Two more teardown-to-townhouse projects are now in the city’s “early-design outreach” phase – meaning they’re required to let the neighborhood know they’re planned. Both are on blocks with other redevelopment projects:

6021 42ND SW: This proposal [map] is for three townhouse units facing 42nd SW and two behind them, replacing a 102-year-old house.

(King County Assessor photos)

Online documents say one offstreet-parking spot per unit is planned, and that the project will go through Streamlined Design Review (explained here), meaning no public meetings, though there will be a comment period. Contact information is in this city-website post. (Added: Thanks to the commenter who points out this house was damaged by fire half a year ago.)

2612 45TH SW: Though the city-website post has two different descriptions about the project’s scope, we checked other online documents and they show 7 townhouse units with 6 offstreet-parking spaces, replacing a 108-year-old house:

This site [map] also is planned for Streamlined Design Review.

Also discussed at this month’s Alki Community Council meeting – an early-design survey has been launched by the developers of a Duwamish Head site on which we’ve reported multiple times in the past year. A 65-unit project is proposed for 1001-1116 Alki Avenue SW, currently the site of six old houses. As part of the “early community outreach” process, the developers have set up this project website, which notes:

N&M Management LLC and MZA Architecture are partnering on the redevelopment of 1001 – 1116 Alki Ave SW. The proposed 6-story residential building will include:

65 residential units
102 parking stalls
bike parking
a rooftop patio

(That’s the minimum number of offstreet-parking spaces mandated for area development by the Alki Parking Overlay district – one and a half per unit.) The website includes a community survey that’s open for two more weeks. The ACC discussion was brief; the developers weren’t at the meeting, so it was more of an FYI. But a few attendees expressed concern that the project’s size was out of scale for the area. The project’s official address is 1116 Alki.

That’s an early-design concept for 1123 Harbor SW, the site from which the historic “Stone Cottage“ will soon be moved. The project is expected to have six stories, 18 residential units, and 27 off-street parking spaces. The project’s land-use application is now filed, opening a two-week comment period, through April 7th – the notice explains how to comment. As announced last weekend, the “Stone Cottage” move is expected to happen soon, probably next month.

Two updates on development sites we’ve mentioned before in their earliest stages:

(Image courtesy Google Maps/Street View)

1116 ALKI SW: It’s been almost a year since we first mentioned an early-stage concept for “50 to 65” residential units replacing houses on six lots including the one with the official project address. Now it’s officially entering the Early Design Guidance phase of Design Review, and the description has firmed up to “a six-story residential building with 65 units, 100 parking stalls, and a rooftop terrace.” (The Alki area has a “parking overlay” that requires one and a half spaces for each residential unit.) The formal comment period hasn’t opened yet, but if you have a question, there’s a project-contact email address in this notice.

6007 CALIFORNIA SW: Four days ago, we mentioned the early-stage site plan for a four-story mixed-use building to replace the preschool and fourplex on this site in north Morgan Junction. No new details on the plan yet, but the project team has just launched a webpage and hotline for community comment as part of the “early outreach” requirements.

Two development notes this morning:

6007 CALIFORNIA SW: An early-stage site plan has been filed proposing a “new 4-story mixed use building” for 6007 California SW [map]. currently the site of a preschool/day-care facility and a 4-plex.

No other details, since this is a very early filing; the site-outline document is by the architecture firm Atelier Drome.

4515 44TH SW UPDATE: It’s been almost a year since we first reported a plan for apartments at the former CDE Software site in The Junction, at 4515 44th SW [map].

(King County Assessor’s Office photo)

The formal application is now in the comment stage, according to a notice in today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin, which now describes the project as a “4-story apartment building with 43 small efficiency dwelling units. No parking proposed.” You can comment through March 29th; the notice explains how.

Demolition has begun at 2715 California SW, across from Hiawatha, clearing the site where the long-planned Admiral Station mixed-use development will be built. We reported on the project’s land-use approval two years ago, when it was described as a “4-story, 49-unit apartment building (44 units and 5 small efficiency units) with retail and office” and 46 off-street parking spaces. The view above is from the alley on the west side of the site. Here’s a rendering from when the project went through Design Review in 2017:

(Rendering from design packet by architect for project’s second Design Review Board meeting)

The site held three small commercial/residential buildings; construction is expected to last about a year. (Thanks to the reader whose recent tip about activity at the site put this back on our watch list!)

2:40 PM WEDNESDAY: That’s the former West Seattle Christian Church preschool building, more recently an arts center and clothing bank, on the southwest corner of 42nd SW and SW Genesee, and if you want to take one last look at it, your time is running out. Multiple sources tell WSB it’s set for demolition starting tomorrow (a no-parking zone has been in effect around the building since yesterday). It’s been a year and a half since we first reported on the redevelopment plan for this site, which was upzoned to a 55-foot maximum by HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability.

(Architect’s rendering)

It’s expected to include 72 “small efficiency dwelling units” – microapartments – and 5 live-work units, with 36 offstreet-parking places.

10:53 AM THURSDAY: We went by to check, and indeed, demolition is under way:

ORIGINAL 2:35 PM: Just discovered in city files: Another redevelopment proposal for The Junction. This one would be a 7-story mixed-use building with almost 100 apartments, proposed to replace 4448-4456 California SW – the California/Oregon buildings that formerly held a real-estate office and currently hold The Salon at The Junction and Shadowland, plus a small office building (which includes the West Seattle Junction Association headquarters).

