Just in from Land-Use Land
-Now we know why the “for sale” sign on Beach Drive’s “Painted Lady” (aka the Satterlee House) has moved all the way to the front of the house: The city just issued a permit for the short-plat that will allow three homes to be built in what’s currently the historic home’s front yard. We’re working to find out what happens next and when.
–A land-use permit’s also been issued to allow a new commercial development where the burned-out Schuck’s store shell now sits, kitty corner from Charlestown Cafe.
Road closure date set for busy WS east-west connector
There’s now a date set for a road closure that will mean months of detouring for people who use Sylvan Way/SW Morgan to get between 35th and Delridge: The closure starts June 18 and is expected to last through mid-September. It’s happening for underground utility work related to all the housing construction in the area; an open house is planned one week ahead of time to help make sure everyone has the info they need to get through the shutdown. This city press release has more info on the exact shutdown zone as well as detour plans.
Guess where! No, really, guess!
Love the townhouse boom or hate it, you have to agree a lot of these projects seem cookie-cutter. 
Here’s one example that made us laugh: A Craigslist ad for “luxurious townhomes in West Seattle” with no address, just a rendering (left) that could be any one of at least half a dozen we’ve seen. Which reminds us that a reader pointed out a reassuring note in a recent city memo, about a “Townhouse Design Workshop” in the works. Whew. What a relief.
From your keyboard to their ears
As we discuss and debate development here amid the pixels of WSB, it’s been mentioned that the city has Neighborhood Plans that were drawn up years ago, paving the way for what’s happening now. Here’s a rare chance to tell the city what you think about how those plans are working, or not working. Click here to take the survey (deadline May 28). If you want to review your Neighborhood Plan first, find it on the dropdown list here.
Pub progress
In Morgan Junction, exterior work on the ex-Video Vault building, future new home of Beveridge Place Pub, has accelerated lately, so we e-mailed the pub owners to ask what’s going on inside and when they’re planning to open. Here’s their reply, as well as photos we snapped on a sunnier day earlier this week:
Well, like most renovation projects, the more you get into it, the more problems you find. Right now we’re doing our best to make sure the building remains standing: replacing dry rot, new roof, shoring up a retaining wall, etc. The interior is nothing but stud walls. The false wall out front is there so we can start to replace all the windows and doors. Next we’ll build an addition on the north side to cover the stairwell and provide access to the 400 sq ft patio! We hope to be moved in while the weather’s still warm enough to use the patio this year, but no definitive date at this time.
Future road-closure update
For those who use Morgan/Sylvan to get between east and west WS, there’s word from the city’s Neighborhood District Coordinator that the construction company is now targeting mid-June for the upcoming summertime road closure — two weeks later than the most recent plan.
Giving it another go
Nine months after the landmark Painted Lady of Beach Drive (aka the Satterlee House) went up for sale again, we just noticed a change in signage outside the house and its front lawn. 
Now, with a change in listing companies, it’s offered as one “estate” again, though the blurb goes on to say, “this property is actually two parcels … the one the house sits on and the front parcel which has been short platted for three homes. Buy one or both!” Hadn’t realized the short-plat had gotten final approval but it seems that happened right before Christmas, on a day most of us had something else (like this) on our minds. So then how come somebody hasn’t snapped up the land already? (P.S. Dear John L. Scott, the new blurb is kind of over the top. “Coyly awaits restoration”? And it’s not “near Alki Point.” 1.5 miles, to be precise. Plus “flair” is the word you’re looking for, not “flare.” /nitpick)
Blazing backhoes
No moss growing under some developers’ feet, er, backhoes. Less than two weeks after we noted that permits were granted for the SW corner of Cali/Seattle, the demolition work is almost done — “before” (April 25) and “after” (this morning) photos below:
Congratulations
Not only did Megawatt move into the new WS Community Resource Center @ 35th/Morgan as of today, so did the West Seattle Food Bank, according to a DNDA e-mail newsletter kindly forwarded to us by a stalwart reader. Congrats to everyone who’s worked on that project for years! (WS Helpline tells us they’re making their move into the building next month.)
Condo name game, the latest
The place to play that game right now is on the south end of Cali; hot on the heels of NoMo 12 comes SeventyOne, a condo-conversion apartment building SoMo, er, south of Morgan Junction, having its first open-house weekend as we write, just days after the remodeling crews cleared out. It’s got its own hypey website, of course, which proclaims that SeventyOne “redefines style on California Ave.” (Pardon our obsession with accuracy, but must ALL these condo-marketing websites have typos? This SeventyOne page alone has four.)
Schoolhouse blues
On this busy spring Sunday, perhaps between your Farmers’ Market stop and your Water Taxi trip, take a little time to help ponder the future of the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. A community open house is happening there 11 am-2 pm to facilitate and inspire that pondering. And there’s urgency — the school district still owns this 90-year-old treasure (the child-care center, events hall, and others based there are tenants) but is indicating it’s time to sell off this and other “surplus property.” If you have only driven by, perhaps heading to or from the nearby ferry dock, you may not realize how large the schoolhouse property is; as a result, as one reader wrote to us, “there are developers who are hovering over the property.” Will it be the next townhouse cluster — or will the community rally to preserve it? Drop by today to offer ideas … or absorb them … a rare chance to do something before it’s too late.
And yet more from Admiral
Just verified a reader tip that Auto Buff, west of Metro Market, is moving next week (you can’t miss the huge banner out front, with the address of its new location on the east edge of The Junction). No detectable permit movement on the 42nd/Admiral mixed-use project planned for that spot, though.
So long, eyesore
At the suddenly megabusy Cali/Charlestown crossroads, the burned-out ex-Schuck’s store eyesore is one step closer to demolition: The city has issued its land-use decision for the project proposed at that site. We’ll leave it to our professional land-user readers to comb the fine print for surprises; as for us, we’ll just be watching for the demolition permit, as this is one building we will NOT mourn.
There’s a new development in Land Use Land regarding one of the first unique local buildings whose impending demise we lamented, 4532 42nd SW (
This Thursday night, the city’s Southwest 
lamented in extended posts a couple weeks back: 
now 
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