(Renderings by LDG Architects)

The six-story 130-apartment mixed-use project at 35th/Holden/Ida got first-phase approval from the Southwest Design Review Board last night, with advice on what to include before it comes back for final approval.

As the online meeting concluded, outgoing SWDRB member Alan Grainger said it’s an “important location” and that “the applicant needs to pull out all the stops.” Board chair Gavin Schaefer agreed. They were joined at the meeting by member Johanna Lirman; two other members were absent. Also participating, Joe Hurley, the city planner assigned to the project.

The first phase of Design Review is Early Design Guidance, which mostly deals with the building’s size, shape, and placement on the site. (Here’s the full design packet used for the meeting.) Architect Ed Linardic and the project team had made some changes based on feedback from the first meeting earlier this year, but some things couldn’t be changed. For example, SDOT is not allowing entry to the underground parking garage from SW Holden, because of future plans for the street reportedly including a bike lane, so the entry will remain off SW Ida. (The project includes ~50 parking spaces, all of which will be in an underground garage.)

The meeting included public comment, spoken and written, from seven people, ranging from two voicing support for more housing in the area to a suggestion that the project exterior needs a little more “interest” given how visible it will be at six stories on a major arterial. Board members agreed; Grainger at one point called the current plan “boring.”

The formal board advice ended up recommending that the building’s corners get “extra attention,” and that more thought be put into the ground-floor entrances (the building will have them on each of the three streets it fronts). They also formally conveyed a suggestion that Lirman made, for more attention to resident amenities like common areas such as pet runs.

The project will have at least one meeting in the second and final Design Review phase – the city will announce a date once the project team is ready (usually at least a few months). If you have comments on the project in the meantime, whether related to design or not, you can email joseph.hurley@seattle.gov.

Looking at the week ahead, here’s one big non-holiday event: Thursday night (December 7), the Southwest Design Review Board meets online for its next look at a mixed-use building proposed for 7617 35th SW, on the west side of 35th between Holden and Ida. This is the second “early design guidance” meeting for the project – at the end of the first one (WSB coverage here), the board told the project team to go back for another try at presenting size/shape options. The basics remain six stories, more than 130 apartments, 5,200 square feet of commercial (or live/work) space, and about 50 offstreet parking spaces. You can see the design packet for the meeting – including details on the three proposed size/shape (“massing”) options – by going here. The 5 pm meeting will include an opportunity for public comment, as explained on this page – which is also where you’ll find the link for attending Thursday’s meeting.

Going through online filings in the city permit system, we happened onto an early-stage proposal for a five-story “office building” at 4501 35th SW, a small – 2,369 square feet – parcel immediately north of Brookdale West Seattle, across 35th from West Seattle Stadium/Golf Course. Records show the site is owned by the Sweeney family, currently pursuing much larger developments a few blocks north. So we asked family spokesperson Lynn Sweeney about the “office building” plan. She explained, “We are going through the SDCI process to see what might be buildable given that there is possible steep slope, so we just need to start the process to do some due diligence.” She added that the site currently holds a “shack” that has had squatter trouble and that they’re hoping to demolish but need to be “into the permitting process” to pursue that.

(Rendering by LDG Architects)

We reported last month that the city had tentatively chosen December 7th as the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting date for the mixed-use project planned at 7617 35th Avenue SW, bordered by SW Holden and SW Ida. Today the Department of Construction and Inspections> sent the official notice finalizing a 5 pm online meeting for that date. The project is proposed for 6 stories, ~134 apartments, and ~50 offstreet-parking spaces. The design packet for the meeting – which will include three “massing” (size and shape) options – isn’t in the city system yet, but you can get an idea of what they’re working on via this draft version from July. It’s the second try for “early design guidance,” as the board rejected what was proposed the first time, in February. The December 7th meeting will include time for public comment.

(WSB photo of former project site, last month)

Last month, the city canceled the second Southwest Design Review Board meeting for Aegis Living‘s 5252 California SW project at the last minute, saying the senior-living company had shelved the project. An Aegis executive subsequently told us it was still under consideration and they’d likely decide its fate within “weeks.” According to the newest filings with the city, formally withdrawing permit applications for multiple addresses at the site, that fate has been decided: “Project will no longer be moving forward” was the applicant’ message. Aegis has not responded to our request for further comment, They hadn’t completed their purchase of the site, which was still listed early this year at $7.7 million but does not appear, at least publicly, to be listed now. Before the Aegis proposal, the site – a former strip mall plus two former restaurants – had plans for townhouses.

