West Seattle, Washington
05 Sunday
Thanks to Claire for pointing out this story on the Seattle Fire Department‘s Fire Line site: You’ll see fire crews at 2206 California SW (map) over the next four days. They’ll be setting and fighting fires to train more than a dozen recruits: “There will be sixteen fires ignited over the course of the week. Each day the fires will grow more intense and provide more challenging situations for the recruits.” According to the city website, live/work units and townhomes are planned for the site (after what is described there as “deconstruction”).
EX-REDLINE SITE: Just a month after Redline Music and Sports closed at 4439 35th SW, we got reports of work at the site, and we wondered if perhaps it was related to the development proposal that was reviewed last year. Nothing on the city docket – but perusing the liquor-license applications, we discovered we’d missed something last week: A new establishment seeking the license under the name The Bridge. We’ve got an inquiry out to one of the prospective owners in hopes of finding out more.
FUTURE TRADER JOE’S: At the end of September, we contacted site spokesperson John Wunder of Associates West Real Estate to ask why nothing had happened yet with the plan announced in June to remodel the old Huling Buick showroom at 4545 Fauntleroy Way into a new Trader Joe’s. He in turn checked with Trader Joe’s development department – which has been fairly impenetrable from the media front – and reported back that they expected to apply for a permit “within a month.” Now that the month’s come and gone, and because someone asked us about a rumor of trouble, we checked back with Wunder. He says Trader Joe’s is expecting to file the official application next week: “It’s taking a little longer than we thought, but it’s still going to happen.”
Following up on our earlier report: The three lawyers arguing for key interests in the legal fight over lien priorities in West Seattle’s stalled Fauntleroy Place project, aka “The Hole,” have just wrapped up their closing statements before King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead. She then said she will deliver her findings in the case at 9 am Monday, November 15th; rather than just sending out paperwork, she will read them aloud, in order to answer any questions. We’ll add toplines here from the closing statements – during which, at one point, the judge observed to a lawyer that it seemed much of the project and its financing had been “a charade” (she also acknowledged, when setting the date for announcing her decision, that she knows this is “important to the community” as well as to the individual parties involved). ADDED 11 PM: Click ahead for toplines from the closing arguments:Read More
As the end nears for the trial involving lawsuits over who gets paid what/when in relation to “The Hole” (June 2009 photo at right) – the project once known as Fauntleroy Place, once slated for Whole Foods, Hancock Fabrics and apartments, now a massive excavation idle for 2 years – we’re covering what happens in King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead‘s courtroom. WSB contributor Katie Meyer sat in on the trial again Tuesday, and reported that closing statements are expected today after one last round of witness testimony. Right now, we’re in court, where the witness on the stand was with Chicago Title when it evaluated title insurance for a sale of the project in summer 2008. Yesterday, Seattle Capital’s Robert Story, Jr., was among the witnesses, and said on the stand, “The day before the transaction fell apart [to sell to another lender], everyone felt it would close. It was a quite shocking and horrible day when we found out the deal wouldn’t close.” He was questioned about signing the “Owner’s Affidavit” document that was required (by Chicago Title) to receive title insurance, saying he signed it in the capacity of Seattle Capital Company, “acting on behalf of the lender,” on June 18, 2008. He testified that to his knowledge, there had been no real “work” done at the site prior to June 18th (in the key trial issue of whose lien/s take precedence for payment, that is a major question – what work was done, by whom, and when). Read on for other highlights from yesterday – including testimony from the developer who hopes to take over the site:Read More
This is the third week of the trial for the consolidated lawsuits filed over Fauntleroy Place, aka “The Hole,” also nicknamed “Hole Foods” before Whole Foods pulled out of the two-years-stalled West Seattle project (in which its role was only that as a tenant for the supposed-to-be-finished-by-now building). With the end of the trial drawing near, WSB contributor Katie Meyer is monitoring the courtroom action. She says the schedule that King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead and staff projected last week appears to be stretching out a bit – the judge said late today that the way things are going, closing statements are NOT likely tomorrow after all, Katie reports. Today’s witnesses included people from Seattle Capital, who had financed the project – John Huddleston and Robert Story, Jr. – as well as brief questioning of Nicholas Chase from Affordable Abatement, which worked on asbestos removal and interior demolition, regarding tens of thousands they say they had to write off that was owed to them for their work on the project. One of the main things the trial is supposed to determine is who owes who what and in what order; until that’s all settled, the site can’t move on to its next phase, which is prospective ownership by “3922 SW Alaska LLC,” related to Madison Development. Katie’s writing up more notes from court right now, to be added here later.
