Tonight could be the last Design Review session for Conner Homes‘ two-building, 7-story project at California/Alaska/42nd, and that means potentially one of the last in-person public-comment opportunities on the first major redevelopment project in the heart of The Junction. If you missed our report Tuesday, here’s the link to the presentation that’ll be shown tonight; the meeting’s at 6:30 pm at High Point Library (map). Lots of other major events tonight too – please check the WSB West Seattle-wide Events calendar for the full list.

We showed you new images like that one last Thursday (WSB coverage here) when Conner Homes brought the “alley vacation” portion of its Junction megaproject (California/Alaska/42nd) back before the Seattle Design Commission. Now, two days before its next Design Review meeting here in West Seattle (6:30 pm Thursday @ High Point Library), that entire planned presentation is available online – download it here (15 MB PDF). Many are images we’ve shown you during and after the past few Design Commission presentations (courtesy of architects Weber Thompson), but there’s lots of additional detail you’ll want to see if you’re interested in this closely scrutinized two-building project at the heart of The Junction. Here’s another image, showing the east building on the Alaska/42nd corner:

We saw them this morning on our way to a story interview – didn’t get a photo, didn’t see them when we headed back the other way, but perhaps they were just on break (we’re checking again now) because we have since received several e-mails (thank you!) asking about them, and that’s why we’re mentioning it: The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters was protesting another West Seattle worksite, with drums and cowbells in addition to picket signs. This time, it’s the Avalon Center construction site at 35th/Avalon; the signs said they’re protesting Rain City, a contractor firm. Last time they were spotted here, a week and a half ago (WSB coverage here), they were protesting a scaffolding company at an apartment building undergoing renovations south of The Junction. (Update – no sign of them again at 1:45 pm, so we’re concluding at this point they’re done for the day.)

(added 5:12 pm, newly released rendering of proposed western Conner project building at California/Alaska)

That’s Conner Homes boss Charlie Conner speaking briefly to the Seattle Design Commission this afternoon at City Hall, before commissioners’ third review of the “subterranean alley vacation” that’s needed for his project to have one underground parking garage shared by its two proposed 8-story buildings at California/Alaska/42nd. Any kind of “alley vacation” — allowing a land owner to take public property — generally requires the owner/developer to offer some kind of “public benefit” in return; as Conner recapped in his remarks, that’s the part that commissioners hadn’t been so sure about, though they signed off on the design concept during an earlier meeting. The extensive discussions of the previous reviews — which we covered here and here — were not replicated today; project architect Peter Greaves of Weber Thompson recapped a few elements in which he had responded to commissioners’ previously voiced concerns, and the commission gave its approval with few comments/questions. This isn’t the final approval for the alley vacation; SDOT’s alley-vacation specialist Beverly Barnett told WSB after the meeting that her work on it is not yet done, and once her department has a recommendation, it goes to the City Council’s Transportation Committee. The Conner project has an even bigger date before then – next Thursday, 6:30 pm at High Point Library, what could be the final Design Review Board look at the entire project. We have images from today’s presentation, courtesy of Weber Thompson, and will add them later this afternoon.

ADDED 5:06 PM: For starters, here’s the full Conner presentation (5 MB PDF). Also just added the first image from that presentation at the top of this report – a new rendering showing what the western building of the project might look like.

ADDED 6:36 PM: Jump ahead for more images made public today, and a few more details from this afternoon’s Design Commission meeting:Read More

That video by WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli captures what happened on the day last November that 4532 42nd SW (map) — a huge house with a lot of history, including time spent as one of West Seattle’s original hospitals — met its demise. The newest date written onto the Southwest Design Review Board‘s calendar is for the next review of the project that will replace it, seen here in a rendering from its last SWDRB review last June:

4532 42nd SW is now the second project on the SWDRB agenda for April 9, 8 pm – location TBD – first one that night, at 6:30 pm, is 2922 SW Avalon (featured here yesterday). But there’s a West Seattle Design Review meeting *before* then, too – a week from tomorrow, at 6:30 pm March 12 at High Point Library, the Conner Homes Junction project gets its next look (and part of that project, its “alley vacation” request, has a third hearing before the Seattle Design Commission at City Hall downtown tomorrow). Side note: We cover the Design Review scheduling, reviews, and votes closely because this is a rare step in the development process, for some projects, when the public gets a chance to speak out at a public hearing. For details on how that works, you can check out the Community Guide to Design Review.

