has been spent. That would actually be extremely interesting information to have. I think it would help us decide what to do with similar properties in the future. Thanks.

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