West Seattle development updates: Demolition at 4101 SW Oregon & Fauntleroy/Alaska corner; plus, High Point ‘cover-up’

Three development-related updates:

4101 SW OREGON DEMOLITION: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli caught demolition starting this morning at this 87-year-old house making way for a 4-unit rowhouse. This project has been in the works for almost a year.

FAUNTLEROY/ALASKA CORNER DEMOLITION: Crews are continuing to bring down the buildings at the future site of The Whittaker, ~400 apartments, ~600 offstreet parking spaces, street-level retail including Whole Foods. Today, they’re working at the Fauntleroy/Alaska corner, demolishing the old Shell station and the former Howden-Kennedy (they moved) building.

The former auto-dealership buildings are expected to be torn down next week. A project spokesperson tells us the plan is still on to digitally re-create the mural that’s on the east side of one of those buildings; the image will be taken from a Southwest Seattle Historical Society photo that is clearer than the faded mural, which couldn’t be moved because it’s on cement block.

HIGH POINT ‘COVER-UP’: In our late September update on 35th/Graham, the photo showed a big sign for Polygon, saying NEW HOMES COMING 2015. Then, a commenter pointed out, the sign was suddenly covered over in green canvas/tarp/plastic, both sides (and we discovered the same thing on a sign a bit to the east).

Why the “cover-up”? We checked with the Seattle Housing Authority, which owns the site, and deputy executive director Anne Fiske Zuniga explained, “The Polygon signs went up prematurely and were covered up because the information was not accurate.” She added,
“Polygon and SHA are in conversation regarding the development of the site at 35th & Graham, the site is not under contract. Polygon is in the preliminary planning stages, so nothing is definite at this time.”

Mural Love October 15, 2014 (12:09 pm)

That’s cool to hear about the digitized mural. So, I wonder if other properties might consider the same process – like the blank north wall which will tower over California above Talarico’s and company?

Or a living wall – vertical garden walls? They are kind of awesome too.

Pretty it up developer peeps.

J Mark October 15, 2014 (1:35 pm)

Has anyone else noticed that more and more apartments and condos are being built in West Seattle, but no new roads are going in? The last time I checked, the only ways in and out of West Seattle are the upper bridge, the lower bridge and West Marginal Way. Expect the traffic to get worse, West Seattlites.

cjboffoli October 15, 2014 (3:00 pm)

Cities should be built to accommodate people, not cars.

Peter October 15, 2014 (3:04 pm)

Worried about transportation? Vote Yes on Prop 1!!

schwaggy October 15, 2014 (3:48 pm)

That’s one opinion, cjboffoli

Here October 15, 2014 (4:15 pm)

What is happening to the Alki Masonic building since everything around it is coming down? I have seen that they have several new parking lots.

WSB October 15, 2014 (4:31 pm)

The Masonic Lodge is *not* going anywhere. Its property is not part of The Whittaker’s site, nor is its parking lot, nor have they added any property as a result of this. Their lot (south of their building, 40th/Edmunds) *will* get some improvements as part of the “public benefit” to which the Whittaker developers had to commit – mentioned here https://westseattleblog.com/2013/05/happening-now-4755-fauntleroy-way-back-before-design-commission -I saw a permit application go by recently for some stability work that I believe is part of it. – TR

The Real CW October 15, 2014 (4:30 pm)

cjboffoli, this analysis seems to indicate otherwise….http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2014/07/11/surprising-places-car-ownership-is-up/#comments-page-subtitle

jwright October 15, 2014 (6:44 pm)

Bet they don’t complain about traffic in Detroit.

Alphonse October 15, 2014 (10:17 pm)

Because there’s nothing between poorly planned infill that cannot be supported by current infrastructure and Detroit. It’s an either/or situation.

Brian October 16, 2014 (8:10 am)

But I was taught to only deal in extremes so I can’t possibly see how your suggestion could work, Alphonse. I mean, I’ll give it a shot but I can’t promise that I won’t be frothing at the mouth about how this city is going to hell in a handbasket by dinner time.

JanS October 16, 2014 (12:37 pm)

“Cities should be built to accomodate people”…yes, and those people have cars. I haven’t given mine up yet, have you? I don’t think it’s either/or. It’s just a fact of life. Plan for those people? You’d better plan for those people’s cars, too.

natinstl October 16, 2014 (2:11 pm)

I’ll say it again and again, the majority of the people in Seattle are not going to give up their cars because too much of what makes people want to live here is located outside of the city-hiking, fly fishing, ski areas, boating, kayaking etc… etc…

Vincent Dakotah Langley October 20, 2014 (7:07 pm)

For all of you who are wondering, still, what is going on over at West Seattle’s old Huling Brothers Chevrolet Dealership property, located on Fauntleroy Way, S.W. just immediately to the south of
S.W. Alaska Street: (I am the one who lives just immediately to the south of the old Chevrolet dealership property, right across S.W. Edmunds Street from it — and, I have been here for almost 15 years now.)

