Latest from land-use land: Busy block

Just a bit north of where the fire-interrupted live/work project has resumed at 4132 California, a demolition permit has now been granted for these old rentals, slated to be replaced by a 4-story, 39-unit apartment building with 3,300+ sf of ground-level retail space plus 51 parking spaces (so says the city project page). Between that site and 4132 is yet another future apartment building; we saw some cleanup work going on there this morning, though that project isn’t as far along in the permit cycle.

Arbor Heights December 10, 2007 (11:03 am)

The infamous “Green Ghetto” bites the dust.

Mr. JT December 10, 2007 (11:19 am)

There’s a loss.

Jack December 10, 2007 (11:33 am)

We should rename California Ave to Condofornia Ave. The name may need some tweaking but I am sure everyone gets the concept.

MsBette December 10, 2007 (11:52 am)

I knew someone who used to live there – he said it was managed by Cacye & Gain. Any way to tell if Steve Lampert is part of that group? Just wondering, given the impagce C&G is having just down the road from this site.

MsBette December 10, 2007 (12:19 pm)

oops – I meant “impact” – looks like my fingers had a sorry impact on the keyboard!

grr December 10, 2007 (12:22 pm)

WHOOHOO!! FINALLY. Hm…4 story? Let’s just HOPE it ain’t to ugly ;)

Jenny December 10, 2007 (1:10 pm)

Finally, a four-story that’s actually an improvement!

jrd December 10, 2007 (1:22 pm)

I walked from Genessee to Admiral this weekend and couldn’t believe the amounts of land use notices – I should have counted them. At the very very least I’d say about 15. What an ugly street this will be soon (not saying these apartments were pretty, but hey, they have character – couldn’t they have renovated? All of California will soon look like the California south of the 711 to RiteAid. All souless condos. Blech.

grr December 10, 2007 (2:09 pm)

or..maybe..just maybe…more NICE units like The Osborne will get built…and lots more 1st floor retail for new small business to open, provide jobs for locals.

it is amazing to me, tho..how many FUGLY bldgs there are, right next to some damn nice ones…it can’t cost THAT much more to make them look nice…

and yes..the ones next to the 7-11 (where the ‘beauty school’ is) are hideous. Design AND color wise.

Aidan Hadley December 10, 2007 (2:20 pm)

Not that I’m a fan of bland, demographically-tested condo architecture, but California has plenty of ugly as it is now. I’m not sure what kind of “new math” some of you are using, but somehow for me the equation of subtracting present ugliness and adding bland condos does not equal increased ugliness. It is just ugliness on a higher plateau.

grr December 10, 2007 (3:00 pm)

in the case of the Green Ghetto…ANYTHING there will be an improvement :) (as long as it’s not a nail salon or frame shop).

John M December 10, 2007 (3:29 pm)

What does it say that these are apartments rather than townhomes or condos? Have we finally maxed out on condos?

Rick December 10, 2007 (4:12 pm)

I’ve worked on California ave for almost 28 years in a few different locations and used to joke about renaming it California Canyon. Appears the jokes on me.

villagegreen December 10, 2007 (4:46 pm)

I guess a canyon is what you get when there’s only one major commerical street in such a huge area (W Seattle). Anyone know why W. Seattle developed in this way when most other areas of Seattle have little pockets of commerical areas instead of one long stretch?

Mac December 10, 2007 (7:35 pm)

I used to live a few doors down from there (the white house that used to be where that new building that got burned down) when I was little, and I was terrified of that place. Onward, development!

GenHillOne December 10, 2007 (7:36 pm)

What would you call a canyon with a monorail running down the center?

Jan December 10, 2007 (7:53 pm)

GHO…5th Ave.?

The Velvet Bulldog December 10, 2007 (8:40 pm)

A zinger Jan! LOL!

grr December 10, 2007 (9:09 pm)

lol Gen..I can’t EVEN imagine the disaster Cali Ave would have been if that goofy monorail had actually been built.

GenHillOne December 10, 2007 (9:30 pm)

Ding ding ding!!! Think Nordstrom would be interested in the 25,000sf?

jrd December 10, 2007 (9:41 pm)

The Osborne scares me a little.

grr December 10, 2007 (11:06 pm)

how come, jrd? Yeah..it’s kinda big, but it sure has some nice design elements to it. I’m a little shocked that some other more ‘consumer’ friendly retail didn’t go into the first floor tho.

gen…hmmm..a Nordies WS??? I’m there :)

I’d really like to see something that would hold 3-4 small, consumer based businesses. Can’t get enough food joints for me.

jrd December 10, 2007 (11:26 pm)

I walked past it the other day and just had to stop and pause at it. It’s so…well, larger than West-Seattle-life. It’s a nice structure, I won’t deny. But a bit intimidating. I don’t think typing “The Osborne” does it justice. I think typing “THE OSBORNE” does. ;-)

As someone who watched the next-door-to-the-Tru-Value ugliness go up, I hope we don’t get more of those. We knew that there would be retail space, and were excited for that. But then an Edward Jones went in underneath the bright turquoise and greeness condos.

