29 Replies to "Demolition to start Tuesday for block-long 3210 California SW, now 'Admiral East Apartments'"

• sc February 6, 2015 (1:44 pm)

  Are they recycling the windows and doors?

  • WSB February 6, 2015 (1:59 pm)

    SC, I don’t know, but there’s been a fair amount of pre-demolition activity on site since those fences went up. If you walk alongside, I think you’ll see at least some windows already removed … I’ve noticed that while driving by; I haven’t walked past since just after the fences went up, just noticed the extensive tagging vandalism that’s worsened in recent weeks. – TR

• Diane February 6, 2015 (1:51 pm)

  thank you; I’ve been driving by this every night, noticing boxed street trees, partial deconstruction, porta-potties, signage, trying to see when demolition would actually begin
  ~
  and noticing the super high under-construction town-homes? across the street, for reference on how insanely high this 400 foot long apt project will be; I think people who have not been following this closely, will be shocked

• Diane February 6, 2015 (2:05 pm)

  yes, the beauty shop, windows removed long ago; but you can still see black hair washing sinks inside

• gina February 6, 2015 (2:28 pm)

  Admiral East. Interesting name. Interesting sense of direction. California East, Hanford South, Hinds North, 42nd West didn’t sound catchy enough?

• Tim February 6, 2015 (2:33 pm)

  Eventually West Seattle will look like Ballard, and the traffic will be worse. The City forgets that we only have one realistic way in and out of West Seattle still (the bridge), and anyone that drives up or down Admiral reguarly knows the state of disrepair it is in. I live near Alki, and I swear its like driving through Mogadishu.

• In The Dark February 6, 2015 (2:35 pm)

  Thank goodness – the site has been attracting graffiti and generally been becoming an eyesore since the fences went up.

• JanS February 6, 2015 (3:02 pm)

  two thumbs up for Gina’s post …

  @Tim…remember when they repaved part of Admiral on the side into WS, about midway? And now as soon as you get past it, your car just about shakes apart?

• cynical girl February 6, 2015 (3:16 pm)

  Aren’t dump trucks and other trucks carrying debris required to cover the load they’re carrying? Everyone I get behind isn’t and my car is getting beat up

• Cynic boy February 6, 2015 (4:01 pm)

  Cg, you are correct. I’d report all trucks with license info but not sure where to do that. Law named for West Seattlite Maria Federici.

  Tim, amen brotha. Many have been saying the same thing for years. City doesn’t care. Getting exponentially worse, no resolution in sight. It’s going to boil over one day and there will be a lot of, ” I toldja sos”! :)

• newnative February 6, 2015 (5:08 pm)

  Mogadishu, really?

• ChefJoe February 6, 2015 (8:55 pm)

  Re: uncovered loads. Here’s all the info from the WSP.
  http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/loadloss.htm

• conner February 7, 2015 (12:36 am)

  It’s funny them company is called Intracorp. Might as well be Skynet.

• John February 7, 2015 (9:55 am)

  To continue off topic,
  I am amazed by the repetition, confirmation and self congratulatory brilliance of those who note that West Seattle has had only “one way in and out” (false as that is) and have been saying that for some years.
  –
  That the city forgets about us is laughable considering we are the home of council members and a mayor who face the same “Mogadishu” commute!
  –
  Many forget how West Seattle’s history of opposing infrastructure has maintained our isolation. Imagine how different things would be if the bridge to Vashon and Puget Blvd. existed?

  • WSB February 7, 2015 (10:10 am)

    Well, we have one councilmember (Tom Rasmussen). No mayor (Ed Murray makes much of his Alki roots but lives on Cap Hill) but maybe you meant county executive Dow Constantine (who does live here) or ex-mayor Greg Nickels. Rasmussen, Constantine, and Nickels all live in north West Seattle FWIW. Good point about the one-way-in-and-out, as that overlooks the 1st Avenue South and South Park Bridges over the Duwamish, the really-long-way-around-if-you-go-through-Burien, and the Water Taxi.

