DEVELOPMENT: New mixed-use building proposed in West Seattle Junction (updated, corrected)

ORIGINAL 2:35 PM: Just discovered in city files: Another redevelopment proposal for The Junction. This one would be a 7-story mixed-use building with almost 100 apartments, proposed to replace 4448-4456 California SW – the California/Oregon buildings that formerly held a real-estate office and currently hold The Salon at The Junction and Shadowland, plus a small office building (which includes the West Seattle Junction Association headquarters).


(King County Assessor’s Office photos)

(7 stories is what the site is zoned for – 75 feet.) This is a very early-stage proposal, meaning actual construction would be years away; this roughed-out site plan was filed Friday by the architecture firm Atelier Drome County Assessor’s Office records show the north part of the site is owned by an LLC headed up by Craig Haveson of STS Construction Services (WSB sponsor), who has been busy in South Delridge redevelopment lately. and the south part is owned by an LLC including Shadowland founders. We have followup questions out to a project spokesperson and will add whatever else we find out.

7:02 PM: Michelle Linden from Atelier Drome has answered some of our questions and provided a key correction: “There is a typo that we are working to correct with the City. The addresses are 4448 and 4452. The Shadowland building is not part of this project.” So Shadowland fans can stand down. She adds, in response to two other questions we asked: “We are planning for regular apartments (not micros) with commercial at the ground floor. Parking is tbd.”

34 Replies to "DEVELOPMENT: New mixed-use building proposed in West Seattle Junction (updated, corrected)"

  • John W January 25, 2021 (3:00 pm)

    Vehicle storage?

    • WSB January 25, 2021 (3:05 pm)

      That’s one of my followup questions. Not indicated anywhere in the early-stage documentation.

    • Peter January 25, 2021 (6:48 pm)

      We need housing, not car storage. Human needs are far, far greater than the wants of drivers.

      • Duh January 25, 2021 (7:30 pm)

        It’s called parking. 100 apartments should require some form of parking for its tenants. 

      • WTF January 25, 2021 (10:41 pm)

        Multi use apartments for $1800-2200 a month, in an over saturated market does not address the “need for housing”.

      • Spooled January 26, 2021 (7:39 am)

        Peter:  Humans typically come with cars, not all, but many.  This is unlikely to change soon no matter how passionate and vocal a few on here may be to the contrary.  Thus, car storage is a human need and a reasonable question to the developers.

      • jradz January 26, 2021 (9:55 am)

        Says the new comer… The LAST thing West Seattle needs is more apartments! 

    • Reed January 26, 2021 (7:21 am)

      I sure hope all the homeowners in the vicinity have planned accordingly and have room to park their vehicles on their property.

    • R January 28, 2021 (11:33 am)

      Maybe for a car dealership – rather than, say, a towing yard.

  • just wondering January 25, 2021 (3:06 pm)

    Let me guess.  Isn’t there a bus stop on that corner?  So no parking needs to be provided?

  • sam-c January 25, 2021 (3:07 pm)

    The “4747 California project that will eventually be Husky Deli‘s new home”- is an Atelier Drome project?   I thought it was an Ankrom Moisan project?

    • WSB January 25, 2021 (3:55 pm)

      My error, fixing, thanks. AD is on several other WS projects but you’re correct on 4747.

  • helpermonkey January 25, 2021 (3:18 pm)

    Wait….does this mean eventually no more Shadowland??? That’s a crying shame. 

    • WSB January 25, 2021 (3:53 pm)

      That is another of the followup questions I’ve asked, whether this might be a situation – like for example 4747 California SW – where the business owners plan to create a new space in the new building. But do keep in mind that these things take YEARS so nobody’s going anywhere anytime soon.

    • West Seattle Mad Sci Guy January 25, 2021 (4:02 pm)

      I hope not. This place and Uptown Espresso are my favorite places in the Junction.

    • sam-c January 25, 2021 (4:45 pm)

      I hope that, “the south part is owned by an LLC including Shadowland founders” means that Shadowland will still be part of the Junction somewhere, somehow.  It’s a great part of the heart of West Seattle junction.

  • Mellow Kitty January 25, 2021 (3:40 pm)

    Progress must happened, but it still makes me sad. 

    • Chris January 25, 2021 (6:44 pm)

      Is a bunch of crummy apartments “progress” though? It would be nice if they had something to be proud of; like some nice finishes, adequate parking, etc

  • Frank January 25, 2021 (4:18 pm)

    I think this is a terrible project that will frustrate residents and hurt businesses in such a main part of town.  All the reduced parking, lanes, etc.  Keep California Ave small and quaint.  

