Admiral Safeway proposal: Preview what’ll be reviewed tonight

Those images are from the revised “early design guidance” Admiral Safeway presentation that will be taken to the Southwest Design Review Board tonight, two months after board members asked Safeway and its architects (Fuller Sears) to go back and come up with more distinct options for the proposed redevelopment of the Admiral site. (9/25 WSB report here) In advance of tonight’s meeting — at which public attendance and comment are encouraged — the new presentation is available online (you can get it here). The four “alternatives” above (views from the northwest, as if you were in a helicopter over Circa looking toward Mt. Rainier) have been added — #4, #5, #6, and #7. The last one is flagged as the company’s “preferred” alternative, and is more detailed because it’s from the original presentation (hard to say what’s been changed there, but that’s up to the applicants to explain at the meeting). 6:30 tonight, West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch (map).

10 Replies to "Admiral Safeway proposal: Preview what'll be reviewed tonight"

  • RobertSeattle November 20, 2008 (9:22 am)

    Is there an explnationw why they went with an above ground parking lot instead of a below ground? Maybe just cheaper?

  • wsmom November 20, 2008 (10:41 am)

    http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=nl

    I hope Safeway is using a different architect than who designed the new Bellevue Way Safeway complex. What an eyesore (imho). The building looks mostly unrented except for The Vitamin Shoppe (love the spelling) and LensCrafters.

  • GenHillOne November 20, 2008 (1:25 pm)

    I would vote no on #6 – having the parking lot across the street from Hiawatha and WSHS seems far too tempting for shenanigans, some less devious than others, but hassles that I’m sure Safeway won’t want to deal with.

  • Forest November 20, 2008 (3:37 pm)

    It’s hard to compare designs when all the views are aerial and from an angle that no driver, pedestrian, or tenant will ever see. Maybe they ought to call for input from the people who pilot police helicopters in West Seattle.

  • WSB November 20, 2008 (4:39 pm)

    There are ground angles in the presentation I linked here – follow “you can get it here.”

  • ws mom November 20, 2008 (5:39 pm)

    I just hope they plan the parking lot better than the Jefferson Square parking lot. What a poor design and a nightmare that place is – I do my best to avoid shopping there.

  • Bent November 20, 2008 (7:42 pm)

    The overall design is ugly, predictable and cheap looking. The poor people that live on 42nd. The building is hulking. We live in the city for a reason yet the firm seems unable to give us a design that is both urban and inspired. Instead we are offered some rehash of a suburban strip mall.

  • west side sun lover November 20, 2008 (10:21 pm)

    I went to the review board meeting this evening and was flabbergasted by the Design Review Board. I was under the impression that the DRB was to represent the community’s wants and visions with regard to the design and construction of new projects. While I understand that it is important to think ahead into the future, the DRB came off as wanting to define the next 100 years of development for West Seattle. This led me to believe that this group may have some delusions of grandeur amongst them.

    The comments provided by the attendees of the community clearly represented an excitement and desire for the new Safeway project. The community members supported the “Safeway preferred” option seven, which is a clearer picture of the initial proposal. Their views were that they didn’t want an extremely dense “box” to be built on the site and were encouraged by the cooperation of Bill Fuller’s architecture team and Safeway to respond to the community’s desire to update the existing building to a mixed-use more modern facility, while not compromising the neighborhoods suburban within urban feel. One of the attendees commented that we (here in West Seattle) should feel lucky that in today’s capital markets, Safeway is choosing to improve our neighborhood when they already have a very productive store here. Granted, they may be thinking about the incoming competition from the Alaska junction. But I for one, can walk to this Safeway store and I don’t see myself driving there when I have three stores to chose from here.

    This was my first trip to a design review board meeting and I left confused as to whom the board was representing; The Admiral district or Seattle City planner’s desire for density. It is imperative that West Seattle keep it’s charm and not turn into another retail/residential strip mall. It IS possible to move forward and redevelop without losing the area’s integrity.

  • WSB November 20, 2008 (10:40 pm)

    Thanks. I am working on the full article about tonight’s meeting and hope to have it posted by 11:30 if not sooner.
    This link has more information about the Design Review process, which is somewhat unique to Seattle:
    http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Design_Review_Program/What_We_Do/in_brief/
    But as the last paragraph notes, the board’s charge is to help guide the city toward its goals, including density. Board members are volunteers, by the way – the only city employee up at the front of the room was Michael Dorcy, the planner assigned to this project.

  • Diane November 20, 2008 (11:23 pm)

    west side sun lover, it is not true that all community members supported the “Safeway preferred” option seven
    ~
    I was at the meeting tonight; I am a community member; live in the Admiral neighborhood, have attended now 3 presentations of this Admiral Safeway project; I spoke up tonight regarding my disappointment with what the architects presented and what I had hoped to see for our community; I heartily agree with most of the comments made by the design review board

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