• heather February 7, 2015 (10:17 am)

  Bridge to Vashon? Wow. When was that idea proposed? WS would be sooooooo different if something like that had been constructed.

  • WSB February 7, 2015 (10:30 am)

    Early ’90s.
    .
    http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3911
    .
    The NY Times account of the meeting is far more colorful.
    .
    http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/11/us/vashon-island-journal-islanders-envision-a-bridge-too-near.html
    .
    Some of the right-of-way that might have been involved in a so-called “Soundway” project remained undeveloped right-of-way until relatively recently.
    .
    https://westseattleblog.com/2009/06/preservation-of-west-seattle-soundway-property-moves-forward/

• NW February 7, 2015 (4:44 pm)

  I was able to rescue and relocate two to three native sword ferns from this entire soon to be leveled project. Nurseries that supply the current building boom are providing little to zero native plants for new development. On your next walk see for yourself. They are a unique part of our culture and regional identity!

• wetone February 8, 2015 (11:30 am)

  Ed Murray, Tom Rasmussen, Greg Nickels and especially Dow Constantine have done nothing to slow things down with the build up of WS, if anything quite the opposite. They have allowed this area to be built up and continue doing so using 25yr old data, and ignoring that in many cases. In the next 2yrs people of the area will start seeing the real impacts that the people named above have allowed to happen, and being non-reversible as the new builds get filled with 2000+ people from Morgan st. north, here in WS. With the added stop lights, cross walks and traffic realignments be ready for 20min drive to go a few miles in any direction and doubling transaction time of anything one needs to do and just wait for commute times in and out of area ;)

• WestofJunction February 9, 2015 (5:58 am)

  Yes, the combination of high density development and all of the restrictions/narrowing of main roads for cars has led to side streets being treated as main througfares.
  I’m for development as long as its quality development (nice with sufficient parking) but all of these lane restrictions added makes it just plain nuts.

• John February 9, 2015 (8:13 am)

  WestofJunction’s call for ‘quality development’ with sufficient parking is at odds with road concerns.
  Adding more ‘nice sufficient parking’ will do nothing but encourage and add more cars to main roads and side street shortcuts.
  It is a ridiculous suggestion for future gridlock.
  –
  wetone’s claim that politicians have allowed build up is false. How could these people prevent development of private property? How would wetone feel about his property being returned to a vacant lot as a cure for overbuilding?
  –
  As usual these two always hyper-negative posters offer no solutions or realistic suggestions, just false blame on those trying to improve our community.

• WestofJunction February 9, 2015 (9:44 am)

  John, so quick with the ad Hominems! SW Alaska’s and California’s “road diet” was a mistake. Wetone and I are not against development – just pro smart development.

• John February 9, 2015 (10:23 am)

  WestofJunction,
  I see that you have again dodged the issue while accusing me of ad Hominems.
  Not my intentions.
  I try to criticise the opinions expressed (and lack of solutions) not the person. Although my “hyper-negative posters” remark may have drifted across the line (please accept my apologies), I would love to hear some positive suggestions to our shared problems.
  –
  To wit:
  How will ‘smart development’ that includes adding automobiles and required automobile storage reduce our traffic and parking congestion?
  And what do you two define as “smart development”?

• wetone February 9, 2015 (12:43 pm)

  WestofJunction your exactly right. Living west of junction myself people are using the side streets more and more to get through the WS area making it dangerous for all. John asked “How would wetone feel about his property being returned to a vacant lot as a cure for overbuilding?” wetone would say John your suggesting the exact mentality this city has at this time. Zero common sense in thinking and logic. What does turning my house into a vacant lot have anything to do with allowing the little controlled, many unknowns of the build up of West Seattle, with it’s very limited road structure in/out of area ? anything every happens to the WS freeway bridge it will be disastrous for area, John says we have many options for ingress/egress of area, could you share those options along with how much time one would have to add for ingress/egress of area ? You are right John about the politician’s, named above as they do seem uninterested in doing much for the majority of the population in this city, mainly interested in things like waterfront build up, tunnel build and many other special interest projects being great for tourism, but do nothing to help 90% of Seattle’s population with things like education, crime, traffic/transit, infrastructure repairs and maybe a community meeting that can make it to the end ;)