First, signs went up offering the forthcoming commercial space for lease. Now, scaffolding’s up on the east side of the stalled 35th/Avalon building, four months after news that it had been purchased by an area company, after being caught up in the Mastro Properties problems. The leasing is being handled by InCitySpace, described in the listing as “2415 (square feet of) retail/office space in shell condition awaiting strong tenant for build-out contribution by landlord,” $28 per square foot, potentially divisible into two 1,200-sf spaces. We have an inquiry out to ask about estimated completion and whether anybody’s signed on yet. (Thanks to everyone who sent tips about both the leasing sign and scaffolding sightings!)
(View of The Hole, photographed last month from atop the unrelated Link project)
One week after we reported the start of the trial in the tangle of lawsuits over “The Hole,” aka Fauntleroy Place, aka the 39th/Alaska site once envisioned for Whole Foods Market, Hancock Fabrics, and apartments, till everything fell apart in fall 2008, AFTER the site was excavated for what was to be a big underground parking garage. Yesterday, we went back to court to see how the trial’s going. For WSB, Katie Meyer sat in on yesterday’s session in King County Superior Court, and reports that Judge Susan Craighead estimates there’s enough testimony and cross-examination remaining to continue till at least Tuesday, with closing statements expected that day, and “oral findings” next Thursday.
Witnesses yesterday included BlueStar Management executive Steve Hartley, geotechnical engineer David Cotton, and Bryce Bryan Campbell, who was executive vice president of financier Seattle Capital when it was dealing with various parts of the 2-years-stalled project. Most of what they’re all arguing about (we published the full list of parties involved, from atop the legal documents, here) is who has the right to what compensation and in which priority/order. Ultimately, however this gets settled will affect what happens at the site next – a new entity related to Madison Development has been trying to take over the site, seeking “judicial foreclosure,” but until all the liens are settled, that apparently cannot happen.
Part of what’s being sorted out is how the whole thing fell apart, how BlueStar moved from being the developer to not being the developer (and some of that firm’s circumstances at the time were part of the questioning in court yesterday). BlueStar had told WSB this past spring that they still hoped somehow to be able to take over the project again; executive Hartley noted in court yesterday that they’d worked on it for seven years. Testifying later, former Seattle Capital executive Campbell said Fauntleroy Place had originally been seen as an investment for the firm, not a loan: “At the time, it wasn’t obvious the whole economy was going to come down.” He said SC had no intent to take the project through to completion, but rather to find a new buyer/sponsor for construction expenses, while retaining some ownership interest in the project. They had a choice between two such firms, and UDR won – but the path to finalizing that grew rocky, he testified. Whose fault it was that the project fell apart, is still at issue, as the different parties have different views, and that’s what the judge will have to sort out. Today is the last scheduled day of testimony for the week; we’ll go back to court when it resumes next week.
Many of West Seattle’s neighborhood councils/associations meet monthly. Those that don’t tend to have jampacked agendas when they do get together – and as usual, that was the case with the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting on Wednesday night. Of all the topics tackled, the long-in-the-works RapidRide bus system briefing was the beefiest, but the MoCA meeting also brought news about other subjects from an impending development to neighborhood crime/safety concerns – read on:Read More
(View of The Hole, photographed in September from atop the unrelated Link project)
We’re in King County Superior Court Judge Susan Craighead‘s courtroom downtown, after finally confirming today that what’s on her calendar as Ledcor Vs. Aero Construction is indeed the trial for the major legal fights over the stalled Fauntleroy Place development – aka The Hole. Judge Craighead’s staff told us by phone earlier today that the trial – two years in the making – was projected to take about two weeks, though they also noted that, after two days, it was running ahead of schedule. On the witness stand right now: Dan McTaggart from BlueStar, the original developer of the project, which was supposed to bring a Whole Foods Market and new Hancock Fabrics store, plus residential units and underground parking, to the 39th/Alaska spot that had previously held the old Hancock and a Schuck’s Auto Parts store.
