This isn’t particularly controversial, but if you pay attention to public process, it’s notable: A City Council vote tomorrow is expected to pave the way for the end of a five-year process involving a West Seattle street vacation. That’s the term for a publicly owned right-of-way – whether developed as a street or not – being given up by the public entity that owns it. In this case, both the West Coast Self-Storage facility that opened more than a year ago on Harbor Avenue SW and nearby Nucor are getting something out of the transfer of three-fifths of an acre of land that technically have been undeveloped parts of 29th SW and SW City View. We wrote extensively about the plan back in 2017, when councilmembers approved it. The self-storage company offered a package of “public benefits” estimated to be worth more than $300,000 (originally detailed in 2017), including metal art panels like these two and various pedestrian/bike-trail improvements:

Last Tuesday, the council’s Transportation and Utilities Committee got a presentation how it had all turned out. You can see it about 30 minutes into the meeting recording:

(Added: The slide deck from that meeting is here.) The purpose of this final part of the process is to confirm that the beneficiary of the street vacation has completed their obligation, The committee members who were present signaled their approval with “yes” votes. Tomorrow, the full council has to take one last vote. After that, there’ll be one last step to finalizing the turnover – the property will officially be transferred to WC Self-Storage, which has already paid the city more than a million dollars for it. If you’re wondering about Nucor’s role in all this – it involves part of the railroad tracks.

What could be the next West Seattle Junction redevelopment project to start construction needs one more level of approval from the Southwest Design Review Board, and a date is now set for their next look at it. The proposal would replace a small commercial building at 4448 California SW [map] with a seven-story mixed-use building, including almost 100 apartments as well as ground-floor commercial space, with no offstreet parking required or planned. The project cleared the first phase of Design Review last year (here’s our coverage from November), and is penciled in to return to the board at 5 pm Thursday, August 4th, online. Here’s the draft design packet with details on the plan. The August review will include a public-comment period, but if you have something to say, you can also email the project’s assigned city planner, at david.sachs@seattle.gov.

If you were in The Junction for the West Seattle Farmers’ Market, and/or other business, today, you might have noticed that after a week, the demolition is done at the 4508 California SW mixed-use project site (we reported on its start this past Tuesday). Also as of a few days ago, part of the parking lot east of the alley is fenced off:

On the California side of the site, the sidewalk remains open, as stipulated in the construction-management plan, with scaffolding and plywood currently hiding the work. The alley is open too but subject to intermittent closures. Re-reading the plan today, we also note a slightly different description of the 7-story project – 38 apartments, 20 Small Efficiency Dwelling Units (microapartments), 12 lodging units, 3,500 square feet of commercial space, and 14 offstreet-parking spaces, all but 1 underground. The plan says construction is expected to last just under a year and a half.

This morning we described the 4508 California SW mixed-use project site as “about-to-start-demolition.” We had gone by at 9 am, looking at both sides of the site, and noting no heavy equipment in sight, so it didn’t seem like the teardown would start today. However, when we checked back tonight, we discovered demolition has indeed begun, from the alley, at the back of the former Kamei Japanese Restaurant.

(The building being demolished for redevelopment also was home to Lee’s Asian Restaurant and Naked Crepe.) No hint of the demolition from the front yet – just plywood and scaffolding. The project is planned as 7 stories, 58 residential units, 12 lodging units, 3,500+ square feet of commercial space, and 17 offstreet-parking spaces. Its owner/developer is longtime Junction entrepreneur Leon Capelouto, who also built two mixed-use buildings close to this site, the AJ at 42nd/Oregon and Altamira/Capco Plaza at 42nd/Alaska. We don’t have a recent timeline estimate but mixed-use projects of this scale usually take a year to a year and a half to build.

Two development notes this norning:

4508 CALIFORNIA SW: Going through The Junction this morning, we noticed crews putting up scaffolding in front of the three vacated business spaces that comprise this about-to-be-built mixed-use building, indicating demolition is approaching. When approved in 2019, the project was described as 58 apartments, 12 lodging units, 17 underground parking spaces, and ground-floor commercial space; other details are in our coverage of its final design review. This will be the first construction project on California SW in the heart of The Junction since the two projects built last decade one block south.

3201 SW AVALON WAY: This week’s first city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin brought word of a key land-use approval for this 8-story, 144-unit mixed-use building with 70 off-street parking spaces, proposed to replace the Golden Tee Apartments. Project details are in our coverage of its final design review last September. This approval opens an appeal window – deadline to file one would be May 23rd; the official notice explains how.