It looks over there at the old Chevrolet dealership building or buildings by now that the most recent thing that has happened over there, in the way of progress, is that an asbestos removal company came along in the last day or two and they did some asbestos removal work over there, inside of the showroom part of that old building. So, yes, something is happening over there, from day to day, right now!

A long-time neighbor of ours came by earlier today (Monday, 10/20/2014) and he told us that the Alki Masonic Hall on 40th Avenue, S.W. behind the old Chevrolet dealership is staying right where it is and, of course, so is their parking lot that is situated immediately to the south of their Masonic Hall building. It is also true that the developer of the new property where the old Chevrolet dealership building is located now — the new property going in there to be known as “The Whittaker” — will be doing some kind of upgrades to that kind of large parking lot immediately to the south of the Alki Masonic Hall building, for the Mason people who are a part of and are thus involved in their Mason activities that go on there, in that Alki Masonic Hall, or, should I say, Alki Masonic Temple? (I apologize here, however, I am really not too familiar with the Masons or their particular activities within a given community.)

My long-time room-mate and I are more or less wondering just one thing in all of this by now
— and, that is simply this:

When The Whittaker is finally built and occupied over there across the street from us, what will be the situation over there when people are living in those new Whittaker Apartments and, at the same time, the Masons right behind them are still renting out their basement hall at the Alki Masonic Hall (or Temple), for the purpose of different groups of people having parties, over there in that building that the Mason people own and occupy, for their use or uses? We DO love much of the music that we hear coming from over there — such as the Mexican and/or Hispanic Music and the “old school” R&B Music — and the like. So, we happen to like the Mason people over there near us and we consider them good neighbors in the area where we live, for this reason. The people who come to the various parties over there at the Alki Mason Hall (or Temple), too, are certainly decent and respectable sorts of people!
They all “run a really pretty tight ship”, so to speak, over there at the Alki Masonic Hall (or Temple)! …YES, THEY DO!!! So and therefore, they have our all due respect, as neighbors. However, when The Whittaker is finally built and occupied, will the new people (new neighbors) living over there, then, like and get along with the Mason people right behind them, without complaint, over the parties that go on over there at the Alki Masonic Hall (or Temple)? We, for two, certainly hope so! We know, basically, that the Masons over there simply AREN’T going anywhere else — and, they certainly DON’T “have to” do that, AT ALL.

…At this point in time, WE’LL BE REALLY SURPRISED if the Whole Foods grocery store EVER does move into and begin doing business out of that new Whittaker real estate development that is to go in over there, across the street from us. The reason being, it has been — already — taking just way, way too long for this new Whittaker real estate development to even begin to happen! How long is ANY COMPANY going to wait, before they can actually occupy and begin doing business out of a particular real estate property???

Mason people, we are REALLY GLAD AND HAPPY that you are neighbors of ours, for all of these years that we have been here — although we don’t know any of you! Peace be with you all, ALWAYS!!!

Vincent Dakotah Langley October 21, 2014 (5:26 pm)

Here’s another brief update on what is going on at the site of the old Huling Brothers Chevrolet Dealership property, located on Fauntleroy Way, S.W., between S.W. Alaska Street and S.W. Edmunds Street, on the west side of Fauntleroy Way, S.W.:

Today (Tuesday, 10/21/2014) there were some people over there again, working some more on the dismantling of that old Chevrolet dealership building complex. It looks like, today, they took some windows out of that old building. The windows that they took out are mostly on the west side of the building — the side of it that faces the kind of big parking lot that is on the northeast corner of S.W. Edmunds Street and 40th Avenue, S.W. — which is that parking lot in this neighborhood that is owned and used by the Alki Masonic Temple (and I was over there and looked today, IT IS Alki Masonic Temple and NOT “Alki Masonic Hall”, as I had repeatedly called it in a previous writing of mine here on this West Seattle Blog blog spot).

…It DOES appear by now that — sometime rather soon, anyway — that old Chevrolet dealership building or building complex IS going to be coming down, to FINALLY make the way for the future real estate development on that same property! We’ll see what happens next over there!…

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