DEVELOPMENT: Will this be the 3257 Harbor Avenue SW project that finally gets built?

(King County Assessor’s Office photo, mid-2010s)

Yet another development proposal has appeared in city files for a Harbor Avenue site that’s had several others in the past decade and a half. The site is 3257 Harbor Avenue SW (also spanning street numbers 3303 and 3315). It was once held by disgraced developer Michael Mastro; in 2007, we mentioned it was being marketed as a potential 80-apartment project. A similar proposal in 2014 went into Design Review, and then two years later, that plan was scrapped and a 32-townhouse plan emerged. That plan went all the way through Design Review and land-use permitting but then went idle.

Most recently, the site was back on the market – as this brochure details – as a potential 115-apartment site, and that’s what the new early-stage filing suggests is being proposed. No other details yet, and county records don’t show a sale (yet), but the document in city files names the developer as Bode, which has two new buildings in West Seattle – 115 apartments at 3050 SW Avalon Way and 75 apartments at 2222 SW Barton. The south end of Harbor Avenue has been something of a development/construction hot spot these past few years, with projects including the 114 apartments that are building at 3405 Harbor plus two self-storage complexes.

CarDriver December 21, 2023 (11:22 am)

Question for bus riders. By the time the bus gets to the bottom of Avalon is there actually room for all the renters the city is just sure don’t and won’t own a car and will rely solely on transit.

Derek December 21, 2023 (7:14 pm)

Another reason the lightrail needs to be sped up on construction in west Seattle
WarOnCars December 22, 2023 (5:17 am)

Yes. Buses have very large capacities, and rapid lines come every 10-15 so even if 1 is full the next one won’t be. Instead of asking leading questions with an obvious bias, maybe try riding transit one day.
- CarDriver December 22, 2023 (7:54 pm)
  
  When I go to Ballard to visit family I drive. Takes 35minutes each way. I called Metro and got bus information. From Alki it is 3 different busses and if they all make connection its 80 minutes each way.
  - WarOnCars December 23, 2023 (2:05 am)
    
    I mean, I didn’t say “take this one specific route; it’s quicker on the bus” I said any bus, any route just once. do you only ever drive from WS to Ballard? do you go to any place south of WS or to downtown at all? when you’re in Ballard do you get back in your car to get to Fremont?

Mike December 21, 2023 (12:22 pm)

Off-street parking, 1:1. This neighborhood is already dense, and parking on the street is often times a futile effort.

Lux December 21, 2023 (2:38 pm)

I wish they were building a parking garage instead of apartments. ☹️
WarOnCars December 21, 2023 (5:42 pm)

nope! 😊 this developer seems to be doing just fine without providing any or excessive parking for their residents. The apocalyptic vision that the single family home owners and car drivers were imagining for the Bode at WWV has not come true because, as it turns out, people with financial incentive to figure things out tend to do better practical research than those that just react based on their feelings.
- Scarlett December 22, 2023 (8:53 am)
  
  Correct. This is the nonsense that light rail supporters want you to believe to push through through their piece of pork. One need only look at the Central Link as proof.
  - WarOnCars December 22, 2023 (2:54 pm)
    
    i’m not sure what part of my comment you’re replying to, Scarlett, but none of it supports an argument against the light rail coming to WS. in fact, to be able to alleviate car dependency and needing excessive parking, we need transit with it’s own dedicated right-of-way like a light rail…
    - Scarlett December 23, 2023 (10:05 am)
      
      These are all “conceptual” claims that sound nice on paper but are never bourne out in real life. But that’s true of lot of things in life.
    - WarOnCars December 23, 2023 (12:37 pm)
      
      nah, the claims about public transit reducing car dependency aren’t conceptual and evidence has consistently shown that it’s the only way to reduce traffic and increase the move of people. just look at the cities that have done the opposite: Houston, Phoenix, LA. enormous roads, ever expanding highways, and still there is never enough to keep up with induced demand. not to mention the countless lives lost. ain’t nothing conceptual about that.
    - Scarlett December 23, 2023 (11:40 am)
      
      No, we don’t. We have bus transit that supplies all of our current and future needs. Light rail will have neligible impact on increasing access to public transportation, or solving congestion woes. And, we get all this for a billion dollars, displacing people, and ripping up West Seattle. Again, this a classic example of where the cool “conceptual” attraction of an idea is more important that it’s actual ability to fulfill its promises.
YT December 22, 2023 (8:36 am)

This area is far from dense. It’s surrounded by the industrial district, self storage buildings, the bridge, and green space. It’s right along a great bike route, also with several bus lines and the water taxi nearby, and with tons of street parking along Harbor Ave. That seems to me like a great spot for this kind of development.

WiseWoman December 22, 2023 (7:19 pm)

Currently there is no bus line on Harbor Avenue just the water taxi shuttle. People will have to climb 3 blocks up hill to Yancy and Avalon for Rapid Ride. And or take a 21. Or a 56 in the am. Harbor Avenue has no parking available near all the apts Activspace business now storage business. And when you cant see your car it gets broken into!Developers need to do mandatory parking or go build in another city and Seattle DCSI has their head stuck in the sand! Its a racket and its corruption 100 fold to make our city worse for traffic to push an agenda. Facts!

WarOnCars December 23, 2023 (2:13 am)

oh no! not pushing an agenda 🥺 what will they do next, force you to get an ORCA card to get around that costs $10,000 up front and additional $1,000s a year for use and maintenance? the horror if all that ends up going to private corporations. maybe they’ll bulldoze swaths of land currently occupied by communities without any political power to build the infrastructure. could you imagine tho if the remaining fragments were then subjugated to an unending torrent of carcinogenic pollution or stress inducing noise? wait, sorry, I think I mixed up my notes…
Scarlett December 25, 2023 (4:58 pm)

WiseWoman: No, bus transit won’t come to your doorstep, but you just mentioned several buses that aren’t terribly far away. Without getting into the whole light rail debate, or car debate, or density debate, I think we can all agree that Seattle has pretty decent bus transit. Could be improved, but then everything can be.

Sorry, comment time is over.