12:21 PM: This Thursday, the 100-unit senior-living complex proposed by Aegis Living for California/Brandon – site of long-vacant, much-vandalized commercial buildings – was supposed to go back before the Southwest Design Review Board. Late last night, preparing to write one last preview, we checked the city website – and discovered the notation, MEETING CANCELLED. We followed up first thing this morning with Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections spokesperson Bryan Stevens, to find out why. He responded, “We received notice from the applicant on Monday (10/16) that they have decided not to proceed with the project. We don’t have any details as to why they have decided not to move forward.” We have a request for comment out to Aegis. The proposal won unanimous approval from the SWDRB back in February; we first reported in July 2022 on Aegis’s plan for the site, which previously had a proposal for townhouses. The King County website does not show ownership having changed from the company that had pursued that project. We’ll update this story when we hear back from Aegis Living, which built and operates a facility in west Admiral.

4:43 PM: Just heard back from Aegis Living. They say the project’s not necessarily totally dead. Through a spokesperson, Aegis Development president Adam Clark says, “This project is still being considered and we will have a better understanding of its future in the coming weeks. We are proud to continue serving residents at our current community on Admiral Way and remain committed to sustainable buildings and delivering our assisted living and memory care support to even more older adults here in West Seattle and beyond.”

The volunteer, advisory Southwest Design Review Board, which only meets if and when there’s a project to consider (very rare these days), now has two meetings on its schedule for the rest of the year:

5252 CALIFORNIA: We already told you, last month, that October 19th is set for the board’s next meeting about the Aegis Living project to replace vacant, much-vandalized buildings on the northeast corner of California/Brandon – 5 stories, 100+ units, 42 offstreet-parking spaces. Now the draft design packet for the meeting is available, with plenty of project details – see it here. For info on how to participate in the 5 pm October 19th online meeting and/or comment, go here. (Our report on the project’s first Design Review meeting, last February, is here.)

7617 35TH: While checking on the SW Design Review Board’s schedule, we noticed a date tentatively set for the next meeting about the mixed-use project proposed for the west side of 35th/Holden/Ida – 5 pm Thursday, December 7th, also online. This project is currently proposed as six stories, 134 units, 50 offstreet parking spaces. Watch this page for scheduling updates (and of course we will too). This is a second try at the Early Design Guidance phase of review, after the board rejected the project team’s first proposal in February (WSB coverage here).

Two development notes:

(Rendering of 4448 California by Atelier Drome)

JUNCTION DEVELOPMENT CHANGES TO HALF-HOTEL: What’s expected to be the next West Seattle Junction redevelopment project to start construction, 4448 California SW, is open for comments again because of a change in the plan: What was going to be a 7-story building with commercial spaces under apartments is now changing to ground-floor commercial plus three floors of hotel, three floors of apartments. We’ve had a message out to the project team since this appeared in the city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin last Thursday; they haven’t responded, so we went digging through a virtual sheaf of documents to try to find out more. The documents show the hotel rooms are proposed for floors 2, 3, and 4; this document explains the rationale, that developers believe West Seattle needs more hotel rooms since right now there’s only one hotel (The Grove in The Triangle), and that The Junction is the perfect place for it. They are proposing 45 hotel rooms, roughly equal to the number of apartments the revised plan would have (when the project went through Design Review, 90+ apartments were planned). The original plan had no offstreet parking; so far we haven’t found anything in the file suggesting a change in that. The developer’s webpage for the project does not yet reflect the proposed change. If you’re interested in commenting on the new plan, this notice explains how. September 27th is the deadline.

NEXT DESIGN REVIEW DATE FOR AEGIS LIVING: As we’ve been reporting for more than a year, Aegis Living plans a senior-living complex on the site of long-abandoned, much-vandalized commercial buildings at 5252 California SW (and vicinity). Back in February, the Southwest Design Review Board approved the “early design guidance” stage of the 5-story, 100+-unit plan. But the process requires at least one more meeting, for final recommendations, and the city has now set a date for that meeting: 5 pm Thursday, October 19th. Links and design packet will eventually be available here.

