Satterlee House case: Owner’s taking it to the state Supreme Court
An update tonight on the 2-year fight over what can be built on the expansive front lawn of the Satterlee House, the 103-year-old city landmark that’s also known as the Painted Lady of Beach Drive: The attorney for the Satterlee House’s owner says they’re taking the fight to the next venue – the state Supreme Court. This follows a series of rulings against the specific 3-home plan that Conner proposes for the land in front of the house: First, the city Landmarks Preservation Board rejected the proposal two years ago, saying the proposed homes’ size and scale would take away from the landmarked traits of the site. Conner appealed the decision to the city Hearing Examiner, who upheld it in April 2008; then he asked King County Superior Court to review the decision, where it again was upheld; from there it went to the state 1st Division Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments last June, and then announced on December 21st that it too upheld the previous decisions. Next potential step was asking the state Supreme Court to review the case, and tonight the lawyer who’s led the case for Conner all along the way, Richard Hill, confirms to WSB, “Yes, the Conners intend to ask the Washington Supreme Court to review the Court of Appeals decision.” We’ll watch the court records and keep tabs on what happens next; as we reported after last month’s ruling, the case has drawn national attention.
West Seattle development: Abandoned townhouse site up for sale
(Photo added 12:37 pm, looking toward north side of lot, from SW Yancy westbound)
Thanks to Mike for spotting this one, which online records indicate just went on the market yesterday: The long-abandoned 4-townhouse project at 30th/Avalon/Yancy (map) – fenced-off concrete and rebar at a high-traffic site, inactive for months – is now listed for sale. Here’s the $300,000 listing, which describes the parcel as “bank-owned.”
Design Review report #1: Admiral Safeway, Transitional Resources
Just back from the two-part Southwest Design Review Board meeting at Youngstown Arts Center. The easy part is the report on the Transitional Resources residential expansion on Avalon: It was approved to move along out of the DR process, with just a few concerns, such as a suggestion that the upper floor plan from the alternative option – including a different alignment for the elevator tower – be incorporated into the recommended plan. Not much controversy, no public opposition, the meeting didn’t even take the full potential hour-and-a-half timeslot. The second part – the fourth Design Review meeting on the Admiral Safeway project – was more contentious and complicated. Bottom line, the project is not done with Design Review yet – it will have to come back for a fifth meeting – but just specifically for another look at the west side of the store along California SW – the biggest concern, board members want to see more entrances on that side; it originally had none between the store’s main entrance and a door at California/Lander, then one was added for the Starbucks stand midway down California, but board members say that’s not enough. Full details, including other concerns they want the final design to address, in our second report, later Friday.
Revised proposal for Admiral Safeway now online; review Thursday
Though the King County Council appointment drama isn’t over yet, and we’re not leaving the courthouse till it is, we’re moving on to add some more news to the site while they continue meeting behind closed doors: This Thursday night, the Southwest Design Review Board takes up two projects in a meeting at Youngstown Arts Center. Last week, the design proposal for the 6:30 pm review, the new Transitional Resources building, became available at the city website, as we reported here; tonight, the packet for the 8 pm review, the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project, is available – you can download it here (20 MB PDF). This could be the final review for what Admiral Neighborhood Association leaders call “maybe the biggest development project in this neighborhood, ever,” if board members give the plan their blessing.
Admiral Safeway “alley vacation” gets Design Commission OK
From City Hall downtown: The Seattle Design Commission has finished its two-part review of the portion of the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project on which it’s 
required to sign off, the “alley vacation,” and the vote was in favor of approval. (If a project requires a street or alley vacation – asking the city to give up its right of way – that requires several levels of approvals, including the Design Commission’s blessing in two stages, urban design and public benefit, what citizens theoretically are getting in exchange for giving up publicly owned property.) After the first presentation (WSB coverage here), which resulted in the group approving the urban design, they made it clear they wanted more information about its possible traffic effects, so at this afternoon’s review, architect Bill Fuller was joined by a traffic consultant. She said they’d studied the effects of five Safeway redevelopment projects in the region and by extrapolating those results – particularly knowing that these projects are not geared to bring more people to the store, so much as to add improvements that would have existing customers spend more money at the store – they do not expect a sizable traffic impact – about 300 additional “trips” per day beyond what the site generates now. The project will include about three dozen residential units and almost 100 “flex-work units” as well as almost doubling the size of the grocery store and adding a 6,000-square-foot retail building along California on the northwest edge of the property. Landscape architect Andy Rasmussen also joined the presentation, during which it was noted that the project will be trying for LEED certification. The only member of the public to attend and speak was longtime Admiral neighborhood advocate Dennis Ross, who again voiced strong support for the project. Leaving City Hall now to return to West Seattle, will add details of the commissioners’ concerns when we get back online.10:33 AM FRIDAY: Highlights finally added, ahead (note – we also have added graphics from the presentation – thanks to Fuller Sears for answering our request for digital copies):Read More
Today/tonight: Reservoir park, Westwood Council, Duwamish art
RESERVOIR PARK PLAN: Residents of Highland Park have been brainstorming for years about the future of Westcrest Park and extra parkland to be created by the covering of its reservoir (including June’s HP Action Committee mini-summit); now, the work is well under way, and while the Parks Department says park construction won’t start till 2011, its official meetings to plan and design the space start tonight. 7 pm, High Point Community Center (map).
WESTWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL: 7 pm, Southwest Community Center (map). Tonight’s agenda includes presentations on community murals, robbery prevention and the ReLeaf free-tree program.
ARTIST RECEPTION AT THE DUWAMISH LONGHOUSE: Photographer Joanne Petrina has been documenting the lives of Duwamish Tribe members for two years, and her work is on display at the almost-year-old longhouse in West Seattle ; tonight, you can meet her at an artist reception, 6 pm. Full details here. (Side note – there’s a holiday craft fair at the longhouse this weekend.)
LOW TIDE, AGAIN: As pointed out yesterday by Lura, tonight’s even lower than last night.
TWO AFTERNOON REMINDERS: The “alley vacation” component of the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project goes before the Seattle Design Commission at 2 pm today (previewed here); another planning meeting for the Admiral-area kiosks and signposts in the West Seattle Trails project (second one this week) starts at 4 pm at the West Seattle (Admiral) Library (map).
More on the WSB West Seattle Events calendar and the West Seattle Holidays page – which includes ongoing “giving tree” and other charity efforts as well as specific time-based events – LOTS of chances to make this a happier holiday for those going through tough times.
West Seattle development: Link site now building-free
In The Triangle, demolition crews have finished knocking down all the buildings on the future site of Harbor Properties‘ Link (200 apartments/14,000 sf commercial, background here), along 38th between Alaska and Fauntleroy. That photo looks north; here’s a Google Street View image looking east at the now-gone ex-Huling/Gee service building:
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When we went by about an hour ago, crews were pummeling away at the remaining below-grade concrete walls on the south side of the site. It’s the biggest active construction site in West Seattle right now; probably the second biggest is the new Fire Station 37, under construction for 2 months now at 35th/Holden.
3 calendar notes: Admiral Safeway, viaduct/tunnel, West Seattle 5K
ADMIRAL SAFEWAY PROJECT: The agenda’s just come out for this Thursday’s Seattle Design Commission meeting, and the group’s 2nd review of part of the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project – required because they’re requesting an alley vacation – is set for this Thursday at City Hall downtown, 2 pm, Boards and Commissions Room. Here’s our report on the project’s last Design Commission review four weeks ago. (As reported earlier, the Admiral Safeway project also has its next Southwest Design Review Board date set – Dec. 17, 8 pm, Youngstown Arts Center.)
ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT/TUNNEL: Also just announced: After a few months off, meetings are resuming for the “working groups” looking at how the tunnel will tie in with the transportation systems at both ends . There are West Seattle reps on both the “north portal working group” and the “south portal working group”; the latter has the most WS-relevant work to do, and its next meeting has just been set for Thursday, Dec. 17, 4 – 5:30 pm in the Puget Sound Regional Council Boardroom, 1011 Western Ave.; the north portal group will meet at 4 pm tomorrow at the Seattle Aquarium. More info at alaskanwayviaduct.org.
WEST SEATTLE 5K: Half a year after the first-ever West Seattle 5K, organized as a benefit for local schools (masterminded by West Seattle High School PTSA but with three other schools participating and more than 1,000 people participating), the date is set for the sequel: Jo Bader sends word that they’ve chosen May 23, 2010. Registration isn’t open yet so the website still reflects last year – but you can set aside the date right now.
Development decision published for 4532 42nd SW
From today’s city Land Use Information Bulletin: More than a year after demolition of the big old house at 4532 42nd SW (map) – just north of Capco Plaza — the official city decision is published approving the mixed-use project replacing it (July rendering above) with 35 residential units and 3,000 square feet of commercial development: Read the decision here. The documents say changes were submitted in September to address the concerns brought up at its last Southwest Design Review Board meeting in July (as covered here):
These included an irrigation component as part of the landscape plan, a widened sidewalk along the entire 42nd Avenue SW façade, extending the height of the Prairie Stone bases of the columnar design elements along the 42nd Avenue SW façade, and the insertion of Prairie Stone headers above the windows of the commercial storefronts on 42nd Avenue SW, as well as providing these Prairie Stone headers along both the north and south ground-level facades to be consistently co-extensive with the areas of brick façade. The Director finds that these changes when implemented will adequately address the concerns and meet the recommendations of the Design Review Board as expressed at the July 23, 2009, Board meeting.
Now that the decision’s been published, there’s a two-week period in which appeals can be filed – the deadline is December 14; the official city notice explains how.
