By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Sometimes when the public-comment period arrives midway through meetings of the Southwest Design Review Board – one of 7 such volunteer boards around the city charged with evaluating major development proposals – the concerns and complaints tend to meander away from the topic at hand, the project’s design.

Not last night, as The Kenney‘s redevelopment proposal returned to the SWDRB for a third “early design guidance” meeting (here’s our original as-it-happened update from last night; here’s coverage of the previous meeting in January).

Referring to the six-story “donut” building in the plans — a new formation since The Kenney announced it was shifting the design to scrap the panned plan to tear down the cupola-topped Seaview building — one neighbor declared, “I don’t want to live next to the Pentagon.”

“That’s a perfect design comment,” observed board chair Christie Coxley.

The building in question is envisioned in the newest design documents (see them all here) as actually more of a square, but before recommending that The Kenney move to the next phase of design review, board members had their own thoughts about it and other project aspects too, while architect Gene Guszkowski (from Wisconsin-based AG Architecture) revealed some news since the new design proposal was previewed at a community meeting last week:

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We’re at the Senior Center of West Seattle, where more than 50 people are gathered as The Kenney‘s $150 million redevelopment project is back before the Southwest Design Review Board. Architect Gene Guszkowski has just announced that the cupola-topped Seaview building was formally nominated today for landmark status (not listed yet on this page, though), which triggers a separate city process that, as he noted, will proceed in parallel. Much of this presentation should duplicate what was shown at the community meeting we covered last week (here’s our report; here’s the official presentation packet), but we will add to this report with anything else new that’s disclosed tonight, as well as first word of the SWDRB’s decision – whether the project will advance to the next step in the process – once it’s in (not likely to be before 8 pm). 6:44 PM UPDATE: Guszkowski just announced the long-requested (and ultimately required) tree survey will be done at the site next Monday. 8:09 PM UPDATE: The board has unanimously agreed to let the project move on to the next phase of Design Review, which could be the final phase. Most public concerns involved the massing of the large square “donut” shaped building at the heart of the project – board members suggested perhaps “eroding” its western side and building up its eastern side, to allow more sunshine in the courtyard. They’re also asking architects to look at whether they really want the potentially relocated Seaview building to be the complex’s main entry – they’re asking to see entryway options when the project comes back for the “recommendations” round.

When we showed you The Kenney‘s latest design sketches after a community meeting last week (WSB coverage here), all we had were photographs of a projection screen – but there’s good news if you’re tracking this project – now you can see the sketches clearly online, along with other information about The Kenney‘s new design-review proposal, the one that saves the iconic century-old, cupola-topped Seaview Building. The info and drawings are all viewable here, three days before the project’s next Design Review Board hearing, which is coming up this Thursday, 6:30 pm, at the Senior Center of West Seattle.

That’s architect Gene Guszkowski, showing one of the new renderings that his firm AG Architecture has drawn up since The Kenney changed its mind about demolishing the iconic century-old Seaview building as part of the $150 million redevelopment project it’s been working on since last summer (first WSB report here). He presented the new plan last night at Fauntleroy Church during a community meeting organized by the Morgan Community Association and Fauntleroy Community Association; as MoCA’s new president Deb Barker put it, “The owners and architects are here to get feedback from you”:

Barker is a former chair of the Southwest Design Review Board, whose current members will see The Kenney’s proposal a week from Thursday (6:30 pm 5/14, Senior Center of West Seattle). So what feedback was offered last night by the 30-plus in attendance? Read on for details and more photos:Read More

Looks like whatever form The Kenney‘s $150 million redevelopment project ultimately takes, some form of that familiar view (photographed this afternoon from SW Myrtle, alongside Gatewood Elementary) will live on. Original plans for the project — as first reported here last August — called for demolishing the century-old, cupola-topped building. Community members and Southwest Design Review Board reps alike had called for The Kenney to find a way to save it — and the biggest glimmer of hope, as we reported last week, came in the announcement of the upcoming Morgan Community Association/Fauntleroy Community Association neighborhood meeting to update The Kenney’s project: The groups had been told a way had been found to move it up to the Fauntleroy/Myrtle corner. That’s now confirmed and explained by Kenney CEO Kevin McFeely, who tells WSB that the next round of “early design” for the project will include ONLY options that save The Seaview: “Basically, it’s feasible to move it to a separate spot on the campus. A company came out to give us a bid. (The new plans are) a pretty significant departure from our last (Design Review) go-round, so we’re bringing another set of drawings, and (MoCA and FCA) offered to have a community meeting where people could come give their comments, vent a bit, share thoughts and concerns. … What we heard at (all previous meetings) was, please figure out a way to save this building. The other main concern was the massing on the perimeter, and whether there’s anything we could do to mitigate that … (moving the Seaview building) would give us the opportunity to do that by putting more of the buildings in the ‘bowl’ in the center. We heard what the community said, we heard what the board said, we hope they’ll be very happy with (the new proposal).” Your first chance to see it will be the community meeting at 7:30 pm May 4 at Fauntleroy Church; then the Design Review Board meeting is at 6:30 pm May 14, location TBA. (One more Kenney note – Its skilled-nursing facility has just received a 5-star rating in a national review; read about it here.)

