West Seattle development: New commercial building on Delridge

Our daily check of city Department of Planning and Development records turns up a new project in a high-profile place: The lot at 5448 Delridge Way SW, between DESC’s Cottage Grove Commons and the Martin’s Way storefront. The site has long held a ramshackle 1927-built cottage. On Friday, its new owner applied to the city for permission to tear down the house and build a commercial building. Documents in the file carry the name of Dreamscapes, a local landscaping company whose owner bought the Delridge site a year ago, according to county records. The online file says the permit is for a 1-story “office” building with a pre-fab steel frame and four on-site parking spaces (the site is zoned for “neighborhood commercial” up to 40 feet high).

12 Replies to "West Seattle development: New commercial building on Delridge"

  • Bruce September 6, 2014 (10:33 pm)

    Any chance of donating to Habitat for Humanity for them to rehabilitate on a different lot or developer and real estate agent to make money doing that?

  • Pat September 7, 2014 (9:44 am)

    Does not seem like a very good use for this land; a steel shed in a neighborhood commercial zone. Will this be subject to design review?

    • WSB September 7, 2014 (12:57 pm)

      It’s way below the design review threshold. I don’t know that “steel shed” is an accurate description of what the plans (lots of docs on the city website, through the EDMS section) suggest, but the steel frame as opposed to wood frame seemed interesting, and that’s why I mentioned it.

  • david September 8, 2014 (7:05 am)

    Bring it, were need more commercial in North Delridge.

  • Lindsey September 8, 2014 (10:19 am)

    Great news! Welcome to the neighborhood, Dreamscapes.

  • wetone September 8, 2014 (12:34 pm)

    I think any new development in that area is a great improvement for all, especially something that’s not over building the property and will leave some sunlight for the neighbors. What I find interesting is the first two comments. I see people making statements like this quite often on the W/S blog. Curious if ones making these types of comments live in the area affected or own property anywhere ? would be interesting poll to take.

  • MTDee September 8, 2014 (4:42 pm)

    Every indication from the DPD website appears to indicate that this actually is nothing more than a steel pole building that one might find in a rural setting. If this is the case, then this project is not going to be any kind of commercial building that will enhance local retail services or provide needed market rate housing and its affiliated pedestrian and street activity. Every indication is that the structure will be used as a storage barn for the landscaping company that owns the property. In the urban design world, what appears is about to be built would not be the highest-and-best use of NC-40 zoned land. It’s really a shame, and I hope I am wrong.
    *
    Digging through the online documents indicates that the steel pole building may be sourced through this company:
    http://gensteel.com/

  • wetone September 8, 2014 (8:17 pm)

    MTDee, curious do you own any property ? What’s wrong with someone buying a piece of property and developing it to fit their business needs. Should one be required to buy property out of the city to establish their business ? commute to work and then drive back into the city with their equipment for work everyday ? that’s green. Urban design world what’s that ? having someone else telling you how to run your life and business. Funny how people buy property clean it up, create jobs and people still complain. I guess that’s what happens when you live in a “Urban design world”.

  • MTDee September 9, 2014 (6:30 pm)

    wetone –
    A better word that I ought to have used would have been Urban Planning. Sorry about that misuse of terms. Urban, or Neighborhood Planning, is something that the Department Of Planning and Development has done throughout the entire City of Seattle through various zoning codes. Zoning is something that creates predicable use of land, and helps guide investment of both public and private dollars and capital. We have a Delridge Neighborhood Plan that was created in the 90’s, and is currently going through an update of sorts. The property in question is in the heart of what has long been referenced as The Brandon Node and is Zoned for Neighborhood Commercial up to 40′ in height.
    *
    Placing a pole building in this area is certainly within the rights of the owner(s), as long as they meet zoning and building codes. However, it will be yet another boat anchor on the Brandon Node and will take yet another big chunk of the limited land out of circulation for something such as a market rate based apartment building with retail or office space on the ground floor. You don’t build a viable neighborhood business district like what has been wanted by residents of the area for decades by building warehouses, if in fact that is the intended use of the proposed steel pole building. The city does have Industrial Zoned areas which are ideally suited for this type of structure and use. These areas include the Duwamish Industrial Area, SODO, parts of South Park and Georgetown, Interbay, Ballard, etc. You are able to view and read about the City of Seattle’s Zoning Code here: http://ow.ly/Bji2V
    *
    As for my personal housing choice, I have been both a renter and owner. Of my 25 years in West Seattle, the last 15 years I’ve been an owner in two different locations in Delridge. And as a property owner, I am a little hacked that the owner of the property appears to have not paid any of their property taxes for 2014, and are delinquent to the tune of $2,511.69 for the first half of the year: http://ow.ly/BjhF5

  • Aaron September 10, 2014 (7:28 am)

    I don’t see anything in the permits about the large number of “trees of significance” on that lot. Maybe I missed it?

    • WSB September 10, 2014 (7:34 am)

      There was an arborist’s report, and the “site plan” (usually the key document to look for if you are looking for info about a development of any size/type) showed the tree locations. But again, this is not the type of development that goes through a major public review, so if you have questions/etc., you’d want to contact DPD.

  • eric Smith September 10, 2014 (10:04 am)

    Awesome

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