Triangle project in progress: Link demolition day 3 today
We stopped by to check out the Triangle site (38th/Alaska) where work has begun on Link (background here), taking these photos just as day 2 of demolition work was concluding at mid-afternoon Tuesday. The old Huling repair-shop building (which more recently had been used to build/store Hi-Yu floats) is about half-gone – above, the view from SW Alaska, looking north; next, the view from 38th, looking east through what’s left of its customer-service area (note the slogan on the wall):
And on the north side of the site, the remaining ex-school buildings are just a pile of splintered wood:
The head of the construction project, developer Harbor Properties tells us, is the same one who ran Mural (WSB sponsor), the apartments/retail building that opened this year across from Jefferson Square. Right now, this is the only project Harbor – which works around the city – has under construction. Before they started work on Monday morning, they visited nearby homes and businesses, they say, to make sure everyone knew who to contact in case of concerns about anything at the site.
Update: Demolition starts at Link site in The Triangle
(Photo courtesy Harbor Properties)
As reported here yesterday, construction is beginning for Link, Harbor Properties‘ 200-unit, 14,000-square-foot-commercial building along a block of 38th running north from Alaska (map). Harbor says the former school building in the photo above and the former auto shop on the site’s south end will both be demolished over the next 10 days; other equipment, including excavation gear, will arrive within a week; the big “tower crane” should be up by mid-January; construction is projected to last about 17 months. ADDED 1:30 PM: Teardown work started on the north side almost simultaneously – here’s how it looked by midmorning:
We have a few more project details to add shortly, after a followup chat with Harbor execs.
Update: Harbor Properties about to start building Link
One month after announcing it had secured financing for the project, Harbor Properties‘ Emi Baldowin reports that construction work is scheduled to officially begin tomorrow at the Triangle site where it’s building Link. There’s already heavy equipment staged on the north end of the site, as you can see in our photo (taken along Alaska, from which point the site runs north along 38th [map], with to-be-demolished buildings including an ex-Huling garage and the former home of West Seattle Montessori School [WSB sponsor, now at a new location]). Link will have 200 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail; at last month’s Fairmount Community Association meeting, Harbor’s Denny Onslow said they expected construction to go “really fast” – which still means just under a year and a half.
4435 35th SW makes it through Design Review 1st round on 1st try
That’s one alternative for 4435 35th SW (map) – the proposed 100+-unit residential/12,000-sf commercial project on the Redline-and-south site – shown for the first time at Thursday night’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting, but not in the online packet. It’s the one that won the most attention – as an option that would feature a little more than 100 condos, over two stories of commercial frontage. More on the meeting ahead:Read More
Triangle tour: Councilmember Rasmussen joins Fairmount neighbors
With almost $40,000 in the city budget to work on planning for what many consider the gateway to West Seattle, the Triangle area, leaders of the nearby Fairmount Community Association continue to work to make sure key players get a firsthand look at the area as it stands now. Four weeks after showing city planner Robert Scully around the area, Fairmount reps (from left in top photo) Nancy Driver, Joan Jeffrey and Sharonn Meeks hosted City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen this morning. He’s been involved in many of the discussions to date, but acknowledged during the half-hour tour that you get a different perspective while walking around. One corridor pointed out, the street that many walk from the homes around Providence Mount St. Vincent to the east, all the way down to the West Seattle Family YMCA (WSB sponsor) in the background of the photo:
Go all the way down 37th to Fauntleroy, and you’ll meet Seung, who recently opened 37th Shoe Repair:
Rasmussen took interest in the recent commercial developments opening in the area, which also includes Cycle U in a former Huling building on the Triangle’s west edge, and the SW Alaska storefront where Alki Kayak Tours is about to open Mountain to Sound Outfitters:
Fairmount’s concern is to make sure there’s an open public process involved with drawing up a vision for The Triangle before too much more piecemeal development happens; they’d like to see an independent urban designer involved, while the city currently is only funding staff time. Rasmussen also advised reaching out to as many local businesses as possible – from the large, like Alki Lumber, to the small, like the new shoe-repair shop, and observed so many spots along the Triangle’s streets that could be brightened with a little landscaping here, a little removal of broken pavement there. We’ll keep tracking the process.
Your first look at what’s planned for the Redline (etc.) site
We first told you on Halloween about a project that’s emerged for the Triangle-area site on 35th south of Avalon that now holds Redline Music and Sports and a vacant lot. Today, one week before the Southwest Design Review Board is scheduled to take a look, the early-design proposal for the project is available online – it’s the source for the sketch you see above. The perspective is roughly the same one in this Google Street View of the site:
View Larger Map
The proposal packet outlines the plan so far as: “100-150 dwelling units on five floors over a ground level floor of commercial and parking with a below grade basement parking structure. Parking for approximately 158 vehicles would be available to support the 100-150 dwelling units and 12,250 sf of street level commercial space” and says developers are looking at building to the maximum height allowed by current zoning, 65 feet. More details to come when the Design Review Board looks at the project, 6:30 pm next Thursday at the Senior Center of West Seattle in The Junction; the city’s project-status page is here.
(no relation to the renowned Junction restaurant). When we reported on foreclosure proceedings involving the site (
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