Three development notes from the West Seattle Junction area:

4508 CALIFORNIA SW: First, a reminder that the first of the next wave of major projects in the heart of The Junction is expected to start soon. This is the mixed-use project that will replace the building that housed recently closed restaurants Lee’s and Kamei as well as the former Naked Crepe/West Seattle Cyclery space. It finished Design Review more than three years ago – here’s our report on the final review meeting in January 2019, at which time it was described as 58 apartments, 12 lodging units, 17 underground parking spaces, and ground-floor commercial space. When we asked property owner/developer Leon Capelouto about the timeline recently, he said work could start by month’s end; the most recent permit filing for the project, related to use of the alley behind the building, suggests an early May start is expected.

CHURCH-PROPERTY REDEVELOPMENT: An early-stage filing with the city this week proposes 30 townhouses for the parking lot and former school building that West Seattle Christian Church owns to the east of its main building, 4401-4425 41st SW. We asked WSCC’s Pastor Worth Wheeler about the plan; he explained that the filing is part of a feasibility exploration for a potential buyer, but both sides have two months to consider it, so it’s not finalized yet. The church also formerly owned land across 42nd SW, including the 42nd/Genesee corner where a new owner is currently developing an apartment building.

MICROAPARTMENT PROJECT: Several blocks south on 41st, it’s been five years since we first reported on a plan for 22 microapartments at 4807 41st SW. Last time we made note of it was when the site went on the market in 2020. The building-permit file showed activity on the project recently, so we checked out the site and noted that work is under way (below is the view eastward from the alley).

We don’t know how long the work’s been going on, as we weren’t tracking this one closely. County Assessor records do not show an ownership change having resulted from the aforementioned 2020 listing.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

At the first Southwest Design Review Board meeting of the year – the only one on the schedule so far – board members told the project team they have to come back for another try at getting Early Design Guidance approval.

The project is a residential building planned for 1116 Alki SW [map], a water-view site that currently holds six houses.

Present at the online meeting were board chair Scott Rosenstock along with three of the other four members – John Cheng, Alan Grainger, and Johanna Lirman, all West Seattleites. Also there, Theresa Neylon, the city planner assigned to the project.

The Early Design Guidance phase is the first of the two Design Review phases, and the focus is on “massing” – the building’s size and shape, and its placement on the site – as well as on which of the city’s design guidelines are most important for the project to meet. As Neylon reminded everyone, “the graphics are conceptual,” meaning that, especially for this phase, they don’t reflect all details that will be in the final design. (For example, it was reiterated, what the graphics show as big blank panels at the front of the building WILL have windows in the actual design.) See the design packet here or below:
(‘Preferred option’ rendering from draft design packet by MZA Architecture)
The meeting proceeded along the standard format – here’s our recap:

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(‘Preferred option’ rendering from draft design packet by MZA Architecture)

Thursday night brings this year’s first – and so far only – scheduled meeting of the Southwest Design Review Board to look at a West Seattle development plan. It’s 1116 Alki SW, and the design packet for the meeting finally appeared online this afternoon, if you’re interested in reviewing it to comment on the plan – see it below or here.

This is the Early Design Guidance stage of Design Review, which means the board has to be shown three options for massing – size, shape, site placement of the building. Above is the project team’s “preferred option,” which would include 58 residential units in a six-story building with 92 parking spaces: 27 described as “mechanical,” 30 at ground level, 35 underground. The packet includes many other project details. The meeting is online at 5 pm Thursday (April 7th) and includes a public-comment period – this page has details of how to watch/listen/participate.

(Rendering by Steve Fischer Architects, for project approved for 3257 Harbor)

Another chapter in the long history of the development site centered on 3257 Harbor Avenue SW [map] – it’s back on the market, commercial real-estate listings show. We’ve written about it more than a few times over the past 15 years; it was once owned by disgraced developer Michael Mastro. The site subsequently has had multiple development proposals – in 2014, a mixed-use plan with 80+ apartments 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. Now the site’s on the market, with the plans for those 32 townhouses offered as part of the $5 million listing. A buyer could choose to start something else from scratch, as the townhouse project was approved under 40-foot zoning, and the site now has a 55-foot height limit.

A demolition crew is working right now at 6016 California SW [map] on the north end of Morgan Junction, starting with the house on the alley side of the lot, before moving on to tear down the small mixed-use building in front. The site is to be redeveloped with seven townhouses; the three fronting California will be live-work units. According to city permit files, the project will not include offstreet parking. This is a downsized plan for the site, which had a plan for 30+ microapartments five years ago; that was scrapped two years later.