I only hope that the retail going into this place is *real* retail, not another dentist/insurance/investment/mortgage broker/$200-per-pair-shoe-place going in.

Jan December 11, 2007 (12:26 am)

As they were building The Osborne, my first thought was how much it simply didn’t fit in with the rest of the block. They’ve almost sold out, but I see the 2 most expensive units are still on the market, although the prices are less than originally stated. Still…$800,000 is a whole lot of money for that area, doncha think? I’d like to see something just a tad more affordable go where these lovely green “houses” are located.

GenHillOne December 11, 2007 (6:45 am)

jrd – that’s funny, we had the same reaction when we saw an insurance office going in to The Osborne. We waiting for something exciting, and then ‘aw shucks.’ I guess the more folks who can stay and work on the peninsula rather than get on the bridge is always a good thing, but so far a lot of the so-called retail space in these buildings has turned up as office space. And Jan, those units have great views of the water, as well as into the GHO (and about 50 other’s) living room! Well worth $800,000 I’d say for the latter – and nothing a little extra landscaping didn’t cure ;)

Gina December 11, 2007 (8:58 am)

I lived in one of the little green huts for two years in the early 80s. I remember that the people in the hut next door were junk collectors, once dumped enough corn kernels(?) corns? corn grain? in the parking area to cover two parking spaces, and then seemed puzzled over why there was a sudden influx of rats.

The actual little huts would have been marvelous as a nice cottage court if only there had been a lick of maintainence. You had your choice there. A wood or coal burning furnace in the basement, or the single wall mounted gas heater that reeked of gas if you used it, plus it sounded like the Boeing engine test lab.

I remember the screams of visitors using the bathroom (unheated) in January. My, that seat was cold! There was no shower in the bathroom, for some odd reason if you went in the basement there was a shower head hooked up to a random pipe in the ceiling. Above the bare concrete floor, and nowhere near a drain.

But the rent was $275 a month, (I paid $25 extra a month because I had carpeting). The individual units were nice because you didn’t hear the people above and below you as in a regular apartment.

The Eyes Rite people would sure come out and yell at anyone that dared drop me off in their parking lot that backed onto my hut. At 7 at night after they were closed! Not parking, just pulling in off the street into the lot that accesses the alley. Needless to say, to this day as a glasses wearer I never have used their services once.

The landlady’s daughter lived in one of the huts at the time I was living there. I guess Cayce and Gain bought it, and did less for it than a widow was able to do, she did the best she could. She bought every tenant a box of candy at Christmas time. Cayce and Gain just plain completely neglected the property from what I have noticed.

I bet they didn’t neglect to raise the rents.

MsBette December 11, 2007 (11:04 am)

Thanks, Gina, for confirming that it is Cayce and Gain. I’d like to see them explain this mess as their way they plan to “improve” the property just south of Hinds.

grr December 11, 2007 (5:17 pm)

wow, gina :(

Keith December 11, 2007 (5:35 pm)

Gina, thanks for that – I always wondered what it was like inside those units. Glad I found out without actually have to set foot in there!

Mike Dady December 12, 2007 (8:28 am)

Thanks for that bit of history Gina. It is really a shame those little cottages were so poorly maintained. But hey, cheap rent! Even though it doesn’t maximinze the use of the land in terms of the number of dwelling units, I have always liked the small-cottages-with-courtyard type housing situations. The newish little bungalow court just NE of La Rustica is about as good as it gets from my perspective.

GenHillOne December 12, 2007 (6:30 pm)

Shirley Bridge Bungalows, Mike Dady? Haven’t heard much about them lately. I thought that was such a cool project. Anyone know if they’re still SHA AIDS housing? Rhonda Porter, do you know?

Rhonda Porter December 13, 2007 (6:33 am)

GenHillOne, this is news to me.

GenHillOne December 13, 2007 (5:35 pm)

Here we go – it took me a couple of tries to find something current –

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:goCeYg4FRfkJ:www.rwaa.com/shirleybridge.html+shirley+bridge+bungalows&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

grr December 15, 2007 (7:02 am)

I took a walk thru one of those 800k OSBORNE units. Hell of a view :) Still a lot of money for the sq ft you get.. but..this IS Seattle…no rhyme or reason to the prices of housing around here.

and…yeah..WTH were the people designing the next-to TrueValue building smoking??? Hanging out with Geary or something??

GenHillOne December 15, 2007 (9:54 am)

grr – best we can figure, they were trying to complement the aging corregated green plastic down the street at the corner of Alaska and Glenn (west of Wells Fargo)…a look we’ve always admired!