@ North Delridge Neighborhood Council: DNDA dilemma; Brandon Node visioning event; more

| Delridge | West Seattle news

The biggest news at last night’s North Delridge Neighborhood Council meeting came from guests: Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association reps told the council they may have to sell the three DNDA-owned units in Brandon Court because they won’t be able to make the next mortgage payment. (They’re already listed.) One of those units is empty – DNDA itself vacated last year, consolidating its offices in Youngstown Cultural Arts Center a mile away – and the other one is about to be vacated by the City of Seattle, moving its Neighborhood Service Center to the former Southwest Community Center (as finalized in last month’s budget vote). DNDA’s Patty Grossman and board chair Willard Brown told NDNC – meeting in the Delridge Library, near the units under discussion – that they were hoping to convince the city to change its mind, and that they believed they were getting at least a few months reprieve.

However, our followup conversation with the city today indicates otherwise. More on this, and other topics from the NDNC meeting, ahead:

Brown opened the DNDA’s spot on the agenda by telling the council that the nonprofit has “turned the corner” and is now profitable and will finish the current year “in the black.” He noted that is the case even though DNDA’s challenges in recent years have included funding – “public funding is almost nonexistent; private funding has become a larger and larger portion of the mix but … that source of revenue has also dried up fairly dramatically.” He says the housing at Youngstown “is viable,” though the component of its mission that has to do with youth arts “is not as viable as it once was” – he described “a shift” in which partner organizations are taking on more of a responsibility for that, right now – but its “physical plant” has become “more attractive” to local performing-arts groups. “Our goal is to re-emerge stronger with a stronger tie to the art community,” he declared, “as well as a strong connection to youth in the community.” But – “We’re going to need help to get there, and we need help now from all of you,” in the form of board openings that need to be filled.

Then he and Grossman got to the point of the vacant retail space in Brandon Court. He said the impending DESC homeless-housing project nearby has dissuaded prospective lessees for the spaces that are now empty, after the departure of DNDA and the impending departure of the city Neighborhood Service Center. “We have expressed our interest that the city remain in place so that this site remains viable … keep(ing) ‘Little City Hall’ open and viable,” Brown said. Chiming in, Patty Grossman said, “We just found out a couple weeks ago that the noose around our neck is a little tight and it was tightened by the city unintentionally.” She explained the three units owned by DNDA – one has a child-care operation.

Grossman said prospective tenants were almost about to engage in “a bidding war” until the impending, nearby DESC homeless-housing project became known, and that there was an added complication – prospective tenants were interested at a rate that wasn’t sustainable ($12/square foot). They’ve put their space up on the market, she said. “We’ve never been delinquent on our mortgage before. … (but) We can’t pay them right now.” She says a temporary tenant, a software company, is about to sign a six-month lease, but, Brown added, “we’re not sure that’s the kind of tenant that the community wants,” to stimulate economic growth in the area.

How have they marketed the space? NDNC co-chair Amanda Leonard asked. Brown indicated they had been more reactive than proactive. He added that “The city leaving is a double whammy” – they have been paying an amount of rent that has helped keep the project afloat. “Their leaving is a huge, huge setback for us.” (We asked the city today how much they paid. Answer: $2647/month rent plus $872/month for common-area maintenance. The space is indeed listed for lease at less than that.)

A DESC employee who has been attending NDNC meetings for a while suggested to DNDA that they try to buy some time because the project may not seem so negative to prospective tenants once it’s up and running. Grossman said they tried to point that out to prospective tenants, who “just didn’t want to deal with it.” Brown said they will be meeting with DESC boss Bill Hobson to enlist his help in getting the spaces lease.

Grossman reiterated that while they felt they had turned DNDA around in the past six months – covering the organization’s costs “without philanthropic (help) – this “unpleasant surprise” came up in the past two weeks and “couldn’t have come at a worse time.” She also said that the city might be delaying its departure from Brandon Court till July to help them buy time.

However, we contacted the city today, and spokesperson Katherine Schubert-Knapp told us:

Our goal is still to open the Southwest Neighborhood Service Center inside the Southwest Teen Life Center on Southwest Thistle Street in early April. We may not hit the April 2 opening date as originally planned. There are a lot of moving parts and it’s taking a bit longer to prepare our space then we had initially planned on. In the meantime, because our lease at the Delridge site expires at the end of March, we’ve arranged to rent the space from month-to-month so that we have a place to stay until our new spot is ready for us. If all goes as planned, we should be out of the Delridge location by the end of April. We don’t anticipate renting the space beyond April.