Though we’ve just parachuted into the ongoing testimony, we’ve been following the paperwork online since the first two lawsuits were filed in March 2009 – as of right now, online records show 417 separate filings since the cases were consolidated in April of last year, some with triple-digit page counts, like the 100-plus-page list of evidence filed just before trial. One of the key points of contention – did construction work really ever start on the site, and who owes what to whom? (There was a ceremonial groundbreaking in June 2008; demolition work began weeks later – but work idled on the site later in the year, and it was finally revealed that the project had fallen apart and was headed for court.)
Meantime, the site’s future ownership – and ostensibly, future development – is linked to the outcome of this; a potential new owner has been seeking “judicial foreclosure” for more than a year, but as we understand it (at least pending a review of all the latest court docs), nothing will change till some of the key issues are settled – particularly liens for key project figures who say they’re owed money. We’ll track this as best we can during the trial (and of course, beyond).
Compare: Fauntleroy Way as it looks now, through The Triangle …
… and Fauntleroy Way as it might look, in a concept proposed as part of the ongoing West Seattle Triangle planning discussions:
Almost two years after a touchstone meeting that “started (the) conversation” about The Triangle’s future (2008 WSB coverage here), concepts like that one are progressing as part of an official city-involved process. It’s part of the presentation (see it here) given to the Seattle Design Commission last Thursday by architect David Hewitt, a consultant working with the city Department of Planning and Development and a citizens’ advisory group, as they try to envision how The Triangle could evolve with purpose as more development moves in among the existing businesses, large and small, in the next decade-plus. The Design Commission gave unanimous approval to this first round of concepts, which hasn’t yet been formally presented to the Advisory Group, whose next meeting has just been set for 5:30 pm October 27. Read on to see a few more concepts from the presentation, and how they were initially received:Read More
(All photos by WSB’s Patrick Sand unless otherwise credited)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
You can see downtown from the roof of Harbor Properties‘ under-construction Link – and when it’s done, from the same spot, you’ll also see a stretch of green.
No, not more of that green wrap: A rooftop garden (and sizable deck) will be atop the 195-apartment, plus ground-floor commercial, building along 38th SW north of SW Alaska (map) in The Triangle. Construction is about two-thirds done – it started in late November last year, and the building is scheduled for residents to start arriving in late March of next year.
After the project marked a milestone recently with the departure of its big crane, we requested a hard-hat tour, and Harbor obliged, with Steve Yoon and Emi McKittrick as our guides:
Starting at ground level, we could see the commercial part of the Link building taking shape.
That’s the spot along the alley (east side of Link) where a day-care provider plans to take a sizable space, about 12,500 square feet – and its operation will include an outdoor play area. The rest of the commercial space? For one, vegetarian restaurant Chaco Canyon Café is close to a deal, says McKittrick (you might recall the much-commented-on WSB story six months ago, asking you about potential interest).
As demolition continues, the old Admiral Safeway is almost entirely rubble now, except for the brick pillars holding steel triangles, as part of its former facade. The wall along California SW came down about two hours ago, quite the lesson for the students across the street, as explained by Luckie, who shared the photos:
Most of Lafayette Elementary was standing on the sidewalk at 10:30 this morning. The construction company at Safeway contacted principal Virginia Turner to let her know the brick wall along California Ave. would be demolished today. Each “bite” of the excavator was met with cheers, shrieks, and enthusiastic jumping up and down.
Here’s our photo of how things currently look at the site:
If we get more demolition photos later, we’ll add them here. The new store is scheduled to be complete and open next summer; a residential/work-share building along 42nd SW is being built separately. 1:46 PM UPDATE: Just talked to Ron from the demolition crew. He says the twin pillar/triangle structures probably won’t come down till next week, after the debris are all cleared (they’ve been filling and taking away truckloads, just while we’ve been staked out).
