Junction megaproject update: Capco Plaza joined by Altamira
Checking on the Junction megaprojects’ status, we just talked with Leon Capelouto, the longtime West Seattle businessman whose mixed-use building is well under way between 41st and 42nd on Alaska (previous update, last September). First: Both QFC and Office Depot are moving forward as the major retail tenants, and are likely to open this summer — Capelouto tells WSB that QFC will open first, Office Depot shortly thereafter. Negotiations are still under way for potential tenants in the remaining smaller retail spaces in the complex. While the project’s main name is Capco Plaza, he says there’s a new name for the 157 apartments that will be atop the stores: Altamira (which has the stirrings of a website here) – you can see it on the project’s east side:
The apartments are likely to be ready to occupy around November, a few months after the retail spaces open. Right now, Capelouto adds, construction is going well; the roof’s on the building and the brick’s being put on (as you can see in the photo above, taken this afternoon).
Happening tonight: Schools, safety, development, more
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar: 6 pm tonight, it’s the first South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meeting of the year, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map). 6:30 pm, it’s the Southwest Design Review Board meeting for 2743 California SW (medical/dental-office building going in just north of PCC), West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch. Also at 6:30, at Seattle Public Schools HQ in Sodo, the final public hearing for the citywide closure proposal that involves three West Seattle schools/buildings (archived WSB coverage here). At 7 pm, at the new Duwamish Longhouse, the world premiere of “Angeline,” a documentary film on the life of Princess Angeline, daughter of Chief Seattle. Also at 7 pm, the Seattle Parks Board gets an updated briefing on beach fires, park HQ downtown (as reported here yesterday – looks like status quo for this year).
ADDED 12:58 PM: Also just got word that the West Seattle High School music department’s winter concert is tonight, 7:30 pm, WSHS Theater, all welcome – and it’s free!
Charlestown Court update: Land-use permit; project status
This time last year, Charlestown Court — the oft-admired brick fourplex at 3811 California (map) — was soon to be reviewed for possible landmark status as a requirement before a proposal to tear it down could proceed; WSB closely covered the process, which ended in April with the city Landmarks Board deciding landmark status wasn’t merited. But instead of demolition equipment showing up – a new proposal materialized, and that’s what we have an update on tonight:
Two months after the non-landmark decision, West Seattle-based Nicholson Kovalchick Architects unveiled a new design that saved Charlestown Court’s distinctive “wings”; 2 days after revealing it at an Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, architect Michael Godfried presented it to the Southwest Design Review Board, which gave its approval. Now, the city has just granted a land-use permit for the project, while the construction-permit application is still under review. We asked Godfried about the project’s status; he replied, “The master-use permit is completed and the developers intend to build the project. Given the current economy the construction time frame is in question and we have not yet started building permit drawings. The developers also would like to complete the Dakota project on California before moving on to Charlestown.” (That refers to this condo complex at 4116 California, a teardown site that drew some interesting reminiscences here at demolition time.)
Design Comm. meeting: Updates on Conner’s Junction megaproject
The second Seattle Design Commission review of the Conner Homes California/Alaska/42nd megaproject has just concluded. Two updates, with more details to be added after we switch locations: #1, Jim Miller from Conner confirms that the two-building project is going in the “apartment direction” instead of condos, though they will be “built to condo spec.” (We spoke with him after the commission vote, seeking clarification after we heard architect Peter Greaves repeatedly mention “apartments” and “leasing office” in the presentation.) #2, Design Commissioners voted to have the project return to them one more time. Their vote basically is needed to approve the “public benefit” a developer is offering in exchange for an alley vacation — in this one, Conner wants the space under the alley as part of a big underground parking garage — and a narrow majority (five of the nine commissioners) voted that the proposal still doesn’t offer enough public benefit. We’ll add details shortly, plus images from a CD we’ve just received of the presentation that was made. ADDED 1:59 PM: The image added above (thanks to the architects, Weber Thompson) shows the Alaska/California corner, looking southwest through a new rendering of a corner setback, with a “column.” Here’s the same spot, looking south – this would be roughly where the Super Supplements entrance is now:
And this is a rendering of the alley between the two Conner buildings, looking north (toward where the salon and jewelry/watch shop are now, across the street):
ADDED 9:57 PM: More images, and details from today’s Design Commission review:Read More
Design Review report #1: 4502 42nd, Kenney decisions
Tonight’s two-part session of the Southwest Design Review Board meeting ran almost four hours. First project on the agenda, 4502 42nd SW, won final design-review approval unanimously; second project, the $150 million “reinvention” of The Kenney, got approval to move out of the “early design guidance” stage (after two rounds), but not without extensive discussion under high-level supervision, and there are still more meetings to come (at least one more round of design review, and City Council approval would be required if they do pursue some rezoning). More details to come in separate reports.