  • Doig January 25, 2021 (4:39 pm)

    I have an idea.  No permits should be allowed to progress until a) bridge is open and b) West Seattle has reliable mass transit to downtown.  

    • WSB January 25, 2021 (5:56 pm)

      An early-stage proposal today won’t lead to permits before the bridge is open. Example: Our corresponding “first word of an early-stage filing” story about 4747 California SW, future Husky Deli etc., was 2 years and 11 months ago. No permits yet.

    • Peter January 25, 2021 (6:45 pm)

      In case you haven’t noticed we are in the midst of a housing crisis, and the bridge situation has not changed that. We. Need. More. Housing. 

    • Natinstl January 26, 2021 (8:04 am)

      Hello yes!

  • Alf January 25, 2021 (5:16 pm)

    Progress and change are two different things, I personally think things need to stop with the out of control development, our infrastructure can’t handle it, whether it’s the sewer system, electrical grid, traffic, road maintenance,  west Seattle is slowly dying

    • Peter January 25, 2021 (6:47 pm)

      Gee, more housing in an area experiencing a housing crisis, how terrible. You forgot to add “the sky is falling,” chicken little. 

    • Kram January 26, 2021 (2:48 pm)

      Alf, all those infrastructure systems are reviewed for a project like this. It’s part of the permit process. Development is not ‘out of control’. There is a very long, very expensive permit process that no project can avoid. There needs to be a plan designed and approved for sewer, electrical etc. There is a traffic study. Road maintenance is part of SDOT but most of these projects make the developer pay for infrastructure and right of way upgrades. It’s not usual for the city to require upgrades so expensive that the project comes to a halt. I wish more people knew how many projects don’t get built…

  • WSB January 25, 2021 (7:12 pm)

    Important correction above – the architect says the city files are wrong and this does NOT include the Shadowland building. We’ve removed that photo.

    Separate from that, a mistake we made – we originally described Atelier Drome as the architect on two high-profile Junction/Triangle projects. Those projects are actually the work of Ankrom Moisan (as noted in our previous coverage). Atelier Drome is working on other notable West Seattle projects including 3417 Harbor SW and 9201 Delridge. – TR

  • CJ January 25, 2021 (7:17 pm)

    Any indications of how many affordable, low income units will be apart of this new building?  Or will this be another glaring example of what a total bait and switch the HALA program has been?  Will the developers do the right thing or will they opt to pay the ridiculously low in-lieu fee to avoid having to provide low income units?

    • Ryan Packer January 25, 2021 (7:42 pm)

      The in-lieu fee provides more affordable housing than new single family homes in Seattle, which don’t pay anything.

      • Chemist January 25, 2021 (8:35 pm)

        Are you saying that one of the lots near that junction that was rezoned into RSL wouldn’t have to pay into MHA if someone built a new SFH on that property?  I figured the payments were set by zone, but arguments by folks like  Dan Bertolet have typically focused on how the MHA fee would be applied against actually re-developing properties like a single family home in the RSL area into rowhouses…  which is an economic argument and not “won’t pay anything” at properties zoned for MHA payments.

        • The Truth January 25, 2021 (10:31 pm)

          The main problem with HALA is it doesn’t require the pay in-lieu fee to go back into the neighborhood.  So you can develop the hell out of WS but get no affordable housing put in WS.  They should fix this by requiring the fee to be spent in the same or within 1 neighboring zip code.  Otherwise we will have no affordable workforce or senior housing.  Big problem, easy fix!

      • CMT January 28, 2021 (11:58 am)

        Mr. Packer (and are you an author for the Urbanist publication?) it would be great if you could let us know the amount of in-lieu fees actually generated to date and the number of units of affordable housing such fees have actually funded.  And I don’t mean a link to a publication by the City lauding the affordable housing built with funds from a multiple sources including MHA fees (which could be $5 of the overall funds).  To your point, not a lot of new single family homes are being built in W. Seattle.  What are, in fact, being built are high-priced townhomes and unaffordable apartments that result in the removal of existing affordable single-family homes.   See, e.g., South Park.

  • Vanessa January 25, 2021 (9:48 pm)

    HEATHER ! WHERE ARE YOU?

  • Silent January 26, 2021 (7:11 am)

    No bridge and no parking needed.  And there is no decent public transportation either.  Just move in there pay 2000, shut up and don’t go anywhere. You’re needed only for your money.    It’s a part of the conspiracy  plot to completely destroy West Seattle.  

Sorry, comment time is over.