DEVELOPMENT: Preview ‘early design’ before review meeting Thursday for 4448 California SW
The newest redevelopment proposal for The Junction goes to the Southwest Design Review Board in an online meeting this Thursday. It’s a first look at 4448 California SW, in the Early Design Guidance phase, so the proposal focuses on options for the building’s size, shape, and placement on site, not its final appearance. It’s proposed for 96 apartments across six stories over ground-floor commercial space, no offstreet parking proposed (none is required), on a parcel zoned for up to 75 feet, currently holding the commercial building that’s rented to Doll Parts Collective and a mortgage lender. Here’s the meeting packet by architects Atelier Drome:
4448 California packet by WestSeattleBlog
(You can also see the meeting packet here.) Information on how to attend/watch/listen to the meeting at 5 pm Thursday (July 15th), and how to comment on the project’s design, can be found here.
DESIGN REVIEW: Mixed-use plan for 9208 20th SW gets board’s final approval
The Southwest Design Review Board gave its approval Thursday night to the project that now carries the address 9208 20th SW [map], formerly 9201 Delridge Way SW. No public comments were offered, and board recommendations were few; most of the changes proposed at the previous meeting in October (WSB coverage here) had already been incorporated into the design presented during the online meeting.
Four SWDRB members were present – chair Scott Rosenstock, newly appointed members Patrick Cobb and Johanna Lirman, and member Alan Grainger. The city was represented by planner Tami Garrett, who’s handling the project, and Design Review program manager Lisa Rutzick. Read More
DEVELOPMENT: 39 townhouses proposed for 2051 SW Orchard
While a long-in-the-works development plan proceeds for the north side of SW Orchard just east of Delridge Way, there’s now a new one for the south side of the street.
An early-stage site plan has just been filed with the city for 2051 SW Orchard (the site highlighted yellow in the screengrab above from King County Parcel Viewer). The site plan shows 39 townhouses, with offstreet parking in “shared underground garages.” The prospective development team is currently the most prolific in West Seattle – an entity of STS Construction (WSB sponsor) is listed as the owner (though not yet in county records), with architect Atelier Drome. Since this is an early-stage plan, there’s no timetable yet for feedback, reviews, and public comment.
As for the proposal on the north side of the street – city files indicate the 18-townhouse project, which hasn’t yet finished Design Review, is still being actively pursued. That project has a different owner/architect team.
Part of Walker Rock Garden site to be redeveloped
Thanks to the neighbors who’ve sent photos, including the one above. Redevelopment has begun on the site that holds part of the Walker Rock Garden, a backyard work of art created more than a half-century ago as a true labor of love (here’s the backstory), east of Fairmount Park.
The original owners are long gone. A decade ago, relatives put the site up for sale, hoping to find a buyer interested in maintaining the rock garden. That time, it didn’t sell. Two years later, they listed it again. No sale that time either. Finally, last fall, the south part of the site was sold to a developer, and a permit was sought for redevelopment with two houses.
When we inquired about the sale and the garden’s status, the family told us, “The Garden, due to time and time’s natural impact on things, has experienced significant deterioration on the rock and structures. Unfortunately, no one was identified who could make the hefty financial and time investments needed to restore and maintain the Garden.” It used to be made available for public visits on Mother’s Day; last one we have record of was in 2014.
The north part of the site still holds the original house, now a rental, and at least some of the rock art. But the Walker Rock Garden’s most-famous feature, the gazebo – seen in the photo above – is on the parcel where the new houses are to be built.
DEVELOPMENT: South Delridge, Junction projects to Design Review Board; early-stage Roxbury proposal; national award for Highland Park’s Tsuga Townhomes
The Southwest Design Review Board‘s first meetings in three months top our roundup of West Seattle development notes:
9201 DELRIDGE WAY: This project’s next – and possibly final – Southwest Design Review Board meeting is set for 5 pm July 1st, online (here’s our coverage of the previous one last October). The project on the site of a former auto shop is now described on the city website as a “5-story, 77-unit apartment building with 73 apartments, 4 small efficiency dwelling units, and office,” no offstreet parking. Watch this page for meeting-access info when it gets closer.
4448 CALIFORNIA SW: 5 pm July 15th is set as the first SWDRB meeting for the proposal to replace a small commercial building (currently holding Homebridge and Doll Parts Collective). The city website describes it as 7 stories, 96 units, retail space. no offstreet parking; a draft version of the meeting packet is here. Watch this page for meeting-access details.
EARLY-STAGE ROXBURY PROPOSAL: New in the city system this week, an early-stage proposal for 1704 SW Roxbury, a commercial site that’s been on the market for a while. The site plan filed with the city describes the proposal as a 4-story, 42-apartment mixed-use building with retail and lists the prospective developer as Craig Haveson of STS Construction (WSB sponsor), also on record for the two projects mentioned above, along with Atelier Drome Architecture. The building on the site now is home to Meineke, which has a lease through 2025, according to the listing flyer.
