DEVELOPMENT: 3417 Harbor SW project’s Design Review Board meeting officially announced

10:20 AM: As we first reported last month, the 3417 Harbor SW apartment project is scheduled for its first Southwest Design Review Board meeting on March 5th, as confirmed by the city’s official announcement today. The description of the project has changed – now the city summarizes it as “an 8-story, 143-unit apartment building. Parking for 140 vehicles proposed.” That’s 3 more stories and twice the parking mentioned previously – we’re checking with the city on that, as the draft “packet” with the previous description is still the newest one on record. The meeting is at 6:30 pm March 5th at the Senior Center/Sisson Building (4217 SW Oregon) in The Junction. The meeting will include a public-comment period, but if you can’t be there, you can also send in comments – today’s notice (PDF) explains how.

11:28 AM: The project’s assigned city planner Crystal Torres just replied to confirm the notice is wrong – “The description got mixed up with another project. The 5-story 140 units is still proposed. We are on it, and will re-notice.”

Wendell February 13, 2020 (10:36 am)

May as well get it over with, and build it in the middle of the road.

Guy February 13, 2020 (10:57 am)

The views from that building will be amazing!😂

Mark Schletty February 13, 2020 (10:59 am)

The City’s comment page doesn’t work. At least not for me.

WSB February 13, 2020 (11:15 am)

You can also email the assigned planner
crystal.torres@seattle.gov
with whom I’m checking on those changes.

Shannon February 13, 2020 (11:19 am)

I’m intimately familiar with both this project and SDCI and can whole heartedly assure you, the city posted the wrong description.

WSB February 13, 2020 (11:25 am)

Which is why I’m checking …I’ve been covering development here for more than a decade and I’ve never seen that scale of a change in description in this stage of the process.
- WSB February 13, 2020 (11:27 am)
  
  …. and the planner has emailed back that it’s an error. Updating.

Airwolf February 13, 2020 (1:00 pm)

I wonder how much rent will be? Name of the building? that prob comes later

Due West February 13, 2020 (1:47 pm)

Shannon, If the city is interested in supporting and encouraging apartment buildings that promote community and neighborhood cohesion, this project, as proposed, has some very real fundimental flaws; but not insurmaountable. I’ll start with the positive: There has been some serious thought and effort that has gone into this presentation. Very professional and lays out the proposed project clearly. Breaking down the scale at the south end makes sense as well as the entry at the south end; and the parking entrance off Harbor was a must. Concerns: Parking will be a problem, there is no question. Every tenant will need a car; not many people will take the bus to go grocery shopping at Trader Joes which is one mile away. The 30th Ave elevation stills feel like an after-thought. The proposed modulation is simply a result of the most efficient arrangement of the small units; simply feels messy, not ‘residential’. The units that face the hillside and step out onto the proposed ‘terrace’ over the parking structure will be the lowest value units, getting very little sunlight and located essentially in a hole. The terraces will be cold and dark and in the end will not be used as envisioned but simple as a place to store stuff that didn’t fit in the small unit. Also, there is a high probability that the developer will not fulfill the promise of terraces and in the end simply cover the garage roof with a roofing membrane. Remember, these are apartments and the sense of pride and ownership is not the same as with a condo or townhome. In short time the landscaped hill will be forgotten and begin to fill with garbage, and the units will become even more difficult to rent. This scenario, for an apartment building, is a disaster waiting to happen. The solution is to infill the back of the site (yes you will need to sacrifice a few units) and create some real, usable, terraces with a landscape buffer that can actually be accessed and appreciated.

Steve February 14, 2020 (1:46 am)

Maybe if you’ve never gone grocery shopping without a car it sounds like a perverse idea, but it is very possible. When I lived at High Point I would regularly take the bus to/from QFC. Sometimes I would walk there and take the bus back. Now I am fortunate to live less than a mile (0.7 to be exact) from a grocery store, and I have a variety of options. Sometimes I will hop off the bus on my way home from work, grab a bag of groceries, then hop on the next bus or walk home. Other times if I cycled to work I will fill up my pannier with groceries. For a bigger shopping trip, I have a granny cart that I can fill up with 3-4 bags of groceries and walk home. I assure you one does not need a 3000 pound car to buy food!

However I agree this location is a food desert, and it would be nice if home builders were allowed to build apartments on all parcels within a mile walking radius of the Junction. This location is being developed because it is illegal to build apartments in most of the city, so they don’t have much of a choice.
- Hannah G. February 14, 2020 (1:40 pm)
  
  My car sits safely in my garage (and clogs neither roadways or public parking spaces) as the fine workers of Instacart bring me whatever groceries I desire. And even though there are service fees, delivery fees, tip, etc. I find that I actually save money because I don’t get sucked into all of the impulse buys of grocery shopping in person. It is quite possible to live very happily in this city without using a car every day. I really wish people would get out of this mode of thinking that we need to encourage new residents to bring more cars to West Seattle when we’re currently overwhelmed with them. More people are great. More cars, not so much.
kram February 14, 2020 (8:12 am)

Due West; or just have landscape maintenance like all new apartments do. The hill will look just fine. Most apartments spend about 30% of their income from rent on maintenance and upkeep annually.