Admiral Safeway project: Apartments to be ‘Element 42’

| Development | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news

As the new Admiral Safeway store gets closer to opening – now less than a month till the August 12th date – we have new information this morning about the apartments being built on the east side of the site. The developer is Kirkland-based Madison Development Group, also parent to the entity that is trying to take over the stalled Fauntleroy Place (aka “The Hole”) development. This morning, Madison has announced that the 78-unit apartment project along 42nd SW will be called “Element 42,” with 78 studio and one-bedroom apartments “designed for the working urbanite”; sizes range from 420-square-foot studios to 660-square-foot one-bedrooms with dens. They say the apartments will be available for leasing “in 2012” (what part of the year isn’t specified – we have a followup question out), and they don’t plan to announce the pricing until next year. Their announcement also says the buliding includes a 720-square-foot “amenity room” with a community kitchen, dining area, lounge area, and fireplace, and an “intimate 2,600-square-foot rooftop plaza” with views from the Olympics to the Cascades. You may recall, the building originally, under a different developer, was planned to include flex-work space and fewer apartments; Safeway said that developer couldn’t get financing for that project configuration, and the more-apartments plan was revealed. You can read Madison Development’s full news release about the apartment project’s status by going here (2-page PDF).

SarahScoot July 13, 2011 (10:11 am)

I don’t know why they have to be so mysterious by calling it “Element 42” – we all know element 42 is molybdenum. Wouldn’t that be an awesome name for an apartment building? ;-)

RPH July 13, 2011 (10:32 am)

What does “designed for the working urbanite” mean? Would an unemployed urbanite prefer something else?
Are all of us who live in West Seattle “urbanites”?
Or, is it just those who choose to live in a shoe box over a grocery store?

KBear July 13, 2011 (10:48 am)

Yes, the mysterious noun-followed-by-a-number naming scheme is unoriginal. Is there an “Element 41” somewhere? (Maybe that was too close to “Bin 41”.) Hopefully it will last longer than Table 35.
I assume “designed for the working urbanite” means that it comes with a light rail link to downtown.

SR July 13, 2011 (10:57 am)

How many parking spaces are going to be alloted for these 78 apartments? More population density.

WSB July 13, 2011 (11:03 am)

The news release linked in the story mentions “58 new spaces.” The overall project has parking on the Safeway roof as well as on ground level – TR

WS July 13, 2011 (11:42 am)

660 sq ft 1-bedroom with “den?” Wow – if I rented two of these and cut a hole in the wall, I could fit my family in one of these new rental possibilities! Does this mean that “working urbanites” must also be single and childless and probably pet-less? How else could you fit more than one person into a “home” with 420 sq ft assuming they might actually want to “live” there?

JMW July 13, 2011 (11:49 am)

How about “Element 420 sq ft” instead?

If the Safeway has a cafe, another 100 square feet could get knocked off each studio space (replacing the kitchenettes). That, in turn, would get them up and over 100 units!

breezygirl July 13, 2011 (11:51 am)

While I’m not certain about the “Element” part, they obviously gave it the number 42 because it’s on 42nd ave….

flowerpetal July 13, 2011 (11:57 am)

A ridiculous name! Seems to follow the trend of the way cars are named these days. Imagine the new Monopoly game; you can try to obtain “Element42” rather than Park Place or Boardwalk. So unoriginal.

JanS July 13, 2011 (11:58 am)

designed for the working urbanite means that there won’t be enough parking spaces, you’d better have a bus pass. And a non- working urbanite won’t be able to afford these apartments, for sure. Also, that’s an old picture. There is now another floor on the top. It blocks out my sun after a certain time, and I will never see a sunset again from my deck.

For those without cars, there will be three Zipcars, too.

According to something posted on our apartment front door, the plans is for the apts. to be done in January of 2012. They are sometimes working 6 days a week on the project, so that seems feasible.

RPH July 13, 2011 (12:18 pm)

When’s that train a comin’?