BRANDON NODE VISIONING: On February 29th, at Martin’s Way (Delridge/Findlay, as profiled here last month), NDNC will have an open house about the Brandon Node – the commercial area centered on Delridge/Brandon/Findlay – to which the community is invited. Here’s the flyer:

Co-chair Parie Hines also said there’s a new effort under way to bring a grocery store to Delridge and that a meeting NDNC leaders had attended earlier Monday – organized by the King County Food and Fitness Initiative, with a variety of other organizations participating – had mentioned the Brandon Court space as a possibility – perhaps something like a pickup spot for groceries that would be ordered online.

DESC ADVISORY GROUP: Vonetta Mangaoang briefed the group on the advisory committee’s formation. She’ll be coordinating outreach activities. Next Tuesday is the first major community meeting – 6:30 pm February 21st, as announced here – at which the committee will “take testimony from whomever shows up.” For one, she says, it’s intended to correct “missed opportunities” for public input in the past, and it’s also intended to “establish what the concerns of the community are, so that we can have conversations about them.”

OTHER DESC PROJECT NOTES: Mangaoang reminded all that the city has extended the comment period by two weeks and also says the city has agreed to a public meeting discussing and reviewing how the environmental-impact process – also a subject of public comment – plays into this project. (And those “environmental impacts” don’t just include the ecological impacts you might imagine, but also traffic, noise, and other components.)

GATHERING OF NEIGHBORS: Michael Taylor-Judd was at the meeting to pitch NDNC on helping out with the upcoming event, April 21st at Chief Sealth International High School. More information here.

WALKING TOUR BRINGS RESULTS: Jake Vanderplas recapped the recent Delridge walking tour including city reps, saying it had led to some trouble spots getting taken care of. “Three or four things that were pointed out on that tour have been addressed already … for example, the path between Andover and Chelan has been smoothed out and repaved.” (More info here.) A speed-limit sign in the area has been moved; sidewalks have been cleared; He’s drafting a “thank-you letter” for Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, which also will follow up on what remains to be done.

North Delridge Neighborhood Council meets the second Monday of each month, 6:30 pm, usually in the Delridge Library, but check their very busy, frequently updated website at ndnc.org for the latest on meeting location/agenda.

Creekside February 15, 2012 (7:35 am)

The DESC’s Rainier House building on Rainier Avenue between Hillman City and Columbia City is surrounded by empty or boarded up buildings, vacant lots and virtually no commercial activity. Toss in an auto junkyard across the street and a medical marijuana pot shop a couple doors to the north and that’s it.
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Many of us in the Delridge neighborhood had strong beliefs that this was also going to happen to the Brandon and Delridge Way area once the DESC came to town. Oh, but the ‘experts’ such as DESC Director BIll Hobson, DESC staff, and plenty of commenters here on the WSB such as ‘John’, ‘Sage’, ‘Perry’, ‘DESC = Compassion’ etc., hadn’t a clue beyond their narrow focus of how the DESC project was worthy at any cost and would be an asset to our economically hamstrung neighborhood.
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Now we have DNDA getting close to default and stuck with a whole bunch of empty, leasable commercial space that prospective tenants backed out of due to the DESC project GOING IN ACROSS THE STREET. Who would have thunk it!
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Those of us who are objective thinkers and who made every effort to explain this problem were called disparaging names by DESC Director Bill Hobson, and commenters such as ‘John’, ‘Perry’, ‘Sage’ and plenty of others. Those of you who did your best to shout or shame down any thinking persons resistance to this project are Classists and Racists by imposing your project on an economically poor, historically politically disconnected and racially diverse neighborhood. Of course you don’t see yourself as Classist and Racist as you are full of so much ‘good intention’ that you are blind to how you really roll in the world.
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A couple of telling quotes from DESC Director Bill Hobson that says it all as far as I am concerned.
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June 14, 2011
So with all their previous projects outside West Seattle, why here? “A combination of things. We have done a bit of research on Delridge. There is a lot of interesting movement to try to stabilize the neighborhood – we would like to be an active participant in that.”
https://westseattleblog.com/2011/06/details-permanent-housing-for-75-homeless-people-proposed-for-delridge-site
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September 12, 2011
But the caveat was also offered that DESC can’t be expected to come in and address neighborhood needs: “We are not an economic development organization,” Hobson stressed. “But at the absolute minimum, we don’t want to be a brake on economic development.”
https://westseattleblog.com/2011/09/delridge-homeless-housing-proposal-neighborhood-advocates-tour-two-desc-buildings