• WestofJunction February 10, 2015 (5:52 am)

  Wetone, zero sense and logic is a tad too flattering. They are creating an even more polarized city, driving out the middle class homeowners.

  To John – we need to get rid of those stupid middle turn lanes and go back to two lanes each way on our major throughfares. Additionally, each development should have sufficient parking, because many people who bus to work, also have cars. Also, have the left westbound lane on Ak & California be a straight ahead as well as a left turn lane. We also need better transit options than the “not so rapid” ride that replaced the 54 & 55.

• John February 10, 2015 (8:12 am)

  “What does turning my house into a vacant lot have anything to do with allowing the little controlled, many unknowns of the build up of West Seattle?”
  –
  Well it would be at least one LESS car to clog our roads and parking. That would be a start.
  –
  Egress- We are on a peninsula. There are hundreds of egress routes out of West Seattle. Egress does not mean Downtown, but West Seattle has four vehicle dedicated bridges serving Downtown. Egress implies everyone needing to exit at once as in an emergency. What would could possibly require egress from West Seattle to Downtown? Logic?
  –
  “Wetone, zero sense and logic is a tad too flattering.” I won’t respond to that because I try to criticize the statement, not the person.
  –
  What is sensible about forced building of car garages for the people who have no use for them?
  –
  Yes, many people who bus to work own cars, but not all of them. If they don’t chose to own a car, why should they have to spend thousands of dollars for parking? Logic?
  –
  Required parking just adds to our already considerable problem by encouraging car ownership and use, while consuming money that could be used to improve transportation. Zero sense?
  –
  If you were around back then, you already know how disastrous it is for West Seattle to be cut off. When the harbor pilot hit the old lower bridge, before the West Seattle Freeway Bridge was built, it was not disastrous, the sky did not fall, we are still here. Ignorant of our history?
  –
  Numerous traffic studies have shown the middle turn lanes add to safety and traffic flow. There are exceptions which traffic engineers can fine tune, but the dire predictions expressed on WSB for Fauntleroy Way have proven false.

• Born on Alki 59 February 10, 2015 (11:04 am)

  pen-in-su-la “a long projection of land into water, connected with the mainland by an isthmus”.

  West Seattle is really not a peninsula, unless you include White Center, Burien, Des Moines, Sea Tac and all points south as part of that “peninsula”.

  Will people stop with the peninsula thing please. It just sounds goofy!

  I don’t know one family in West Seattle that utilizes public transportation that doesnt own at least one vehicle.

  Thankfully this project has a common sense provision providing off street parking.

• wetone February 11, 2015 (9:29 am)

  John, you need to look up the meaning of ingress/egress. The downtown comment where does that come from ? People living in WS don’t all work downtown, I believe it’s less than 2o%. I did not realize West Seattle had four vehicle dedicated bridges to downtown and I have lived here over 50yrs. Was here when the lower bridge was hit and that was a mess, doubling ones commute time and the WS population was much smaller than today, as you would know if you lived and commuted from WS at the time. Anyone that has lived here longer than a few months knows the real traffic issues we have. It really helps when commenting on area specific story that one lives in area to know real problems. Can’t always get good info from computer ;)

  • WSB February 11, 2015 (9:46 am)

    The four bridges are upper WS, lower WS, 1st Avenue South Bridge (WS access downhill from the end of Roxbury), and South Park Bridge (a bit of a stretch to call it West Seattle access but you CAN get there from here fairly easily and it gets you across the Duwamish).

Sorry, comment time is over.