Few projects have gone before the Southwest Design Review Board in the past few years, as large-scale development has slowed down dramatically in West Seattle since the boom years a decade ago. But the board does occasionally get a project to review. This past Thursday night, for the first time in five months, the SWDRB met online, for the second Early Design Guidance meeting for 1116 Alki Avenue SW, a proposed ~60-unit residential building replacing a group of old houses on Duwamish Head.

The board’s newest chair Gavin Schaefer led the meeting. Also present: members Brenda Baxter and Alan Grainger, plus fill-in member Gina Gage, as well as the project’s assigned city planner, Theresa Neylon. She reminded everyone that since this project is still in Early Design Guidance, the graphics in the design packet (see it here) are “conceptual.” Here are toplines from the meeting, which followed the standard four-part format:

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Tomorrow (Thursday, July 6th) at 5 pm, the Southwest Design Review Board meets online for its second “early design guidance” look at a residential project planned for 1116 Alki Avenue SW, replacing six standalone houses. The meeting includes a public-comment period; you can preview the new design options by looking at the packet here. Remember that in the “early design” phase, the project team is supposed to offer three options for the “massing” of the building – its size and shape – so these renderings do not show what the building would eventually look like, with materials, colors, etc. The three new options vary slightly but the building is proposed at six stories and around 60 units, with offstreet parking totaling at least the number of spaces required by the Alki Parking Overlay (one and a half spaces per residential unit). The project team’s “preferred option” would remove two trees that were much-discussed at the previous review (WSB coverage here), replacing them with four trees that would anchor two “corner gardens.” If you’re interested in attending Thursday’s meeting and/or commenting, go here to see how.

(‘Preferred option’ massing from last year’s draft design packet by MZA Architecture)

As we reported two weeks ago, the Southwest Design Review Board has one of its now-rare meetings scheduled next month, for the second Early Design Guidance review of 1116 Alki Avenue SW. The date is now corrected to July 6th, and the official notice was made public by the city today. It’ll be a 5 pm online meeting, with the opportunity for spoken or written public comment. The project is proposed for six floors, 65 units, 102 offstreet-parking spaces; here’s our report from its first early-design meeting in April 2022. Information on how to attend/comment is on this city webpage, which is also where you’ll find the new design packet when available; note that the early-design stage is primarily about a building’s massing – size, shape, and placement on the site.

Two development notes this afternoon:

(Rendering from 2021 design review of 4406 36th SW)

LAND-USE APPROVAL FOR PART OF TRIANGLE PROJECT: One of the two buildings planned on West Seattle Triangle land owned by the Sweeney family of Alki Lumber has received a key land-use approval, which in turn opens a two-week appeal period. The building at 4406 36th SW [map] is the easternmost of the two, proposed for 7 stories, 284 apartments, commercial space, and 162 off-street parking spots. It got Southwest Design Review Board approval a year and a half ago. Here’s the new city-staff decision; here’s the notice, which explains how to appeal (filing deadline is June 15th). We asked family spokesperson Lynne Sweeney about the project’s status recently, and she replied that they’re continuing to work through the permit process on both sites: “We are still moving toward construction, but no firm dates.” (The west building, 4440 Fauntleroy Way SW, is a bit further behind in the process, but received SWDRB approval two weeks after the east building.)

1116 ALKI AVENUE SW: This 6-story, 65-unit building with 102 offstreet-parking spaces [map] is tentatively set for its second Early Design Guidance meeting of the SWDRB on July 11th. We covered the first one in April of last year. Watch here for information on how to participate in the upcoming review.

(Texted photos)

12:43 PM: Cleanup is under way today in north Morgan Junction, where a duplex was damaged when part of an under-construction building next door at 5952 California SW fell down onto it last night. Nobody was hurt, and the duplex owner told us the damage wasn’t major, but questions remain about why it happened – the initial report was that the wind blew the pieces down, though last night’s short-lived wind didn’t seem particularly strong.