Sage February 15, 2012 (7:41 am)

DNDA is claiming that there was almost “a bidding war” for the space and also that “prospective tenants were interested at a rate that wasn’t sustainable”? That sounds like wishful thinking and mismanagement, and it’s quite foul that now they’re blaming their slow-motion organizational implosion on DESC.
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Remember back in the days when DNDA supported affordable housing? I’m beginning to regret I ever gave them money.

Sage February 15, 2012 (8:04 am)

By the way, when was the last time DNDA was able to rent out a substantial part of Brandon Court to a private tenant? Seems like they’re effective blaming DESC for 1) the city closing the service center, and 2) DNDA leaving its own office as it financially implodes. The prospect of DESC building housing nearby has zero to do with either of these things.

Concerned February 15, 2012 (8:56 am)

Wow DNDA, just wow. First Youngstown, now this. I don’t take issue with the mention of the DESC project and how it may impact the marketability of their spaces. But please, can you start by being honest with yourselves and then the neighborhood? 1) you know that you are overleveraged on the Brandon court commercial space due to a reckless refinancing undertaken by the former executive director. 2) you know that you have been absentee landlords at best over the last year, at least. As a result, you have poorly maintained and positioned spaces and a much larger mortgage payment than you used to have. This is not the fault of DESC and you should have at least owned up to your own mistakes before making them your scapegoat. What DNDA needs now is a completely new board of directors that come from the neighborhood and have the community’s interests in mind, not just their own. Maybe then honesty will prevail.

JoAnne February 15, 2012 (8:58 am)

Sage, would you or Bill Hobson like to locate a business that YOU own near a DESC project? OR Would you like to take up residence near one and have your young children playing outside with mentally ill criminals, addicts, and drug dealers just yards away?

Creekside February 15, 2012 (9:16 am)

@ Sage and Concened, it no longer matters what the financial practices of DNDA is, or was. Deal with what is going on now. Don’t try to evade the reality that DESC projects and the DESC itself is not a driver of economic development. Even Director Bill Hobson had the honesty to state that. Go visit the Rainier House and its immediate surroundings. EDZ aka Economic Dead Zone.
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If you still don’t get it, try to think like a small businessperson or entrepreneur and are seeking a space to lease. Would you really have a good business plan and chances at financing if a massive housing project for seriously mentally ill and alcohol and drug addicts was going in across the street from you? Seriously.
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I credit the new Martin’s Way for trying to get off the ground, but let’s face it, the DESC is a boat anchor for economic development. Unless of course, the City of Seattle and its various departments put on a full court press to mitigate the damage that this DESC project is already doing.
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Going forward, Sage and other good taxpayers of Seattle, buck up and be willing to pay more in taxes so that DESC type supportive housing projects get built in established and stable, middle and upper class white neighborhoods.

Sage February 15, 2012 (9:21 am)

JoAnne: there is zero evidence of actual DESC projects causing any of these issues in reality once they’re built. For example, the Rainier Valley Chamber of Commerce was unfriendly to the project there when under development but now has offices in the very building. And there is certainly no evidence of DESC residents ever playing with nearby young children, so that scare tactic is a little limp. But I will say that I would like children to grow up in a community that provides homes for all instead of running & screaming in terror at the poverty & dispossession our economy creates.
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The issue of the moment to me is that DNDA can’t rent out an office they’ve never been able to rent on the private market and now they’re blaming DESC for it. This is a perfect example of scapegoating, it’s absurd, and it’s sad. DNDA used to stand for something better than that.

Creekside February 15, 2012 (9:37 am)

Sage, the Rainier Chamber is a non-profit within the Rainier House. There is nothing going around the Rainier House in terms of actual, real business and economic development. Answer the question about whether you would realistically get financing and try to open a business next to the Delridge DESC.
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Your big picture view and desires for a better world clashes with the way things really are on the street. I surmise you are safely ensconce in a pleasant, white middle class neighborhood. Move to the street, raise your children here, try to open and operate a business here and get a dose of reality.