JayDee July 13, 2011 (12:48 pm)

Let’s just call it the “Molly B”…

destinyabound July 13, 2011 (12:57 pm)

these comments crack me up!

higgins July 13, 2011 (1:39 pm)

Having spent 5 years living on a boat, 420 square feet would be luxury! While it’s true you could never fit a family in one of those apartments, I think we forget how little space one person truly needs, as long as they are not surrounded by useless possessions. The price however is another matter. I wish there was some middle ground between the pricey, modern apartments for “working urbanites” and the slummy, weird smelling units reserved for “normal people”.

austin July 13, 2011 (1:40 pm)

Element 420 sounds like the name of a pot dispensary.

Forest July 13, 2011 (2:41 pm)

“Element 420” sounds like a placeholder name. I wager the finished apartments will exploit the proximity of the park with a name along the lines of “Hiawatha West.”

Molly B Fan July 13, 2011 (2:55 pm)

I would love it if they called them the Molly B. It’s true though, you can get by on that little space with multiple people and small pets. It’s the pricing that makes it seem outlandish. And I must not be an urbanite since the thought of being squished into these places kills me.

RobertSeattle July 13, 2011 (3:15 pm)

Still chuckling at “intimate 2,600-square-foot rooftop plaza” – gotta luv realtor-speak.

sam-c July 13, 2011 (3:45 pm)

it’s north of Hiawatha: “No Hi”- also in contrast to “element 420” (austin’s comment)

yeah I don’t get the apartment naming, especially “Chloe” in cap hill. but if it’s something like “Shady Pines” it sounds like a retirement home.

WSLover July 13, 2011 (3:55 pm)

They continue to take the sky away from West Seattle. The ruination of the neighborhood continues.

Mike July 13, 2011 (5:30 pm)

sounds like a hair salon to me…

no whiners July 13, 2011 (5:44 pm)

“I will never see the sunset again from my deck.”
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“They continue to take the sky away from West Seattle.”
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Uuuhhhh, you people do realize that you live in a city, don’t you? There is no such thing as a protected view from private property in Seattle.
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It’s beginning to look like the old comments section in myballard.com around here.

WSLover July 13, 2011 (8:30 pm)

Uuuhhhh Whiner,

West Seattle has (or had) the feeling of a small town and the wonderful convenience of only being 10 minutes from a major metropolitan area. You get the best of both worlds. If I wanted to live in a more urban setting I would move to Belltown or the like.

In my opinion West Seattle should for the most part remain quaint.

If people want to move here great, but why build new spaces to live, just improve or rebuild the areas that pre-exist? Do we really need more people trying to get over the bridge at 8AM?

Why don’t you go move over a bodega in Chicago or New York so you can enjoy that dense urbanite experience of having everyone living on top of one another? It’s SO AWESOME driving around the block 5 times to find a parking spot…

No need to bring it here.

BTW FREE BALLARD!

Mike July 13, 2011 (9:29 pm)

Whiner is right, it’s looking like Ballard more and more. All those vacancies and tanking market value on homes/condos is great… just ask people living in Ballard that can’t sell their homes for anything near what they cost even 10 years ago.

Momof3 July 13, 2011 (11:49 pm)

How about “for the commuting suburbanite”?

BUBBLES July 14, 2011 (8:06 am)

I agree with “no whiners” as well. As cities grow, more people will need a place to live, and JanS and WSLover are going to have to deal with that. If you want to ensure your views and easy commute are preserved, move to Detroit. Otherwise, enjoy quaint West Seattle while it lasts!

no whiners July 14, 2011 (9:46 am)

WSL: West Seattle also once had the feeling of a rural community, and before that a forested hill that supported tribes of native Americans. I’m sure the people of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes would take issue with your contention that West Seattle should remain “quaint”.
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Our built environments are not static objects like a piece of sculpture that is chiseled from stone and left to sit forever on a pedestal. They are living, breathing creatures that are in a constant state of change due to a complex mix of social, economic and political forces. If you want to resist that change, I suggest you petition the city to place a moratorium on any new housing within West Seattle. Good luck with that.
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Regarding this project in particular, I for one will welcome our new neighbors (I live 3 blocks away) and applaud them for choosing to live with a smaller footprint. We could all learn a thing or two from them.

Sorry, comment time is over.