West Seattle Junction development: Another crane up; concrete-pour traffic alert

| Development | West Seattle news

Two West Seattle Junction development notes:

CALIFORNIA/ALASKA/42ND CRANE UP: No, you weren’t seeing double. Two cranes are now up in one square block. The newest – in the foreground of the photo above – is for Equity Residential‘s two-building project at California/Alaska/42nd. That’s just a bit north of the one that’s been up since September for 4730 California. The new crane is rooted just east of the alley that splits its site:

The Equity project will total ~200 apartments with ~270 underground parking spaces. In all, there are now four cranes up in West Seattle – these two, the one over Spruce (formerly “The Hole”) at Fauntleroy/Alaska/39th, and the one for The Blake at 5020 California, which likely won’t be up much longer, as the building has topped out.

TRAFFIC ALERT: Back to the 4730 California project, next Friday (March 14th) its “Level 2” concrete slab will be poured, and the general contractor Compass Construction says that means a lane closure:

Northbound California Avenue SW will be closed during the pour from SW Edmunds Street to SW Alaska St. Uniformed police officers will direct traffic around the closure. The pour starts at 7:00 am and should last about 6 hours. We have the 17th reserved as a backup day. The midblock crosswalk will remain open during the pour.

This project is owned by The Wolff Company.

Diane March 9, 2014 (1:47 pm)

good times for the crane business

Seahawks Momma March 9, 2014 (4:02 pm)

There goes the neighborhood or what was left of it..(shaking head)

cjboffoli March 9, 2014 (5:07 pm)

Here COMES the neighborhood. (Nodding head).

Buck March 9, 2014 (5:21 pm)

Bad times for the Junction. This uncontrolled “development” is sucking the character out of a pretty cool part of our city.

Why? So a few 1-percent’ers can make some bucks…sad statement on the reality of our community.

Buffy March 9, 2014 (5:34 pm)

I still have not seen much whining from Junction business owners. Why is that?

Hmmmm.

Hank March 9, 2014 (6:22 pm)

Maybe with this added density west seattle will start to feel like a real neighborhood. Currently it’s just a bunch of parking lots and a handful of people walking to the minuscule selection of bars and restaurants.

cjboffoli March 9, 2014 (6:33 pm)

Sucking the character out of the Junction? Hmm. Taking an inventory of what we’ve lost: A Hollywood Video, a graffiti-covered USPS auxiliary parking lot, a dark sports bar, a vitamin chain store, an oversized PETCO chain store, a tiny barbershop with an owner who chain-smoked inside with alacrity, a handful of dull second-hand stores including a record store with a bin of $2 VHS cassettes out on the sidewalk. If that’s the “character” being removed from the Junction then I’m rooting for development to continue sucking.

k'lo March 9, 2014 (6:49 pm)

If yesterdays Alaska Junction traffic is any indication of what’s to come, I think I’ll opt for Olde Burien/Burien.

David March 9, 2014 (8:09 pm)

Cjboffoli – I am so wirh you! I’ve lived here since 96, which I know for some old timers still makes me a newbie, but I am so ready for new retail & restaurant spaces that will improve the Junction. And Buffy, you’re right – the business owners are salivating at the prospect of all these new customers. Bring it on….

Marcus M March 9, 2014 (8:33 pm)

spot on, cjboffoli!

Gene March 9, 2014 (9:07 pm)

The changes are here- so not much to be done except roll with them. Sure hope we really do get great new retail & restaurants- let’s discuss again when those spaces are filled & see if they meet expectations .

Buck March 9, 2014 (9:54 pm)

I stand corrected, apparently any character that used to exist in West Seattle has already been sucked out of a few of our newbie neighbors. Hey, let’s put in a Walgreen’s and a frickin Kmart.

datamuse March 9, 2014 (11:27 pm)

The Kmart was replaced by a Home Depot–and a police station–years ago.

phil dirt March 10, 2014 (6:49 am)

Very soon there will be no place to park. Of course, that’s going to be no problem because we can all take the bus. Whoopee!

John March 10, 2014 (7:02 am)

The new developments may or may not be your cup of tea. What we can all agree upon is that the previous Mayor did not do anything to develop real rapid transit first before allowing these developments to go up. Kudos to Seattle for drumming him out of office!

The new developments serve as a poster child of bad planning and policy because transit needs to be there first if the developments don’t provide for adequate parking.

trying! March 10, 2014 (8:22 am)

Development can enhance a neighborhood. But from the model drawings these new building are all going to be the drab gray soviet block style designs. The cheapest building methods they can get passed for West Seattle neighborhoods.

Cowpie March 10, 2014 (8:44 am)

@Cjboffoli – great point! I never really looked into what we’ve had taken away from use.

@Trying…. I agree. Most of these structures look like prisons. Very ugly architecture.

enough March 10, 2014 (9:49 am)

I think everyone of the slides in this article have happened in West Seattle.. Good or bad? http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2014/03/09/signs-that-your-neighborhood-has-gentrified-in-seattle/#21299101=0

Brian March 10, 2014 (9:52 am)

@John: You’ve just described the chicken/egg problem with developing rapid transit for West Seattle.

The city/county won’t bring real rapid transit solutions until the density demands it but once we reach that point it will be too late.

JVP March 10, 2014 (4:05 pm)

I agree with those that feel positive about the change. The building replacing the Petco looks great in the drawings, and that old Petco building somehow just sucked the life out of that block. I feel good about this change, really good.

The other one one Cali/AK, well I’m hopeful, but it’s big and could be a bit dull. Definitely not Soviet – have you ever actually been to a communist county? We’ve got it pretty darn good here, even this building’s drawings show decent style, though it might not be great.

They’re doing it right, by putting density in the commercial zones and keeping our single family neighborhoods quiet. Much better than sprawl, if you ask me.

But yeah, we need better transit. Chicken and egg, like Brian said. Hopefully we can rally and demand at least decent bus service, and eventually light rail.