High Point’s party
What a day for High Point, with a big event this morning to officially celebrate the global award just given to the Seattle Housing Authority‘s grand experiment. Citywide media dropped in too; check out this tv clip with a few familiar folks (Wendy Hughes-Jelen, who has two sites on our Other Blogs in WS page, and neighborhood activist Miranda Taylor). We stopped by to check out an expected appearance by the mayor, but the crowd was told he had to cancel at the last minute for a funeral. Instead, Al Levine from SHA (photo right) emceed. High Point is amassing quite the trophy case. If you haven’t been through the area lately, make time for a drive, or a stroll. The sheer scope is something to behold.
Zoning code change today, neighborhood change tomorrow
Earlier this month, the city invited citizens to an event to learn about the “multi-family code (zoning) update” in the works. It wasn’t in West Seattle but it was for the whole city; the topic may sound dry but for all the times we’ve all talked about development and zoning and city regulations and how did project X get through and … it’s important. Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) president Erica Karlovits went to that event and kindly shared notes so we can all have the details of what was discussed, what these changes might mean for development here (and citywide), and what you might want to contact the City Council about before they vote on all this in the coming months:Read More
New mixed-use development south of The Junction: Spring Hill
While webcombing in the dead o’night for updates on Fauntleroy Place, we discovered a new West Seattle project on the website of FP developer BlueStar Management: A retail/residential complex to be called Spring Hill. Here’s what the BlueStar site says about it (followed by what else we have found out so far):
BlueStar Management/Development of Seattle, Washington has purchased three contiguous parcels on the east side of the 5000 Block on California Avenue SW, just south of the West Seattle Junction.
Preliminary plans for the Spring Hill development include approximately 80 apartment homes above 3,600 square feet of retail space. Parking will be available under the building as well. The apartment homes are expected to range from 550 to 1250 square feet and will help to fill the growing need for rental housing in the area. … Construction is slated for 2008 with anticipated occupancy in 2009.
Armed with that general location information, we scoured through the city’s online files, and discovered this project appears to be centered on the parcel at 5020 California, currently half-century-old apartments, per county records. (Saturday afternoon addendum: The streetfront of these apartments is actually marked 5022 Cali; photo below; BlueStar page about the complex, Skyliner, here.) Its land-use permit application and construction permit application are not dated right now, but they’re clearly new because the “pre-application site visit” happened on October 5th; the applications aren’t even coming up yet in a search of the city’s Land Use Information Bulletin archives. We’ll check with BlueStar next week to see what more they can tell us. Architects listed on the application are from Hewitt, which also is working right now on the QFC/Office Depot megaproject progressing rapidly north of Jefferson Square. Side note: If you’re thinking, “Isn’t Spring Hill also the name of a restaurant in development on the north edge of The Junction?” yes, you’re right. Popular name with long-ago geographic relevance.
Shoremont mystery
We’ve talked before about the teardown-to-townhouse plan for the 57th/Alki corner (across from Alki Automotive) now mostly occupied by the stately brick Shoremont Apartments (photo above). After WSB reader Fiona e-mailed to point out (thank you!) that the parcel suddenly turned up the other day listed for sale for $2.2 million, we published a post about it half an hour ago – then double checked the listing link – which originally had ad verbiage suggesting the project could proceed OR the apartments could stay (or some combination?) – but that link (as you’ll see if you click it) is suddenly no longer good; sometime in the past 24 hours or so, the listing went away. We’re looking to see if evidence of it is still out there somewhere (that’ll teach us, we need to get screen grabs of everything!), so far can’t find it. Sold, or “never mind”? Fascinating.
Targeted for teardown: 2 more
Cross-checking some of the city’s alternate methods for unearthing proposed projects (the Activity Locator is a fun time-killer), we happened onto a proposal we hadn’t noticed before. It seeks to take down two small Junction buildings including the one shown below (4515 44th, across from the big parking lot behind WaMu/liquor store/etc.), so a 4-story mixed-use building can be built in their place.
The city system indicates a design review meeting for this hasn’t been set yet; the only date of any kind listed in the online records is 5/29/07, when the fee for the “pre-application site visit” was paid, so we’re not sure how long this has been pending (it doesn’t seem to have appeared in any of the city Land Use Information Bulletins, at least not the ones we searched going back to this time last year). Meantime, a second teardown proposal, this one from inland Alki, a new yellow land-use application sign just went up on the northwest corner of 60th/Admiral:
The teardown-to-townhome proposal for this parcel dates back to March, but the application to subdivide the lot was just filed a few weeks ago, hence the yellow sign.
