High Point progress report

| High Point | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

Some updates on the biggest development/redevelopment project in West Seattle, from a presentation at last week’s joint meeting of the Delridge and Southwest District Councils: Project manager Tom Phillips from the Seattle Housing Authority told the groups he’s “very proud” of the way things are going, he says High Point Phase I has only 10 homes left to sell. As part of Phase II, the 160-unit seniors’ complex on Morgan will open in May, and the new park with amphitheater is in the works along with Neighborhood House. (NH construction is set to start this September; a capital campaign is under way now — read more here.) Phillips also told the councils that paperwork had just been signed with a developer for the commercial center at 35th/Graham, though there’s still no grocery-store commitment — he said he’s been told West Seattle is “over-grocered,” particularly with Whole Foods coming to Fauntleroy Place and QFC coming to Capco Plaza. The SHA’s official High Point site is here.

Wendy Hughes-Jelen January 21, 2008 (10:20 am)

Next week we’ll be celebrating 6 months since we got the keys to our new townhome at HP. We are in our mid-30s but after deciding to not have children and I developed rheumatoid arthritis, I can’t tell you what a relief it has been to “downsize” into a wonderful home with no yardwork and a huge savings in heating costs. We sold our 1929 farmhouse at 18th and Myrtle to make the move and I don’t ever second-guess my decision. My home is actually the same size (1,700 sq ft), and now we even have a 2-car garage, a real luxury for my car-nut husband.

We’ve made tons of friends, who take turns hosting parties, we visit while out on the daily dog walk (for me, that’s three times a day), and I have even found time for taking piano lessons and joining a handbell choir. I also started The High Point K9 Club and we go for walks as a “pack”. The club has over 20 members so far and will be lobbying for an off-leash area to be constructed somewhere in High Point.

It was a gift to be able to have the option to move to a smartly-designed, energy efficient Built Green certified home in our beloved community of West Seattle. We have lived here for over 10 years and never want to leave.

My personal plan for Phase II of High Point is to hold buyer orientation workshops and community tours. I have even partnered with a loan officer who specializes in Energy Efficient Mortgages (yes there is such a thing!). There is a meetup group for “green spaces real estate” and I led a group on a walking tour to teach others about the environmental features of the community and we toured model homes on January 12th. We had a lot of fun!

Every sales rep in a model home on-site at High Point in Phase I or II represents the BUILDER and does not give a whit for your interests and is only interested in making the sale and giving up as little as possible in the negotiation. Buyers need to have their own agent. I am the only licensed real estate professional (to my knowledge), and the only Built Green Certified Agent (a new designation), living in High Point. I have about 18 months, until Phase II comes on line, to teach the world that I am here and I would love for you to get a good deal on your next home and be my neighbor!

PS And we NEED a grocery store here. Even a small one. We have a “Green Living Committee” who is working on this and other issues!! Join us!

Ken January 21, 2008 (10:27 am)

Tom has done a pretty good job even with taking a regular load of crap from me and a few others in the neighborhood. He still answers the phone sometimes and even walks his dog near my house occasionally even after all the times I have buttonholed him on his personal time.

But he needs to be reminded still that selling houses is not the core responsibility of the SHA.(Though it may indeed be Tom’s current priority)

Integrating mixed income developments, low income housing and the existing West Seattle neighborhood, requires occasional visible concessions or at least the appearance of attempting to mitigate the issues that range from dangerous to annoying.

Accelerate the opening of the Lanham Place intersection at Morgan. Don’t tell us that it will be “real soon now” after 5 years. You don’t have to wait for SDOT to put up lights, they will close it again when they are ready to install them.
It cannot be any less safe than the existing situation as detailed in the last posting you commented on.

marco January 21, 2008 (2:50 pm)

Why oh why did they think it would be a good idea to build a QFC next to the Safeway???
The space next to the High Point library is specifically set aside for Retail space.

The next grocery store from HP is the Thriftway and with the hill, most people won’t walk there. (Let’s not talk about the Wallgreen’s grocery section)

Pretty sad story from a city planning POV, I think.

chas redmond January 21, 2008 (8:48 pm)

It is odd, the strange concentration of food stores here in WS. In Admiral area there’s the Safeway, Met Market, and PCC – all reasonably in walking distance to each other. And, yet, Admiral doesn’t have that high a concentration of multi-family structures. In the Junction area there’s only the Safeway now, and yet there are dozens if not score more multi-family structures and more on the way. It seems that a QFC and new Whole Foods would both be barely meeting a market, based on the thriving nature of the Admiral area’s food markets. Here in the south end we’ve got the Thriftway at Morgan and then an almost walk between the QFC at Westwood and the Safeway on Roxbury.

Ken January 22, 2008 (10:10 am)

Wendy: as a “Built Green Certified Agent” perhaps you could explain why the townhomes all seem to use multiple 150 to 300 watt halogen bulbs? And several odd sizes and shapes. They might last a little longer than standard bulbs and I see them listed on industry websites as “Green” what is the justification? They create massive waste heat and are expensive as well as burning serious wattage.

They fixtures cannot accept any alternative bulb without replacement of the fixture.

Wendy January 22, 2008 (10:31 am)

To be “Built Green” certified, an accumulation of points from a checklist must be accomplished. The builder can choose which items they want to incorporate. A home can be BG while still being far from one hundred percent environmentally perfect. You can view the different checklists at http://www.builtgreen.net/checklists.html
As a homeowner and also a volunteer board member on one of the HOAs here, the choice of exterior lighting source used in our subassociation is something we are researching. We would rather use a CFL replacement, but as you mentioned many of the bulbs seem “odd” and are hard to find a replacement for. We have a fiduciary responsibility to the other homeowners in our HOA to keep costs down – and reducing electricity costs is an easy way to do it. It might be a hard sell, tho, to change out all of the light fixtures to be able to use more EF (environmentally friendly) bulbs. Until the fixture fails, it is NOT EF to replace it. It’s a perfectly good fixture and we shouldn’t be sending it off to the landfill.

Inside my own home I have found a CFL replacement for my little kitchen fixtures. None of the big can bulbs have gone out yet so still waiting to scout that one.

natinstl January 22, 2008 (11:04 am)

Please, no more supermarkets. I moved from Florida where they added a million supermarkets and after a few years they became vacant, ugly buildings just sitting there. The only one that would be a blessing because they carry a much different mix of food is Trader Joe’s.

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