West Seattle demolition watch: Next ‘microhousing’; school rebuilds

| Development | West Seattle housing | West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Three updates from West Seattle’s current demolition/redevelopment/rebuilding boom:

PERMIT APPLICATION FOR NEXT ‘MICROHOUSING’ SITE: On Friday, the demolition-permit application turned up in the city’s online files for 3268 Avalon Way, the microhousing building set to go up between the 35th/Avalon 7-11 and its sibling Footprint Avalon I building. A temporary-power pole has already been up in front of the site for a while. The new microhousing rules, including clarity on number of units, won’t be affecting this project or others already in the pipeline; note the last line of the screengrab from the city webpage:

Each “unit” in current city code stands for up to eight individually rented sleeping rooms.

GENESEE HILL SCHOOL DEMOLITION: Now in even higher gear. Here’s what we were to see from SW Genesee after the end of Friday’s workday:

The current Schmitz Park Elementary program is scheduled to move into a new 650-student campus (not much more capacity than the current SPES enrollment) here in 2016.

ARBOR HEIGHTS SCHOOL DEMOLITION: This is now moving quickly too. Thanks to Mike R. for the end-of-week view:

The new Arbor Heights Elementary‘s capacity won’t be determined by the school board until next year.

Joe Szilagyi September 21, 2014 (1:51 pm)

The AHES demo has been scary fast. I watched it a while yesterday. All I could think is that the guy who gets to smash it down in the big back hoe thing has the best job in the world. “How was your day, honey?” “Total destruction!”
.
How many bedrooms were in the old building that the 7-unit micro housing next to the 7-11 will replace?

WSB September 21, 2014 (3:10 pm)

Joe, unless a former tenant happens by here to comment, that is hard to tell but the DPD pages for the address include the Tenant Relocation License that had to be obtained. It says the to-be-torn-down building had 4 units: http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=1031510 … that’s how many parking spaces appear to be out back if you look at the aerial: http://www.homes.com/property/3268-sw-avalon-way-seattle-wa-98126/id-300018568790/ (old photo, note Footprint Avalon I was not even under construction yet, to the east).

Diane September 21, 2014 (2:08 pm)

re “Each “unit” in current city code stands for up to eight individually rented sleeping rooms.”
~
then just wait til the rental ads come out, just like the 1st Footprint; they got through DPD with tons of exemptions as “rooms” in “units”, but then they advertise these “rooms” as “studio apartments” and charge exorbitant rents
~
and of all the microhousing developers, Footprint is the only one that does not disclose square footage in their ads, or that the bathroom has no sink
~
Footprint has written the book on how to manipulate city code for profit

buckwheat September 21, 2014 (5:10 pm)

Yea! More crap! Avalon is going to be one big parking lot. Hopefully, West Seattle will vote in a council person who will fight for West Seattle instead of being crushed with crappy development by the current idiots.

cj September 21, 2014 (6:27 pm)

City life is changing and I get the feeling authorities will go forward with new lifestyles dwellings whether we like it or not.

D DelRio September 21, 2014 (8:50 pm)

I had friends who used to live in the apartments next to 7-11. They were kind of run down but it will still be kind of sad to see them go. Oh well, I guess that’s progres. On the other hand it great to see Arbor Heights being torn down. The original part in the back was falling down when I went there in the 70’s.

John September 22, 2014 (8:08 am)

@Diane,
re “Each “unit” in current city code stands for up to eight individually rented sleeping rooms.”
–
As WSB notes above, this project is under the old code which allows such unit counts.
–
The current code does not.
–
Large square footage only seems to be a problem for people who chose not to live small and efficiently.
–
No one is being forced to pay “exorbitant rents”, as they can chose to $300-400 more for an old crappy apartment with more square footage.
–
No doubt some people will chose a small new unit (new units command 40% premium over old ones) for several hundred dollars less than other larger older apartments.
–
The market will decide if outfits like Footprint survive.

WS Since 66 September 22, 2014 (8:15 am)

Cj says and many people who leave posts here agree “City life is changing and I get the feeling authorities will go forward with new lifestyles dwellings whether we like it or not.”

That could have been muttered by all those that lived here since 1851 to today. Just look around and see for yourself all the different home styles from different eras. When those “new” designs were built people bitched about the same thing. Think about it. Isn’t that what makes West Seattle what it is? When all the homes are built the same it is called a sub-division. We can’t just put the drawbridge up and keep those we don’t agree with out as much as many would love to.

pjmanley September 24, 2014 (10:18 am)

Since when is it anti-progressive or nimbyism to object to out-of-scale developments that overwhelm the cpacity of neighborhoods, diminish the quality of life, and create more external problems than they solve by providing shelter?

Good grief! What an all-or-nothing, black-and-white world some people live in. Zero nuance, zero consideration, all-for or all-against.

We can do density better than we are, so the neighborhoods can absorb it without being irreparably changed and harmed by it.

The buildings going up in the Junction were improved by feedback and compromise by going through design review; exactly what these micro-housing tenements do everything they can to avoid.

Sorry, comment time is over.