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DEVELOPMENT: More Morgan Junction townhomes next to future EV-charging station

October 8, 2022 1:21 pm
|      29 COMMENTS
 |   Development | West Seattle news

(King County Assessor photo, 6355 41st SW)

Just east of the ex-substation/future EV-charging station in Morgan Junction, a parcel’s recently been redeveloped into townhomes. Now the adjacent parcel to the north of that one has a similar plan. The comment period has just opened for the city’s Streamlined Design Review process regarding the project, which has an official address of 6355 41st SW – currently holding that 118-year-old house shown above – but has its longest side along Fauntleroy Way SW. It’s proposed for six 3-story townhouses with five offstreet vehicle-parking spaces, to be accessed from the alley on the parcel’s west side, plus eight bicycle-parking spaces. It’s in Early Design Guidance stage (here’s the draft design packet), so if you have comments, you have until October 19th to send them; the official notice explains how.

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29 Replies to "DEVELOPMENT: More Morgan Junction townhomes next to future EV-charging station"

  • Gatewood Gal October 8, 2022 (4:33 pm)

    There goes another beautiful craftsman style house.

    • No longer Stuck in West Seattle October 8, 2022 (6:38 pm)

      Certainly wont do anything for affordability either.

      • Peter October 9, 2022 (7:55 am)

        You are wrong. Six townhomes provide six times as much housing at a significantly lower cost per unit. 

        • James October 10, 2022 (9:34 am)

          This is so not true. I am tired of the “density = cheaper housing” argument as thousands and thousands of units stand empty because of greed. Landlords rather have empty units waiting for the person desperate enough to take the price than drop it due to saturation. This is disproven time and time again. 

  • Rhonda October 8, 2022 (6:39 pm)

    Sad.

  • Sillygoose October 8, 2022 (7:42 pm)

    Despicable that the beautiful architectural homes are being destroyed for greedy real estate agents and developers who dont give a damn what they build or the neighborhoods in which they build them.

  • Kyle October 8, 2022 (8:48 pm)

    If you think this is sad you already own a home in Seattle.

    • Steve October 8, 2022 (9:32 pm)

      I don’t own a home and I think it is sad.

      • Kyle October 9, 2022 (1:23 pm)

        Sad is your children not being able to live in your community when they grow up because we were all NIMBY’s and didn’t build enough housing. 

  • Zoomy October 8, 2022 (9:05 pm)

    Ya’ll are so dramatic. These homes will be more affordable than a single family craftsman. They’ll also be more efficient and green.  Why fight change, embrace it and find the positives in life. Don’t be Debbie-Downers. 

    • Gay October 9, 2022 (8:39 am)

      It’s called Historic Preservation.

      • K October 9, 2022 (10:24 am)

        That Craftsman either replaced an older, more historic home, or open greenspace.  Either way, it was a “detriment” to the area – based on your line of thinking – at the time it was built.  West Seattle survived an onslaught of Craftsman homes decades ago, and it will survive a new type of architecture today.  

      • Roms October 9, 2022 (11:06 am)

        Historic preservation is too often used to protect de facto entitlement (aka NIMBY). This city, and this region, needs more housing. Large single family units simply don’t allow for that.

      • KM October 9, 2022 (12:15 pm)

        “historic preservation”…for whom?

  • anonyme October 9, 2022 (8:50 am)

    More of the “old is bad, new is good” mythology.  New, by definition, is not green – it is the opposite of green, in that all new materials will be used.  Affordable?  That’s laughable.  Another beautiful, characterful old home bites the dust due to greed, and not just the home.  The lovely mature landscaping will be clear-cut and bulldozed, adding to the environmental devastation.

    • WS Resident October 9, 2022 (2:44 pm)

      The problem with this line of thinking is that you’re only considering the existing house/plot of land in isolation. If you don’t allow building more houses in an urban area when there’s a lot of demand for housing, you force builders to build in suburban and rural areas, which has a much worse impact on the environment via habitat destruction, sprawl, reliance on cars, etc. I don’t understand why people think you can just never build more houses, where are people supposed to live??