(January 2009 rendering of Conner project alley area, courtesy Weber Thompson)
Will the third time be the charm for Conner Homes as it takes the “alley vacation” portion of its West Seattle Junction megaproject back to the Seattle Design Commission? That group has to sign off on such requests (as do SDOT and the City Council) and already has seen two presentations by Conner’s architects, each time asking for an encore (WSB coverage: January 2009 and November 2008). Now, they’re set to make another presentation at 2 pm this Thursday during the commissioners’ all-day meeting in the Boards and Commissions room at City Hall downtown (map). In this case, the “alley vacation” isn’t the classic case of a developer wanting the actual alley, but instead, requesting the right to use land UNDER the alley, to connect what otherwise would be two separate underground garages for the two buildings at California/Alaska/42nd. (Meantime, as mentioned here last month, the entire two-building project also is set to return to the Southwest Design Review Board on March 12 – 6:30 pm, High Point Library.)

In August 2007, before Pegasus Pizza moved out of 2758 Alki and next door into the former Coyotes/Chez Million/Point/etc. space, there was a proposal for a new ground-floor restaurant/top-floor “offices” building to be built at that site (here’s our original report). Today’s Land Use Information Bulletin has just arrived with word of a different application for 2758 Alki (here’s the notice; here’s the project page) – this time, 3,000+ square feet of “retail” at ground level, two residential units above. There are a few more West Seattle projects in the LUIB (added 1:30 pm): 1111 SW Holden, 1 lot approved for subdivision into 4; 9028 18th SW, 1 lot approved for subdivision into 3; 5980 26th SW, application to subdivide 1 lot into 2.

(1254 Alki in the right foreground, 1252 and 1250 to the left)
Last November, we reported on 3 side-by-side houses for sale on Alki Ave in the 1700 block (that listing’s status is “withdrawn”). Today, we thank Shauna for tipping us to a new three-fer listing, in the 1200 block (map): $6 million dollars for what’s billed as a “20-unit condo site” in this CL listing (which also poses the question, “What will the demand be in three years?”). The addresses (linking to online property history) are 1250, 1252, and 1254.

The city has set a “tentative” date for the Conner Homes Junction project’s next Southwest Design Review Board meeting – potentially the last one, if the board approves of the proposal: March 12, 6:30 pm, location TBA (added later: the site is now set – High Point Library). This is the two-building project, California/Alaska/42nd with an alley between the two; the image above is one of several we published from the most recent city Design Commission meeting related to the “alley vacation” proposal (because of the underground parking garage) that’s part of the plan. That commission has seen that street-level portion of the project twice since the last Design Review meeting on the entire project (WSB coverage here, from last May; official city report from the same meeting is here), and still has to review it again before SDOT can consider signing off on that component.

As reported here three weeks ago, the Junction megaproject along SW Alaska between 41st and 42nd is continuing to make major progress, with developer Leon Capelouto telling WSB in that January 22nd report that Capco Plaza’s major retail tenants QFC and Office Depot are likely to open before fall, with the newly named Altamira Luxury Apartments opening in November. This morning, another sign of that progress — WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli photographed the project’s crane being taken down:

We also received a note from neighbor Jaina that this work led to some vehicles being towed this morning along 41st, in an area she says got “no parking” signs on short notice – if you had a car parked in the area last night, you may want to check its status sooner rather than later! By the way, the crane is departing after more than 13 months – its arrival was big news on New Year’s Eve 2007, and this WSB report included photographs contributed by multiple sources, including Christopher, who got great shots from the top of nearby Alaska House, like this one:

The crane for Mural, Harbor Properties‘ megaproject on 42nd across from Jefferson Square, was taken down in November (WSB coverage here), and of course we’re not going to see a crane arrive for Fauntleroy Place until its new ownership is finalized (here’s our followup from two weeks ago).