Concerned February 15, 2012 (10:18 am)

@Creekside, I totally understand where you are coming from. And while I don’t agree with all your concerns, I think that it is totally legitimate to say that the DESC project will impact the leasing of other spaces in the area. I agree with you on this.

What I am trying to point out is that the overall health of the area has a lot to do with DNDA’s state right now, both past and present mismanagement. I feel strongly that this issue is not being discussed honestly by them and have been surprised that there has not been more investigative coverage of this – the Stranger article only scratched the surface.

For example, DNDA used to get funding from the City Office of Economic Development to improve the business district on Delridge. But no more. I would be surprised if the City would support them again in this work, and even if they would, there is no capacity there to do so now. This kind of funding could really help with the DESC issue, so in my mind these things are definitely connected and relevant to the conversation.

In an ideal world, DNDA would be leading conversations in the neighborhood about economic development and low-income housing. Given that the last several DNDA projects contained homeless housing, I find their stance at the meeting described above interesting. It really just demonstrates how disconnected the Board is from its own mission and history in the neighborhood.

Creekside February 15, 2012 (10:50 am)

@ Concerned, thank you for clarifying your stance regarding DNDA and DESC. IMO to much faith has been put into DNDA by the neighborhood. Thankfully, people who actually live here are working towards trying to begin solving the issues you mentioned via the North Delridge Neighborhood Council. Unfortunately, the DESC is anything but beneficial to solving our economic and jobs development issues.
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@ Sage, still awaiting your answer to the question of whether YOU would take the risk, try to get financing and open a business next to the Delridge DESC. So??????

Jake February 15, 2012 (11:26 am)

The summary of the DESC statements is slightly wrong: I believe the DNDA reps claimed that they had a bidding war at a sustainable level of $17+ per square foot, and that after hearing about the DESC project these potential tenants backed-out. Now any interest has been at the $12 per square foot level, which the DNDA reps said is not enough to cover their costs. They also claimed that DESC will offer ground-level retail space at $2-3 per square foot.

Thanks for the reporting, WSB!

WSB February 15, 2012 (12:43 pm)

Jake, since calling a journalist “wrong” is like accusing a physician of malpractice, I need to note … the fact I didn’t mention the higher number does not make what I wrote “wrong.” I did not say that the “bidding war” was at $12, only that they mentioned a bidding war of some sort, and that ensuing interest was at a level they considered unsustainable, $12. Commercial real estate is calculated so oddly that honestly, I don’t know what the number quoted to me by the city in my followup query boils down to per square foot but for comparison’s sake, I asked them what they’re paying, since DNDA had *not* mentioned that sum, and reported it exactly as the city answered me.
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There are always tons more details at community meetings and elsewhere and at some point, a writer has to boil it down. But what I wrote IS in line with my notes from the meeting, which tend to be fairly thorough. I would ideally like to videotape all community meetings so folks can just watch for each and every little detail if they want to, but even the processing time without editing and adding CG’s tends to be daunting, so we just record here and there as we can, and summarize as best we can and as accurately as possible … TR

Sage February 15, 2012 (12:02 pm)

@Creekside – DESC is certainly not an economic engine for anything and I didn’t mean to imply I thought so. That would in fact be ridiculous. I just don’t think DNDA’s implosion sheds any light on what the impact of DESC will be on the economic development of the area. And since you’re eagerly awaiting news of my entrepreneurial spirit, I wouldn’t open a small biz in North Delridge, with or without DESC there. It’s low density and that has nothing to do with services being placed there or not. A more urban style of development may actually *help* with that issue. Also just want to note that getting “a dose of reality” sometimes mean opening up to the fact that there’s poverty and illness all around us, and that we all have a collective responsibility to address it in all of our communities. Yes, it makes sense to be skeptical of city & organizational promises. It also makes sense to check your instincts sometimes. Assumptions and worst-case fears can be wrong.
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@Jake – That’s a useful clarification that at least makes some sense.

Jake February 15, 2012 (1:19 pm)

I’m sorry – I didn’t mean that as an accusation! I just wanted to write down some added details that I remember from the conversation. In particular, I got the impression that the “bidding war” they mentioned was at around $17/sqare foot, a level that would allow them to be sustainable, and the $12/square foot mark came up only after those potential tenants backed out. Thanks for all your hard work on this!