More non-weather news: West Seattle real estate/land-use notes
Mostly land use and real estate notes that we want to share now that storm-related news is ebbing:
EASTRIDGE CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY BUILDING FOR SALE/LEASE: This is a recent appearance on the list of major West Seattle commercial properties on the market: Eastside is offering its Triangle location (39th/Oregon, across from West Seattle Bowl) for $2.6 million, or a $10,000/month lease. Here’s the listing; here’s the flyer.
LOCATION SET FOR KENNEY/4502 42ND DESIGN REVIEW MEETING: In one of our earlier non-snow news items, we mentioned that the Design Review Board meeting for The Kenney‘s redevelopment project and 4502 42nd SW, first set for 12/18 but canceled by snow, has been rescheduled for January 8th. The location’s been set now too — the city couldn’t book any of its usual West Seattle venues and asked if we had suggestions; West Seattle Christian Church (WSB sponsor), barely a block from one of the projects on the agenda, has come through and will be the venue. As mentioned in our earlier coverage, you can preview the presentations that will be given about those projects on 1/8, since they’re both on the city website: The newest proposal for 4502 42nd, which will be reviewed at 6:30 pm, can be seen here; the one for The Kenney, which follows at 8 pm, is here.
ANOTHER DESIGN REVIEW MEETING SET: Also from the city’s “Design Review/Upcoming” page, the next meeting for 2743 California SW (a medical/office building on the narrow site immediately north of PCC) has been set for 8 pm January 22. Here’s our report on the previous review last April; here’s the official project page on the city website.
West Seattle snow: Design Review Board meeting canceled
We have been covering cancellations, changes, delays, closures (and some of what’s OPEN) in our main weather post – but this one needed a separate note too: The Design Review Board meeting that had been scheduled tonight at Madison Middle School for two projects, 4502 42nd SW and The Kenney‘s redevelopment, IS CANCELED per city planner Michael Dorcy. We will let you know when a new date is set.
Design Review tomorrow; The Kenney’s proposal online today
Tomorrow night, the Southwest Design Review Board is scheduled to meet at the Madison Middle School library, with two projects to review, including the $150 million redevelopment proposal for The Kenney in Fauntleroy. Design proposals are often made available online before DRB meetings, and we wanted to let you know that the presentation The Kenney will make tomorrow night has just been posted. See it here; it’s shorter than most of these “packets” — six pages, showing five possible configurations of the project – one that The Kenney showed as its “preferred alternative” at the October 23 meeting (WSB coverage here), one that would be “code compliant” (not requiring zoning changes or other “departures”), one that is self-explanatorily titled the “Saving Seaview Alternative” (that’s the historic Kenney building with the cupola), one called the “L3 Perimeter Alternative Plan” (subtitled as “permitting better transition to adjacent single-family structures,” and finally the “December 18 preferred plan” (shown above; tallest structure would be 5 stories, west-east wing in the middle of the campus). Again, you can get a closer look at that, and all five versions, here. The Kenney is on tomorrow night’s agenda at 8 pm, following a 6:30 pm review for 4502 42nd SW (as reported here, with links to the previous review as well as the new presentation). Here’s a map to Madison MS. And you can see all WSB coverage of The Kenney’s redevelopment plan (dating back to our first in-depth preview four months ago) archived here.
New West Seattle Whole Foods sign: More rumor debunking
Just spotted this while heading through the Fauntleroy/Alaska/39th intersection, and pulled over to grab a pic. The sign appeared after a day in which we checked yet another “is the project dead?” rumor — several WSB’ers sent us the link to an online report in which a writer (without a quote to substantiate) claimed “new stores were on hold” — we subsequently contacted the regional Whole Foods spokesperson, who promptly responded that report was wrong and had even omitted information she said she had given the writer to clarify a company memo he’d received, and YES, the West Seattle store is still on schedule. (As we reported here a week ago, after checking yet another round of rumors with both Whole Foods and with developer BlueStar.) So now — a sign. As we noted in last week’s story, BlueStar explains that the reason you’re not seeing active construction work at the site right now is that they’re between “phases” and will resume early in the year (that’s when they say the big crane will show up, too). The project continues to evolve behind the scenes as well; BlueStar’s project manager, Easton Craft, tells WSB today, “Based on the uniqueness of the current economic climate we are able to create some value engineering opportunities that will reduce the overall project budget. We plan to take full advantage of those opportunities. Conducting the value engineering exercise will have no discernible impact on the design of the project. We have now gone through the MUP [Master Use Permit] process twice and are excited about the current design. We are also very happy with our General Contractor, Ledcor Construction. They have been and continue to be a valued asset to this project and an excellent team player in this process.” (All WSB coverage of this project is archived here.)