Thanks to Robert for the link – Times reports Fauntleroy Place project is being sold. May explain why BlueStar hadn’t been returning our phone calls/e-mails (though a rep replied Tuesday he’d call Wednesday, and didn’t). Will add any additional details we find; we have a call out to Seattle Capital (described as one of the current co-owners, though county records still list Fauntleroy Place LLC, with BlueStar‘s address, as site owner). As we reported Tuesday, Whole Foods reiterated its commitment to the West Seattle project (but of course that didn’t necessarily imply the developer would remain the same). ADDED 12:51 PM: King County online records show 8 liens related to the property filed in the past month and a half, with parties including construction and engineering firms. Details of the liens are not available online, just the names and dates. ADDED 1:12 PM: For document-reading fans, here’s a copy of the 10-page lease agreement filed last March, between Whole Foods and Fauntleroy Place LLC. ADDED 1:46 PM: Here’s a document that shows FP transferred the Deed of Trust and other key interests to Seattle Capital last June. 3:49 PM UPDATE: Have just heard back both from Seattle Capital via e-mail and BlueStar by phone, writing a separate update, will post the link in this report when it’s done.

Checking on the Junction megaprojects’ status, we just talked with Leon Capelouto, the longtime West Seattle businessman whose mixed-use building is well under way between 41st and 42nd on Alaska (previous update, last September). First: Both QFC and Office Depot are moving forward as the major retail tenants, and are likely to open this summer — Capelouto tells WSB that QFC will open first, Office Depot shortly thereafter. Negotiations are still under way for potential tenants in the remaining smaller retail spaces in the complex. While the project’s main name is Capco Plaza, he says there’s a new name for the 157 apartments that will be atop the stores: Altamira (which has the stirrings of a website here) – you can see it on the project’s east side:

The apartments are likely to be ready to occupy around November, a few months after the retail spaces open. Right now, Capelouto adds, construction is going well; the roof’s on the building and the brick’s being put on (as you can see in the photo above, taken this afternoon).

(from illustrated highlights of the new proposal; see the full version here)
6 months after it was unveiled, with a West Seattle architect on hand for the occasion, the much-watched “Multi-Family Code Update“ – centered on changes to the rules regarding townhouse design – has moved from the mayor’s office to the City Council. Here’s the official announcement:Read More

This time last year, Charlestown Court — the oft-admired brick fourplex at 3811 California (map) — was soon to be reviewed for possible landmark status as a requirement before a proposal to tear it down could proceed; WSB closely covered the process, which ended in April with the city Landmarks Board deciding landmark status wasn’t merited. But instead of demolition equipment showing up – a new proposal materialized, and that’s what we have an update on tonight:

Two months after the non-landmark decision, West Seattle-based Nicholson Kovalchick Architects unveiled a new design that saved Charlestown Court’s distinctive “wings”; 2 days after revealing it at an Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, architect Michael Godfried presented it to the Southwest Design Review Board, which gave its approval. Now, the city has just granted a land-use permit for the project, while the construction-permit application is still under review. We asked Godfried about the project’s status; he replied, “The master-use permit is completed and the developers intend to build the project. Given the current economy the construction time frame is in question and we have not yet started building permit drawings. The developers also would like to complete the Dakota project on California before moving on to Charlestown.” (That refers to this condo complex at 4116 California, a teardown site that drew some interesting reminiscences here at demolition time.)

The second Seattle Design Commission review of the Conner Homes California/Alaska/42nd megaproject has just concluded. Two updates, with more details to be added after we switch locations: #1, Jim Miller from Conner confirms that the two-building project is going in the “apartment direction” instead of condos, though they will be “built to condo spec.” (We spoke with him after the commission vote, seeking clarification after we heard architect Peter Greaves repeatedly mention “apartments” and “leasing office” in the presentation.) #2, Design Commissioners voted to have the project return to them one more time. Their vote basically is needed to approve the “public benefit” a developer is offering in exchange for an alley vacation — in this one, Conner wants the space under the alley as part of a big underground parking garage — and a narrow majority (five of the nine commissioners) voted that the proposal still doesn’t offer enough public benefit. We’ll add details shortly, plus images from a CD we’ve just received of the presentation that was made. ADDED 1:59 PM: The image added above (thanks to the architects, Weber Thompson) shows the Alaska/California corner, looking southwest through a new rendering of a corner setback, with a “column.” Here’s the same spot, looking south – this would be roughly where the Super Supplements entrance is now:

And this is a rendering of the alley between the two Conner buildings, looking north (toward where the salon and jewelry/watch shop are now, across the street):

ADDED 9:57 PM: More images, and details from today’s Design Commission review:Read More