Got an idea for The Hole, or another stalled site? Send it in!

| Development | West Seattle news

Tailor-made for The Hole at Fauntleroy/Alaska/39th … or maybe Avalon Center … or maybe one of the other stalled/not-yet-started development sites around town … the Seattle Design Commission has put out a call for “Holding Patterns,” and Kevin thought you’d want to see it – here’s how it starts:
Have you noticed how many lots have been left empty or partially developed due to the stalled economy? These vacant project sites are all around us. Unattractive and unbecoming of our city, we pass by them every day: empty holes, barren plains of gravel, voids in the city fabric. How can we convert these eyesores to opportunities?

The Seattle Design Commission wants your ideas for Holding Patterns, interim uses for stalled project sites. We are seeking your concepts to transform the following types of stalled project sites around the city:
*holes in the ground
*surface lots
*ongoing construction above or below street level

The deadline for sending in ideas is May 24. After that, certain ideas will be “selected” and you might get to make a pitch to “potential partners who are able to help make your ideas a reality.” Here’s the document with all the info on how to enter.

I. Nertia April 20, 2010 (9:23 pm)

Line it with pond liner and fill it with water. Junction Lake. Great place to swim.

E April 20, 2010 (9:43 pm)

There is a grocery store called Trader Joe’s. What about that;-)

JimClark April 20, 2010 (9:58 pm)

Then you could stock it with trout

MargL April 20, 2010 (10:00 pm)

ooh! Catch your own fresh fish for dinner on the way home from work!

k April 20, 2010 (10:11 pm)

This is a fabulous idea, to have a contest. I hope the prize is to have the winning idea made with the feuding parties’ money.

At least something good may come out of this.

Jason April 20, 2010 (10:53 pm)

Biggest, baddest skate park/pit in the WORLD!!

HunterG April 20, 2010 (11:02 pm)

I would love to see an ampitheater!!

dale April 20, 2010 (11:14 pm)

Freeze it and make it a Luge course, frisbee golf tournament site, Ha. Actually, since the Hole was designed to be some type of underground parking the best usage and easiest transformation is to continue the same and make this a park-n-ride. Metro would have to take ownership/rescue us however.

Well, since ya' asked - April 20, 2010 (11:25 pm)

Surface lots:

Carnival rides!

Putt-putt golf?

Shakespeare in the Park-ing Lot

Tailgate parties for the heck of it.

$3 Dances: Teens on Friday nights; Oldsters on Saturday nights; Families on Sunday

Dog show?

Bocci Ball?
Badminton?
Frisbee football?
Tricycle races?

Hole: contest to see how many pennies it will hold. Everyone throws in their pennies. When the hole is filled to the brim with coins, the winner takes the loot and buys the property. :)

Go ahead – feel free to use ’em all. :]

motorzen April 20, 2010 (11:38 pm)

Put a donut shop in there… Call it the Donut Hole.

A April 21, 2010 (1:04 am)

How about making the old huling bros. lots a huge indoor swimming pool fun park and spa

Tut April 21, 2010 (5:15 am)

Build an underground parking lot that will work with the building that will someday be built.

Eddie April 21, 2010 (6:29 am)

Gun Range
Tagger Art Display
Combination of the above

Steve April 21, 2010 (6:45 am)

parking, park & ride, with a park on top

sun*e April 21, 2010 (7:30 am)

@Steve – Great idea to have an underground “park & ride” below a “landscaped park” on the surface and we could call it “Park Park-N-Ride”. :)

austin April 21, 2010 (8:43 am)

Fill in any holes / knock down stalled buildings and give the land to parks, forever. Also make examples out of those responsible- fine them to fund the parks, and sentence them to community service in the form of planting and landscaping the new parks (if they cannot pay fines or perform labor, jail time). This type of aggressive hit or miss “development” should be as illegal as robbing a bank, regardless of laying blame on bad luck.

MAS April 21, 2010 (8:44 am)

Uh, wouldn’t that be “Park & Ride Park?”

I was thinking along the same lines. Build parking that architecturally supports something reasonable above, but that’s an expensive structure to be building on someone else’s property.

AMY April 21, 2010 (9:12 am)

Since we have so many rainy days here, i again want to suggest a new 3 or 4 screen theatre!!!!! The Admiral is ok…but kinda outdated? I think it would be a nice spot for it. Anyone? Not an ugly park and rude!!