Three quick updates tonight:

4022 BEACH DRIVE: Almost a month after the heavy equipment showed up at this redevelopment site, demolition was finally under way when we passed by this morning. As we noted in February, the 107-year-old house is to be replaced by four townhouses, each with a one-car garage.

1116 ALKI: The official notices went up this week for the upcoming Southwest Design Review Board meeting we told you about three weeks ago, the board’s first look at the proposal for 1116 Alki SW. The meeting date and time are the same – Thursday, April 7, 5 pm, online – and the link for participating in the meeting (which will include a public-comment period) is now available here. Though the city description calls the proposal a ’65-unit apartment building,” project materials online describe it simply as “residential” and include potential configurations that could have fewer units. This project is planned for a site that currently holds six houses.

2516 ALKI: The building that includes Duke’s Seafood Restaurant on Alki (WSB sponsor) has a new owner. An investment firm just bought it for $4.8 million, according to online records. The seller was a company to which Duke’s owner had sold it in 2015 for $3.3 million. Records show the new owners are part of an Eastside firm that has at least one other property in West Seattle, the Westwood Vista apartments just south of Westwood Village. According to a news release from the brokers who handled the recent sale, Duke’s has a “long-term lease” in the building, which also has a top-floor residential unit. There is no redevelopment proposal for the site currently, but it’s zoned for 4-story mixed-use.

The development site at Harbor/Avalon is being cleared, as work begins for the six-story, 114-unit building that’s been in the works for three years.

(Rendering by Atelier Drome Architecture)

This project now goes by the address 3405 Harbor Avenue SW (previously 3417) and is being developed by Housing Diversity Corporation with West Seattle-headquartered STS Construction (WSB sponsor) and Atelier Drome Architecture. HDC announced today that it’s closed a $25.7 million loan to finance the 3405 Harbor project, which is described as “91 attainably priced market-rate units as well as 23 rent-restricted units through Seattle’s Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) Program.” HDC, STS, and Atelier Drome are collaborating on a half-dozen other West Seattle projects, as noted on the HDC website, all projects we’ve been covering – 214 apartments at 1704 SW Roxbury, 96 apartments at 4448 California SW, 76 apartments at 9201 Delridge Way SW, 48 apartments at 6007 California SW. 39 townhouses at 2501 SW Orchard, and 24 apartments at 9038 21st SW.

Back to 3405 Harbor – documents in city files indicate the construction should last just over a year and a half, and that the Mandatory Housing Affordability fee paid for this project was just under a million dollars.

(‘Preferred option’ rendering from draft design packet by MZA Architecture)

Almost two years after we first reported on a development proposal for 1116 Alki Avenue SW [map], the project on Duwamish Head is set for its first Southwest Design Review Board meeting. We last mentioned the project one year ago, when the developers ran a survey as part of the Early Community Outreach process. The project is described on the city website as “a 6-story, 65-unit apartment building (with p)arking for 102 vehicles” but the draft packet for the upcoming meeting features three massing (size/shape) options that max out at 58 units with 87 offstreet-parking spaces. The project is to be built on a site that holds six houses, four of which are more than a century old. The SWDRB meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 7, at 5 pm, online; watch here for participation information when it gets closer. You can also send pre- and post-meeting comments to theresa.neylon@seattle.gov, to reach the city planner assigned to the project.

Thanks to the texter who tipped us that the backhoe has arrived at that destined-for-demolition house, 4022 Beach Drive SW [map], a particularly visible spot because of its proximity to Weather Watch Park and La Rustica. Online records say the 107-year-old house, sold late last year for $925,000, will be replaced by four townhouses, each with a single-car garage. The 5,000-square-foot lot is zoned Lowrise 2. One other note of interest: The city’s Shaping Seattle map now includes information on how development projects are dealing with the Mandatory Housing Affordability requirement (either incorporating affordable unit[s] or paying a fee that the city will invest in affordable housing elsewhere); it shows that the developers of this project will be charged a $106,000 fee.

From today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin, key approvals for nine single-family houses east of Puget Park. The lots carry addresses on Puget Way just south of SW Alaska [map], from 4704 through 4726, in a greenbelt-adjacent neighborhood uphill from West Marginal Way. Documents indicate the houses will each have parking for two vehicles. The proposed development has long been in the works – you can see the city notification signage in the Google Maps Street View image above, which is timestamped June of 2019, and city records show documents going back a year before that. The land-use approvals open a two-week window for appeals (deadline March 3rd), as explained in the notice.