HIGHLAND PARK PROJECT AWARD: The three-unit project at 7782 Highland Park Way SW has won a national award:
The project is called Tsuga Townhomes, and it’s been honored with a 2021 AIA National Housing Award. Wittman Estes – whose principals live in Highland Park – was the architect, developer, and general contractor for the certified 4-Star Built Green project. In addition to green roofs, reclaimed fir stairs, and high-efficiency energy systems. its attributes include that it was built at a cost of $185/SF, which the announcement says is just a bit over half the Seattle average. The project was featured on the Northwest Green Home Tour last fall.
UPDATE: West Seattle’s only remaining tower crane comes down
(Photos courtesy senior project superintendent Matthew Olinger)
9:42 AM: As we’ve been reporting, including in the morning traffic alerts, today is takedown day for what’s currently the only tower crane still up in West Seattle, at 1250 Alki SW. That’s further restricted traffic past the site today – alternating use of one lane, so if you absolutely have to go through that area, allow yourself extra time. This crane’s been up for almost exactly one year for construction of the Infinity Shore Club condos. We’ll update the removal progress later today.
2:22 PM: Update and new photo from the project team: the crane’s down –
They’re loading out now and expect to have the street back to 2-way by 5 pm.
TRAFFIC ALERT: West Seattle’s only tower crane will be taken down Wednesday
(2020 photo by Lynn Hall)(WSB photo)
After Wednesday, West Seattle will be without a tower crane. The only one currently in use, at the 1250 Alki Avenue SW project, is coming down that day. The alert from the project team says:
Traffic setup will be on the morning of the 19th and we expect to be completed by 6:00 PM. Due to alternating single-lane usage, vehicle traffic should expect minor delays and will be limited throughout the day of the dismantle.
The crane went up a year ago for construction of Infinity Shore Club Residences, 37 luxury condos.
Community Roots Housing offers city-backed $14.4 million to buy West Seattle Junction parking lots
(WSB photo from 42nd/Oregon lot, January)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Another twist in the ongoing saga of the West Seattle Junction’s public parking lots.
A nonprofit housing developer has made an offer to buy the land for future development, according to documents we’ve obtained.
The West Seattle Junction Association has long leased the lots, operating them as parking for customers of local businesses. Its lease requires WSJA to cover the costs of the property taxes for the lots, which finally led, earlier this year, to the lots’ conversion from free parking to paid parking. For years before that, as reported here, WSJA had been trying to strategize how to deal with the six-digit tax bill, which is approaching $200,000 a year. While the parking fees are now covering some of it, they won’t cover all. And, as pointed out in that 2018 WSB story, the lots’ long-term future as developable land has always been kept in mind – it’s a major reason why the taxes have gone up.
Read More
DEVELOPMENT: ‘Early-design outreach’ for 6021 42nd, 2612 45th SW
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.
DEVELOPMENT: Early-design survey for 65-unit Duwamish Head project
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.
9218 18th SW passes first phase of Design Review on second try
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Tonight the five-story mixed-use proposal for 9218 18th SW won first-stage Design Review approval on the second try.
In the Southwest Design Review Board‘s first meeting of the year, present were the board’s new chair Scott Rosenstock and members John Cheng and Alan Grainger, along with the project’s assigned city planner David Sachs, and Design Review program manager Lisa Rutzick. The board had told the project team last October to give the Early Design Guidance phase a second try.
ARCHITECT’S PRESENTATION: Presenting from Caron Architecture was principal Radim Blazej, who brought a team including project manager Andrew Kluess. They described the 5-story project as apartments – about 56, with 28 offstreet parking spaces (though none is required) – over commercial space fronting both Delridge and 18th.
Read More
DEVELOPMENT: Six-house Puget Ridge project gets land-use approval
From today’s city-circulated Land Use Information Bulletin: A notice of land-use approval for a six-house project to be added on a site that currently holds one house on Puget Ridge, at 6550 21st SW [map]. You can read the decision here. The site is just over an acre. The city website says off-street parking is planned for 12 vehicles to go along with the six 2-story houses. The decision also notes that seven “exceptional” trees are on the site and that plans call for preserving all of them. The decision can be appealed – this notice explains how – with the deadline set at April 12th.
WEEKEND ALERT: 4722 Fauntleroy tower crane coming down Saturday
(Photo by Eddie, from the crane’s installation in October 2019)
Thanks to Sharonn for forwarding the alert from Compass Construction: The tower crane that’s been working on the 2-building Maris Apartments project at 4722 Fauntleroy Way SW and 4721 38th SW is coming down tomorrow (Saturday, March 27th), after a year and a half. The notice says that will re-route vehicle traffic off Fauntleroy between Alaska and Edmunds and will close the pedestrian walkway on the east side of that block. Removal of this tower crane will leave one in West Seattle, at the 1250 Alki SW project.
DEVELOPMENT UPDATES: 1116 Alki, 6007 California
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.
DEVELOPMENT: Teardown time at Admiral Station site
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!)
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