Zgh2676 April 21, 2010 (9:18 am)

Rock climbing walls on the slopes down.

momon35th April 21, 2010 (9:18 am)

West Seattle needs a Dick’s Drive-in and a mini-golf course

margaritaville April 21, 2010 (11:10 am)

Plant landscaping to hide the hole. Turn the hole into a serene park with cascading waterfalls and sculpture installations, picnic tables, and benches – with walking bridges over the hole and open air elevators to take people down to enjoy the the park close up.

miws April 21, 2010 (11:19 am)

For The Hole:

A big ol’ dunk tank for dunking the developer of that property, as well as devloper of the 35th & Avalon site, and the developer of the California & Graham site, that has sat as a vacant lot for over 1.5 years after tearing down the cool, classic, Meat Market/Espresso Shop/Martial Arts Studio, that made irresponsible choices, biting off more they could chew, creating at a minimum eyesores in our community, and in some cases, causing safety concerns.

Oh, and I rode by the 35th & Avalon site on the bus last week, and noticed some lovely postering on the particle board (or is it plywood-don’t remember) siding. There may have been tagging too. Really adds to the panache of that building.

Mike

Zgh2676 April 21, 2010 (12:51 pm)

Dick’s would be awesome!!!!! On top of underground parking.

Or just make it a light rail station!

bob April 21, 2010 (2:09 pm)

Full sized indoor baseball field with batting cages, pitching tunnels, weight room, and a track. and also a pro shop. with a park on top!!!!!!!!

cakeitseasy April 21, 2010 (2:29 pm)

Orly? What do you do with a 50 ft deep hole that does not cost a (w)hole lot of money that is clearly not available to do anything that they would be doing if money was available…?!

Installation art is about all. How about something that illustrates why we don’t have legislation in place that prevents this sort of financial mismanagement?

Too bad they couldn’t have left the building up to be used while they were in this “holding” pattern.

zgh2676 April 21, 2010 (2:39 pm)

As far as parking goes it seems to me if you have to drive to the triangle only then is it a problem. This may be wishful thinking at best, but what if there were 2 streetcar lines? One along California from the admiral district down just past the Morgan Junction and another down 35th from the Triangle to around where 35th meets Roxbury. (Potentially a future line down Delridge all the way to White Center once it’s annexed). A substantial amount of people could leave their cars home and make their way around west Seattle and to the areas where most local business is done. The hub could be where the “Hole Foods” is. The space underneath the hub could be used for potential future light rail expansion to downtown. This eliminates the parking in one clustered area and spreads it out along the entire streetcar line which acts as extended access points for public transit and local business. Greener city, less parking problems (which will always be around in a major metropolitan area to some degree), and a more pedestrian friendly environment. I mean, why not take advantage of the fact that our current mayor is on board with this type of stuff already?

Kelly April 21, 2010 (4:45 pm)

I love the water ideas–maybe we need some of these:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/arts/design/20pool.html

Stock one with trout, make one a kiddie pool, a dunk tank, one for people who like to swim short laps, the possibilities are endless.

CurlyQ April 21, 2010 (5:07 pm)

Now that Waste Management haulers are on strike, how about a garbage dump? ;)

neighborly April 21, 2010 (11:03 pm)

How about:
A Roman amphitheater for public stoning of those responsible

or to watch them fed to the lions

or a more humane stockade for shame

All in good fun, of course

broken clock April 22, 2010 (7:56 am)

How about a museum featuring the works of a one eyed glass artist?

Bill April 22, 2010 (8:06 am)

Now that the Teamsters Local 174 (garbage haulers) are on strike, instead of taking our garbage to the transfer station ourselves and paying a $30 fee to do so (on top of our property taxes to cover this service), we could just circumvent things by filling in the Hole Foods site with our shorter trip garbage. Free is always better and besides, it’s Earth Day. Let’s restore Mother Earth.

W April 22, 2010 (5:34 pm)

E- Trader Joe’s has a place on their website where you can request a new location. I’ve tried it for this site & they said no thanks. But, perhaps if enough people ask, they might reconsider. Would love to have them anywhere in west seattle!

RainyDay1235 April 23, 2010 (12:59 pm)

1/3 small dog park
1/3 Retail Space
1/3 Paved open park – reserved on Sundays for Farmer’s Market – perfect location. The Bank parking lot is getting old.