We checked city files for the project at 5952 California SW; they show its “plywood sheathing” had undergone a construction inspection by a private firm just last week. And now last night’s incident has led to a complaint filed today with the city Department of Construction and Inspections, asking for urgent investigation and action; we’re checking on that with SDCI, and also attempting to contact the project’s owner. It’s been seven years since an apartment building was first proposed for the site; the property was sold last year.

ADDED TUESDAY EVENING: We asked SDCI spokesperson Bryan Stevens about the newly filed complaint. Stevens replied, “Inspectors are aware and looking into it” but didn’t expect an update until tomorrow. The online file also indicates that evaluation of the complaint is “in progress.”

(Massing rendering of Option 3 for 5252 California SW, by Ankrom Moisan)

About a dozen people showed up for last Thursday’s informational meeting about the Aegis Living project planned for 5252 California Avenue SW. The meeting was requested by neighbors, who said they were hoping to get more information on the project that had been provided thus far, and led by Bryon Ziegler from Aegis, the company’s director of development and entitlements. Here are the toplines of what happened:

Ziegler started with a recap of the February 2nd meeting with the Southwest Design Review Board (WSB coverage here), at which board members recommended that the project move ahead in the process (which means at least one more design-review meeting, not yet scheduled). That recommendation paves the way for the company to apply for a Master Use Permit for the site, on which Aegis plans to build a five-story, 100-unit complex, a mix of assisted living and memory care.

So what’s the overall timeline? neighbors asked. For one, Ziegler indicated, demolition of the vacant former strip-mall and restaurant buildings on the property is not imminent – but they’re hoping it can happen before year’s end, depending on when the city issues project permits. Construction would likely start several months after demolition, likely in summer or fall of 2024.

Other questions focused on the building’s massing – size, shape, placement on site – which was the focus of the first-stage design review. Is it settled? Ziegler was asked; based on the results of the first SWDRB meeting, he replied, yes. Attendees weren’t happy to hear that, and wondered why they hadn’t had more opportunities for input. (The February SWDRB meeting featured about a dozen comments received before and during the meeting.) Residents who border the alley behind the site also had questions about how the parking entrance, solid-waste pickup, and large deliveries will be handled.

In conclusion, neighbors talked about pursuing a meeting with the city agencies involved in the project, as well as meeting again with Aegis Living; Ziegler said that’s possible. Meantime, since the project is still in the review process, comments on any aspect of it are still being accepted by the city planner assigned to the project, theresa.neylon@seattle.gov.

(Massing rendering of Option 3 for 5252 California SW, by Ankrom Moisan)

The Aegis Living plan for 5252 California SW is midway through the Design Review process, after “early design guidance” approval three months ago (WSB coverage here). The project is proposed to include 100 units – one-third memory care, the rest assisted living – plus 750 sf of commercial space, and offstreet parking for 40 cars. The project site currently holds three commercial buildings that were vacated several years ago while previous ownership pursued other plans for the property. Neighbors with questions are organizing an informational meeting with project-team members next week, and they’re inviting everyone in the community who wants to find out more. Here’s the announcement sent to us:

Aegis & Architect re: 5252 California Ave SW
May 4 @ 7:00 – 8:00 pm

If you live near 5252 California Ave SW (corner of Brandon and California) or are just interested in the development of this large, senior living complex — please join Aegis, its Architect, and neighbors to discuss this project and its impact on the neighborhood.

Location: West Seattle Senior Center (Nucor Room), 4217 SW Oregon

The organizers also have set up a website with project information. Meantime, the second and potentially final Southwest Design Review Board meeting about the project is not yet on the schedule. Aegis Living has more than three dozen locations in three states, including one in Admiral.

Almost a year and a half after 3010 SW Avalon Way cleared the first phase of Design Review, the project has taken the next step – applying for land-use approval. That opens a new two-week comment period, as announced in today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin. The official city description of the project is “an 8-story, 87-unit apartment building” with 4 offstreet-parking spaces for cars/trucks (the project will include bicycle parking). The site originally held two old houses, as noted when we first reported on an early-stage plan in 2019. Today’s notice explains how to send the city a comment on the project; there also will be another opportunity to comment whenever a meeting is scheduled for the second and final Design Review phase.