3811 California landmark-nomination update
Since our report yesterday quoting a 3811 California tenant as saying the endangered 80-year-old brick 4-plex across from Charlestown Cafe 
was apparently being evaluated for city landmark status, we’ve found out more from the city Landmarks Preservation Board. Coordinator Sarah Sodt tells WSB that the board has “asked the property owner to submit a landmark nomination … as part of the MUP-SEPA process.” That’s Master Use Permit and State Environmental Policy Act, both aspects of the development process. According to the city website, “All buildings over 50 years old that are proposed for redevelopment are referred to the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board as part of the city’s SEPA policies.” However, Sarah also said the board has not “been in communication” with the owner, and has not arranged for a site tour (contrary to what the tenants were led to believe, apparently), but believes the owner is “working on preparing the nomination” paperwork. The bar for landmark status seems pretty high; the list of official city landmarks in WS contains only two residential properties (the Hainsworth House on 37th, sold earlier this year for $1,490,000, and the Satterlee House, aka Painted Lady, still on the market for $2.2 million). The process is explained here; looks like the next step after the nomination application would be a public meeting. The board’s website says it takes up to a month to determine if an application is “complete,” and it wouldn’t be scheduled for consideration at a public meeting until it is. Here’s the board’s schedule for the rest of the year. If a landmark designation does happen, a whole separate process begins regarding setting guidelines for what can be done with the property and which of its features must be preserved; that’s all outlined here. We’ll keep checking with the Landmarks Board to see how this progresses.
Will this be the one that beats back the backhoes?
Almost six months have passed since we first told you a teardown-to-mixed-use proposal was on the drawing board for the elegant old brick apartments shown above, at 3811 California (across from the also-in-limbo Charlestown Cafe), drawing laments from dozens of commenters (as well as from us). The four-story project planned for the site appeared to be proceeding full speed ahead. But maybe not – according to the following e-mail we received late last night from one of the current tenants:
I realize this is an old story for most, but for anyone interested in the fate of this beautiful building, we (the tenants) received a notice from the landlords today stating the following:
“The Landmark Preservation Board has determined that this property may meet the standards for Landmark Designation. Before this can be determined by the board, it is necessary to access the units for construction details.”
They’ll be doing a walk-through sometime tomorrow. The real significance for me is that this is the first documentation we’ve received at all from the landlords regarding the potential fate of our homes.
(On a side note, the notices were slipped into our mail slots in Omni
Construction envelopes — my first thought was they were our vacate
notices. Glad to see they weren’t!)
We will check today with the Landmarks Preservation Board to find out more about the expected inspection and what might happen next.
Hasta luego, ex-Hacienda
What’s left of the old Guadalajara Hacienda restaurant on Cali north of Morgan Junction is likely to be swept away any second now (if the backhoe’s not there already; we will be driving by shortly) – the city just granted a permit for townhouses on the site (and five other related project permits for townhouses and single-family homes, all California Ave addresses: 5919, 5921, 5925, 5927, 5929). The restaurant closed last February; the following photo was taken shortly afterward (the “bell tower” has since been taken down but the bulk of the building has stood, deteriorating):
Denny/Sealth project: District suddenly sets an update meeting
Just got word from the Westwood Neighborhood Council that Seattle Public Schools has scheduled a community update meeting next week about the impending Chief Sealth High School/Denny Middle School campus consolidation construction project. The neighborhood group itself called the last update meeting, in June, after learning details about the project that previously hadn’t gotten much public airing. (We covered that meeting in-depth; here’s the link.) The district’s flyer (which touts a weblink, buildingexcellence.org, that as of this writing goes only to a “parking page”) says the meeting at 6:30 pm next Tuesday (10/9) in the Chief Sealth HS theater will include updates on the schedule and design for the project, and take Q/A. Here’s the flyer:Read More
From Fauntleroy
First, a couple updates on this morning’s “doomed duplex” post. Seems demolition permits must be after-the-fact formalities unless all this happened in the hours after the permit was issued yesterday … the duplex and its former neighbor are already gone:
We also heard back from the ex-duplex’s former tenants. They found another rental just a block away; not as small as the ex-duplex (900 sf) but comparably priced per sf (less than $1 per). The kicker … it’s a townhouse. 2 stories, 8 years old. So perhaps some of today’s teardown replacements are tomorrow’s affordable rentals. Meanwhile, in future Fauntleroy construction news, a week after we mentioned the “one of the last (lots of its kind)” listing on the curve, a sign just went up:
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