As noisy and dusty as demolition can be, it can sometimes lead to fleeting scenes you might even consider beautiful. Diane shared these photos from the Admiral Safeway site, taken last night – note the old clock suddenly front and center:
Also revealed, curving framework:
And then the newer facade, still standing:
Another look:
As we’ve noted the past few days, you can now check in on a webcam focused on the site – see it here. P.S. Looking further back into the week, Christopher Boffoli got this video as the major demolition began a couple days ago – coverage of other stories got in the way of publishing it till now:
Thanks to Jessica (whose site Memoirs of a Weird Girl is one of the 100+ sites on the WSB Blogs page) for sharing that photo of demolition at the Admiral Safeway redevelopment site today – you can see the crews are proceeding toward the facade. As noted here yesterday, Safeway also now has a webcam you can check; we’ll add images later in the day as this proceeds. The new store – almost twice as big as the old one – is expected to be open by midsummer next year.
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Another update on the Admiral Safeway redevelopment project, as the first week of demolition continues (here’s our report from Monday) – Sara Corn at Safeway regional HQ says demolition of the main building is beginning today, and the promised webcam is now up too. See it here; you can also find it from Safeway’s project website. (Nothing dramatic to see at the moment, but it’s intended to chronicle construction as it continues over the months ahead, with the new store expected to open next summer.) 11:49 PM NOTE: Our photo is from this afternoon; by nightfall, WSB’er Diane reports, the demolition appeared to be at least halfway done – we’ll check again tomorrow.
ORIGINAL 10:51 AM REPORT: Thanks to WSB’er Diane for pointing out that the fencing’s up all around the Admiral Safeway site. We checked in with Sara Corn at Safeway HQ – and she confirmed that demolition is starting this week. Here’s what we’ve found there this morning: A backhoe’s in place behind the 42nd/Lander house that’s being demolished (top photo) along with the main store building, and Seattle Fire Department crews are doing roof-ventilation training – here’s Ladder 11 on site:
As noted here last month, Safeway has set up a website with project details – the link’s here.
4:25 PM UPDATE: We checked again around 12:30, and the house was still standing – but in the ensuing few hours, it was torn down. Carrie Ann shares this photo:
She says it was quite the attraction for families from nearby Lafayette Elementary once school let out.
ORIGINAL 1:44 AM REPORT: Just before the long holiday weekend, we reported on the city Hearing Examiner‘s decisions regarding the “upzoning” proposed for a block-plus stretch of California SW south of the Admiral District: Examiner Sue Tanner recommends the City Council approve the proposal to change the zoning from NC1-30 to NC2-40, meaning larger commercial spaces and taller buildings allowed. She also ruled against a community activist’s appeal of the city’s determination that the zoning change would be environmentally “nonsignificant.” We received the decisions via postal mail; we immediately requested electronic copies – and they’ve finally arrived in e-mail, so we have uploaded them to our site for you to read in their entirety if you’re interested: The decision recommending City Council approval of the rezone is here; the decision affirming the “determination of (environmental) nonsignificance” – denying community activist Dennis Ross‘s appeal – is here. As noted in our story a week ago, September 16th is the deadline for people “substantially affected” by the rezone approval recommendation to appeal; we are checking to see if the council’s Built Environment committee has a date yet for its vote on the rezone proposal.
ADDED 9:36 AM: Just talked with Michael Jenkins from the council’s Central Staff. He says the council has 90 days to get the proposal before the committee – and it’s not likely to happen any time soon, since the council will be busy with the budget for the next few months. If the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation is appealed, he says – noting that a few people have inquired about that process, though no formal appeal has come in yet – that ups the time line to 120 days. He has one other note: By law, council members cannot be contacted directly about matters like this; if you want to find out how to comment, or have other questions about the process, Jenkins says he’d be happy to help – e-mail him at michael.jenkins@seattle.gov.
Thanks to Sharonn Meeks in Fairmount for noticing this morning that the big crane at the Triangle construction site for Link (38th south of Fauntleroy) appeared to be coming down – we went over to take a look (another crane is there to help dismantle it), then confirmed with Harbor Properties‘ Emi McKittrick that’s indeed what’s happening, seven months after the crane’s arrival. We asked McKittrick for other project updates: Link is scheduled to open around the end of March, and will start pre-leasing apartments in January, she says. They have a letter of intent from vegetarian restaurant Chaco Canyon Café – remember the big reaction to word that Chaco Canyon was looking at Link? – and are negotiating with them. As for the two other retail spaces in Link, she says “a day-care provider” has signed up for one space and will make its announcement soon, while they’re still negotiating with a potential tenant for the third space. McKittrick tells WSB they’re also really excited about the plans for Link’s rooftop garden – they’re planning “urban agriculture” with an edible garden that’ll grow lettuce, carrots, and other types of produce that residents can “take care of, and harvest, and eat!” There’s more Link info online at linkapts.com.