(King County Assessor’s Office photos)

(7 stories is what the site is zoned for – 75 feet.) This is a very early-stage proposal, meaning actual construction would be years away; this roughed-out site plan was filed Friday by the architecture firm Atelier Drome County Assessor’s Office records show the north part of the site is owned by an LLC headed up by Craig Haveson of STS Construction Services (WSB sponsor), who has been busy in South Delridge redevelopment lately. and the south part is owned by an LLC including Shadowland founders. We have followup questions out to a project spokesperson and will add whatever else we find out.

7:02 PM: Michelle Linden from Atelier Drome has answered some of our questions and provided a key correction: “There is a typo that we are working to correct with the City. The addresses are 4448 and 4452. The Shadowland building is not part of this project.” So Shadowland fans can stand down. She adds, in response to two other questions we asked: “We are planning for regular apartments (not micros) with commercial at the ground floor. Parking is tbd.”

One year after we first reported on a redevelopment plan for a HALA-upzoned Morgan Junction site, the early-design proposal has appeared on the city’s Design Review site. You can see the packet here. The site’s official address is 6314 41st SW, but it also spans 6308 41st and 4023 SW Grahamp. The project will go through Administrative Design Review, which means no public meeting, though comments will be taken via email. The proposal is now described as “three apartment buildings (3, 4, and 5 stories) with 6 Efficiency Dwelling Units and 30 apartment units (36 units total). Parking for 15 vehicles proposed.” The design packet shows a mix of studios, 1 bedrooms, and 2 bedrooms. The developer/designer is still Texas-based StoryBuilt, though property records still don’t show a change in ownership. The parcels in this project were originally put on the market in 2017, as part of a package that floated the idea of a larger project, but instead the area’s seen smaller proposals such as this one and townhouse clusters. Design comments for this project? greg.johnson@seattle.gov is who to email.

More than two years after clearing the first phase of Design Review, the redevelopment proposal for 3201 SW Avalon Way – site of the Golden Tee Apartments [map] – is back on the front-burner. We dug into the file after a tip from C that the city put up new signs today. Documents show the project has gone through some changes since that 2018 meeting (WSB coverage here) – including a new architect (Public47 has replaced NK) and a change in toplines (now 8 stories, 144 units, 70 offstreet-parking spaces, previously 7/150/85). The new signage mentions a “grocery store and restaurant” but the new documentation shows two retail spaces only totaling 3,600+ square feet on the building’s north side. The project still needs to go before the Southwest Design Review Board at least one more time, but that’s not yet on the board’s calendar (which currently is wide open for 2021).

Two development notes from the city’s latest Land Use Information Bulletin:

1606 CALIFORNIA SW COMMENT TIME: This site in North Admiral has had redevelopment plans for seven years – but they’ve changed over time, from a small apartment building, to the current plan, an 8-unit rowhouse project, 3-stories with 8 offstreet parking spaces in “basement garages.” Its developers have now applied for a land-use permit, and that’s opened a public comment period through December 21st. This notice explains how to comment.

6940 25TH SW: The city has denied a developer’s request to be exempted from a requirement “to extend the public drainage system across the full frontage of the property.” specifically, extending “a 12-inch diameter storm drainage main … from an existing 18” storm drainage main in SW Myrtle St north along 25th Avenue SW approximately 300 feet to the north boundary of the property.” A representative of the developer, who was considering buying the 22,400-sf site to build at least three houses, said the requirement would “caus(e) a severe and unexpected financial hardship.” In a written decision, the city disagreed:

Since this property has not even been purchased … it cannot reasonably be claimed to meet the test of 22.800.040.C(a) as a severe financial hardship, and as the requirement was communicated to the applicant during the City’s first notification of the proposed project on 8/5/2019, neither can it be considered unexpected.

It’s not clear whether the proposed project is still active; county property records show the land is still in the same ownership as it had since long before this proposal, and there were no permit applications since the aforementioned 2019 date.

(Rendering by Atelier Drome Architecture)

The Southwest Design Review Board voted last night to give its final approval to the 115-apartment proposal for 3417 Harbor SW, just north of the west end of the West Seattle Bridge. All five board members were there for the online meeting – eight and a half months after the first review at the board’s last in-person meeting – along with the city’s assigned planner Crystal Torres and architect Michelle Linden from Atelier Drome Architecture. Board members agreed that the architects had done a good job of followup on the recommendations from the first meeting. Most of the board thought the east side facing Harbor could use more balconies. Linden said that the current design reflects SDOT‘s rules on how to use space above streets, but she would see if it is possible to add balconies.The board also wanted the architect to rethink the materials for the southeast-entrance area. Public comment came from neighbors on 30th behind the building. One said they appreciated meeting with the developer and architects, but the building just isn’t in keeping with the overall character of the neighborhood. The others also said the building wasn’t what they thought should be in the space, again because it is out of character. Design Review boards, however, only have say over the design (see the meeting packet here), not veto power over projects. You can still comment on other aspects of the proposal, though, through the planner – email crystal.torres@seattle.gov – as it continues to go through other reviews for land-use and construction permitting.

Two West Seattle development notes:

COMMENT TIME FOR 6314 41ST SW: Comments have opened as Administrative Design Review begins for this project with three small apartment buildings with a total of 36 units and 15 offstreet-parking units. From the notice:

SDCI will accept written comments to assist in the preparation of the early design guidance through November 30, 2020. You are invited to offer comments regarding important site planning and design issues you believe should be addressed in the design of this project. Please note that the proposed design will likely evolve through the review process.

The notice explains how to send your comments.

DESIGN REVIEW MEETING TOMORROW FOR 3417 HARBOR SW: Reminder that tomorrow night is the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting for this 115-apartment, 68-offstreet-parking-space project just north of the West Seattle Bridge’s west end. The meeting starts at 5 pm Thursday, online. The design packet is here, with connection information (and how to comment/ask questions during the meeting) here This is potentially the final meeting for the project; our previous coverage is here.