Iggy February 15, 2012 (3:07 pm)

If you’ve ever seen the young people hanging out at the bus stop and around outside the library, smoking dope and generally loitering, is it no wonder that Brandon Court is in trouble. With all the mess in the parking lot and on Deldridge and in the alley, and with all the other rentals and condos in better parts of West Seattle on the market, who would want to live at Brandon Court? DESC might make things worse, but the problems were there well before.

Concerned February 15, 2012 (4:17 pm)

I guess I want to remind people that DNDA BUILT Brandon Court and Vivian McClean place. They were founded to REVITALIZE Delridge. So, the fact that they are talking about this issue (not making mortgage on their commercial condos), and I am sure thinking about selling the commercial spaces there as a result, is truly disheartening and sad and indicative of how far they have strayed from their mission and vision for Delridge. $17/sq foot as a “sustainable” number for this area in Delridge is simply crazy, and also indicative of poor decision making when it comes to financing. Why do they need that much rent to meet expenses? One could argue that they should be offering spaces for lower rent, to enable business to flourish here, but that would be in keeping with their economic development mission…

JoAnne February 15, 2012 (7:11 pm)

@Sage, You evaded the question. I did not ask if you would open a business or buy a home in North Delridge but if you would do so in proximity to a DESC project facility.
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@ Iggy, The fact that the neighborhood is already struggling with crime and drug use is exactly why the choice for a DESC project so bad.
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The city and DESC chose this neighborhood because it’s “low hanging fruit.” It’s already got lower income folks and minorities/recent immigrants who tend to have less civic involvement. That means the community has fewer resources to fight something like this, and that’s EXACTLY why it was chosen!
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The real heartbreak is that so many great folks have put their heart and soul into transforming the area into a safe community. Their efforts have been valiant and productive, although it has been anything but easy.
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The city should be falling all over itself in gratitude instead of crapping on these folks.

Been There February 15, 2012 (8:34 pm)

Concerned, thanks for bringing up the subject of the reckless decision making of a former director of DNDA. It seems that is where a lot of the current problems stem from. It also seems to be a taboo subject. It also seems that the Board of DNDA completely failed in not removing that person from leading the organazation.
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When Brandon Court was completed, one of the first tenants DNDA had in the space currently occupied by the childcare operation was a Panini sandwich, soup and coffee place. It didn’t last. Then along came a Gai’s Bakery day old bread store. It didn’t last either. I have no idea what the lease agreement and terms were fo those two tenants. I do know that both were a bit ahead of their time as the townhome influx had yet to arrive and with it brought the people with discretionary income that can now help to support Pearls, Pho Aroma and Olympia Pizza. Of course those three wonderful businesses have patrons coming from elsewhere in West Seattle and other parts of the city and burbs.
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Somewhere between the time DNDA finished up their Brandon Court and the Vivian McClean Place projects, SHA came along and bought the once market rate, large apartment complex known as the Longfellow Creek Apartments at Delridge Way and Juneau. I think SHA purchased that complex as one means to try and absorb some of the SHA tenants who were being displaced by the High Point redevelopment. During the High Point project a lot of SHA tenants wound up living in Delridge. A lot of issues arrived with those formerly from High Point SHA tenants. Issues that continue to this day. This is not to say that all SHA tenants have or bring with them issues, but let’s be honest, things generally are more complicated.
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DNDA did a lot in its early days, when it had a very dynamic, passionate and engaged leader. But over the long haul it also seems to have added to the stigmatization of the Delridge neighborhood by building or buying all of its low income housing projects. I think it is time DNDA goes away as it doesn’t seem to be effective at anything anymore and has apparently soured the Office of Economic Development on the neighborhoods potential. The other troubling aspect is that like so many non-profits, the people employed by them or that sit on their Boards do not live in the neighborhoods where they operate.

Sage February 16, 2012 (10:28 am)

DNDA’s website appears to be down this morning, and emails are bouncing back. How long until they blame that on DESC?
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And @joanne – I agree that North Delridge seems a very hard place to open a business, for many reasons. I strongly disagree that it has anything to do with DESC. (Probably has more to do with DNDA’s implosion, actually.) What was the excuse before this project showed up? It seems suspiciously convenient to assert that things were just about to get great until this project showed up.

Sorry, comment time is over.