Traffic alert (bus riders too): 35th/Avalon work
Thanks to Marco for sending word, and that picture, of a bus stop closure TFN on northbound 35th just south of Avalon (as the sign says, buses will pick you up 20 feet south of there). Shortly after getting his note, we went to check out the area, and discovered that construction congestion because of Avalon Center is REALLY intense today – a lineup of cement mixers in the center lane on Avalon stretching eastward from 35th, eastbound lane on Avalon and northbound lane on 35th blocked off at the corner, good idea to avoid that area if you can:
Avalon Center is a mixed-use building (ground-floor retail, about 60 apartments, per city permits) that’s been under construction for almost a year at the southeast corner of 35th/Avalon (here’s our update from 11 months ago). Here’s the architect’s project page showing drawings of what it’s supposed to look like.
Neighbors to The Kenney: Do you REALLY have to change?
As you likely have heard by now (if not, catch up on our archive here), the nonprofit Fauntleroy retirement center The Kenney has a $150 million redevelopment project on the drawing boards – one that would demolish almost every building on the site, even the century-old Seaview (above), famous far and wide for its cupola (which The Kenney promises would return somewhere in the project). Two weeks before its architects and developers return for the next Design Review meeting, neighbors and community leaders gathered at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) last night to talk about their concerns about, and hopes for, the project, while also getting insight into the process the project must follow before any sort of green lights are given:Read More
Why you’re not seeing work at the Whole Foods site right now
(October 2008 photo by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
Used to be, the most common rumor to hit the WSB inbox — twice a week, at least — was the one about the mythical Trader Joe’s that may or may not materialize in West Seattle someday: “I heard it’s going (x)!” “I heard it’s going (y)!” Those have dramatically slowed – replaced instead by frequent e-mails saying, “I heard 
the Whole Foods project is dead!” WSB procedure for dealing with rumors is usually this: We get the e-mail or the call; we check it out with people directly involved with whatever project or other concern the rumor involves. If it’s true – we publish a WSB report about what we found out. If it’s not, we just e-mail the original sender (or call them back, if it was by phone), and let them know what we found out, usually no sense in publishing something in such cases. But tonight, it seems like time for an on-the-record debunking, since excavation at the site is done and there’s no active work right now. Last time we checked the “I heard Whole Foods was dead!” rumors with BlueStar‘s Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods) project manager Easton Craft, he explained that there would be something of a lull in the construction until the next phase (which is when you’ll see the crane). So when BlueStar’s Eric Radovich answered our e-mail late today asking about the status, he wrote:
Whole Foods Market is still in the Fauntleroy Place project…The project is wrapping up Phase I and Phase II (as Easton mentioned) will start sometime after the first of the year.
We hadn’t checked directly with Whole Foods for a while, so we called and e-mailed them too. This is the response we got from Whole Foods’ Pacific Northwest spokesperson Vicki Foley late today:
We are very excited about the West Seattle store, and I can tell you that the development schedule is on track, although I don’t have a definite opening date yet.
Certainly, we can see why people would be concerned about Fauntleroy Place/Whole Foods, given the general development climate, and the fact WF has had much-publicized troubles (although it took a step this week that is considered to be positive, so far as we can tell, and still has 66 stores in development, according to its annual report). But as of tonight, and as of about the 100th time we’ve done rumor-check on this one, both major players, the developer and the tenant, say all’s on track.
Kenney redevelopment proposal: FAQ update; meeting reminder
Got word from The Kenney’s CEO Kevin McFeely that there’s an update to the FAQ addressing concerns about its $150 million redevelopment proposal – so we’ve uploaded it to share with you – read it here. McFeely says the major changes are toward the start of the document, with an added section about The Kenney’s income and executive salaries – no specific numbers, though. He also reiterates that, as the FAQ says, they’re expecting to return for the next Design Review meeting on December 18th – that’s still not on the city DR-schedule website as of this posting, so we have a call out to city planners to doublecheck. (The 12/18 Design Review Board meeting is scheduled for Madison Middle School and so far has one project on the agenda, as reported here last week, 4502 42nd SW, 6:30 pm; that still leaves room for another project to go before the board at 8.) A meeting that unquestionably IS happening: This Thursday night’s community gathering sponsored by the Fauntleroy Community Association and Morgan Community Association for an update on the project and the process – 7 pm Thursday at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) Fellowship Hall.
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