  • WestSeattle October 9, 2022 (9:08 am)

    Disappointing. The “change” you guys are pushing so hard for will doom this city. Sea-angeles Sea-York in 20 years from now. Incoming 5k townhouses and 3k 1 bed apartments. Hello Incoming 2k studios. These units will cost the same or more than that 118 year old house. Garenteed. 

    • Justin October 9, 2022 (10:56 am)

      Exactly as originally intended! “New York Alki…”

  • Mike Hodges October 9, 2022 (9:57 am)

    Convenient to use the EV lot as your primary parking, if you are privileged enough to afford an EV.  Quite the City policy we’ve setup. I bet the developer can command a premium at this time for that benefit.  So thank goodness for federal grants and deficits to privilege wealthy drivers and developers? 

    • get to work October 9, 2022 (5:24 pm)

      If you’re not “privileged” enough to own an electric vehicle and you really want one, you could quit crying about it and get to work trying to earn one.  I feel like the word “privileged” is starting to replace the old classic “hard worker”.  And yes people from all backgrounds and humble, difficult beginnings have been able to overcome the hurdles and create the lives they want.  Not all of us are smart/savvy/enterprising enough to make a lot of money.  And that’s ok, at least it used to be.

      • Friend O'Dinghus October 10, 2022 (8:51 am)

        GTW: Define “a lot” for us please. It used to be okay because the wealthiest family in the neighborhood made twice what the poorest family did; not hundreds of times. The gross inequity is what breeds contempt.

  • SallyJ October 9, 2022 (7:58 pm)

    I have witnessed a number of these townhouse developments go up over the last decade in the area.   Every townhouse usually has one of more cars belonging to the residents and maybe one parking space.  The streets are overflowing.  The garbage is overflowing…. every townhouse has a set of 3 different garbage containers per townhouse…… it is a mess.  Absolutely catastrophic for the environment.   While they are not cheap, averaging 500k to 800k each, they are made cheaply. Units built only five years ago are already rundown looking and judging by the constant flow of work vehicles, constantly in need of repair.  They are a nightmare to live anywhere near. and drastically reduce the quality of the neighborhood.   Talking to many buyers of the townhomes ……. a nightmare to live in after a while as well.

    • Kyle October 10, 2022 (8:24 am)

      Lucky you to get to witness this from your SFH over the past decade where your property value tripled. What should the first time home buyers do? Continue to rent forever and create no wealth? Move farther and farther out creating more sprawl? These are the new starter homes and still only attainable for some.

    • WestSeattle October 10, 2022 (8:49 am)

      I can attest to this as a local tradesman. 50% of the home service work I get called for is in 118 year old west seattle homes with 118 year old plumbing, electrical ect. The other 50% of work I do is replacing and repairing horrendously cheap, unlicensed and shotty work in townhouses built in the last 5- 20 years. And they are not affordable at all. Starting at 500k+++ and going up to $1m for no privacy, yard, no parking and basically living in a apartment/ condo setting. It’s absolutely disgusting and anyone who bought a “new construction” townhouse in Seattle made a huge mistake and will pay greatly over the first years of homeownership from it. 

      • Justin October 10, 2022 (2:20 pm)

        Per Kyle’s question above – what do you believe first time homebuyers should do?

        • SALLYJ October 12, 2022 (4:00 am)

          Rising property values does nothing for me.  My home ownership is a necessary utility.  Not an investment.  I wish my property value and the property tax bill would stay flat.  Rising values only benefit those wishing to leave the area and are a detriment for those wishing to stay.The coming recession (already started but will be in full swing mid 2023) should take some of the wind from the high sailing real estate.    I see slowly eroding property values for the next decade,If you are looking to buy a home in Seattle at a reasonable price the next decade will be your opportunity.   Good luck.

          • Kyle October 12, 2022 (8:22 pm)

            I don’t think you have a strong grasp on how severe the housing shortage is. Housing prices cooling still means your SFH will be worth a $1M+. There isn’t a scenario where your home is going to again be worth $300K and lose 70% of it’s current value. Density is needed for younger people who want to own one day and the way to get in the game now is a townhome. Also you do know how a home equity line of credit works right? You have a line of hundreds of thousands of dollars you could tap for whatever you need because of your rising property values. The one thing you said that was right is that home ownership is a necessary utility. It’s just being denied to so many because we refused to build for years for the “character of the neighborhood”.

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