Two weeks after the daylong hearing on the proposal to “upzone” a block-plus of California SW between Hanford and Hinds (WSB coverage here), the city Hearing Examiner‘s rulings have just arrived in the mail – one, her recommendation regarding the proposal itself; the other, her decision on the appeal challenging the Department of Planning and Development‘s “determination of [environmental] non-significance” regarding the proposal. We are still reading the documents – and will link here if they’re online – but short report for starters: Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner recommends that the City Council approve the rezoning (from the current NC1-30 to NC2-40, which allows taller buildings with larger commercial spaces), and ruled that the DPD’s “determination of non-significance” stands. 12:45 PM UPDATE: Read on for details from the decisions, which so far as we can tell are NOT online yet – and we’ll continue to add more:Read More
Covering tonight’s Feet First–organized Walk and Talk Tour of the West Seattle Triangle with Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, photojournalist Edgar Riebe of Captive Eye Media reports participants braved the weather to visit spots from West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park (above) to an inside look at the under-construction Link, below:
We’ll add Edgar’s video report on the tour later tonight. Meantime, the city-led Triangle Advisory Group meetings continue later this fall, according to information received by group members; the next meeting’s been set for October 27th, with a public open house planned on November 10th.
11:58 PM UPDATE: Here’s Edgar’s video report:
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
If you saw a woman with short white hair, perhaps a notebook too, roaming the 3200 block of California purposefully over the weekend – that just might have been City of Seattle Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner.
She’s the most powerful city official you’ve (probably) never heard of, and she announced at the end of last Wednesday’s combined hearing on that block’s three-years-in-progress “upzoning” request that she would make a site visit before writing a report on the request and ruling on a related appeal, “probably (visiting) on the weekend.” (Whether last weekend or next, we won’t know till her report.)
“But if you see me,” she warned, “do NOT approach me.”
Though you are not asked to rise when she enters her chambers on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown, Tanner’s role is similar to that of a judge. She listens to sworn testimony, sometimes to public comment, in hearings on matters that may sound mundane from a distance, unless you are the one whose livelihood and/or property will be directly affected by the ruling – as is the case for most of those involved in this case, both the neighbors along the blocks immediately behind the block proposed for a zoning change, and those who own the dozens of parcels that would be eligible for higher buildings and larger commercial spaces if the zoning is changed.
On Wednesday of last week, the rezone proposal occupied the Hearing Examiner’s docket for the entire day, which began with most of the 30 or so seats in her chambers filled – mostly with the aforementioned neighbors, wearing lime-green ribbons – and ended seven hours later with most of the seats empty.
As was observed during this morning’s groundbreaking for Transitional Resources‘ new Avalon Place facility (2988 SW Avalon Way, just north of the old Tillicum Village building) – here’s the before/after:
TR is one of those places you drive by all the time without realizing it’s there. Its business is to help those with “serious, persistent” mental-health challenges, dozens of whom either live in its current buildings along Avalon, or get services there. Now it’s adding a brand-new building that’ll provide 16 “permanent, affordable housing” units, as well as space for other services, and that’s what brought TR staff, board members, and dignitaries out for today’s brief ceremony. In our video, the woman toward the right is TR CEO Darcell Slovek-Walker; the others include King County Executive Dow Constantine and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen (project funding includes county and city dollars). Slovek-Walker tells us the house now on the site (you can see it in our video) will be demolished within a week or two; construction of Avalon Place should take about seven months.
We’ve been out covering a boatload of big events, but first wanted to tell you, if you watch West Seattle development, that the first Southwest Design Review Board meeting in about half a year is over, and the 7100 Delridge project – 58 apartments, 1,750 square feet of retail, and three rental houses behind the building – made it through the “Early Design Guidance” phase. We’ll add full details later about architect Warren Pollock‘s presentation and SWDRB members’ advice. Next step: At least one more meeting, at which the design will have to be presented in more detail.
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