As we reported earlier this week, the next Southwest Design Review Board meeting for The Kenney’s $150 million redevelopment proposal is set for May 14th. But first, a community meeting has just been announced for updates on major aspects of the project, including whether the iconic Seaview building can be saved. Here’s the latest, from Cindi Barker at Morgan Community Association:

The Morgan Community Association and Fauntleroy Community Association are hosting a second community meeting to have continued discussion on the Kenney redevelopment project. This meeting will be held Monday, May 4th, 7:30 p.m. at Fauntleroy Church, UCC (9140 California Ave SW).

This session will include not only Kevin McFeely, The Kenney CEO, but also a representative from the Kenney’s architects, AG Architecture. The idea and planning for this second meeting began after the last formal Early Design Guidance Review by the city’s Design Review Board on January 8th. The wait has proved fruitful, as the Kenney has received an estimate on moving the Seaview building in order to preserve it, and has found that saving the Seaview and moving it elsewhere on the property could be done. Consequently, the Kenney has requested a new site plan that 1) moves the Seaview to the northeast corner of the property to be used for administrative purposes and 2) lowers the perimeter building heights to step down more gracefully into the neighborhood and which would put the higher buildings towards the center of the property.

This meeting is intended to be a conversation between community members and the Kenney and the architects. During the formal Design Review meetings, it is not possible to have direct communication; this meeting would give neighbors an opportunity to preview the new design and talk with the architects.

We have a message out to Kenney CEO McFeely, seeking more comment on the possibility of saving the Seaview building (which, in previous discussions, had been deemed infeasible). And before the community meeting, this will be one of the topics on the agenda for MoCA’s quarterly public meeting next Wednesday, 7 pm, at The Kenney (along with items including updates on the Fauntleroy repaving/restriping and RapidRide, among other things).

6:30 pm May 14 is the date tentatively set for The Kenney‘s $150 million redevelopment project to return to Design Review, location TBA – this according to an addition late Tuesday to the “upcoming reviews” page. This fits right in with what The Kenney’s CEO Kevin McFeely told us recently (as reported a week ago). This will be its fourth Design Review meeting; the third one, three months ago (WSB coverage here), ended with the project moving out of the “early design guidance” stage.

First: A reminder that Conner Homes‘ two-building project in The Junction goes back for what could be its final round of Design Review (process explained here) this Thursday night, 6:30 pm, West Seattle Christian Church. After the March 12 review, all involved agreed to schedule this meeting as quickly as possible, including the two board members who technically were supposed to end their terms after the 3/12 meeting, but agreed to stay on till it was finalized, for continuity’s sake.

Speaking of board members, here are the two new ones who will join as of the following meeting (April 9th, Madison Middle School, 2988 SW Avalon and 4532 42nd SW): Norma Tompkins and Robin Murphy (screenshots from their appearance at the Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee meeting earlier this month). While Tompkins is appointed as the “local residential representative” on the board and Murphy is appointed as “design professional representative,” both are trained architects, according to the biographical info in this month’s edition of city planners’ dpdInfo newsletter (see it here); Tompkins works as a production designer at Starbucks, Murphy works for the architecture firm Stricker Cato Murphy; both are West Seattleites.

One other note – Followed up on a WSB’er note asking what’s up now that more than two months have gone by since the last Design Review meeting for the redevelopment proposal at The Kenney (previous coverage of the project archived here).

We checked with Kenney CEO Kevin McFeely, who replied:

Basically, what is happening is that we are exploring the recommendations and suggestions that were discussed at the last meeting in January. This involves potentially moving the Seaview building to a different location on the campus and reducing the massing on the perimeter buildings to allow for a smoother transition into the neighborhood. At this time, I don’t have a sense when the next meeting will be, my hope is that it will take place within the next 4-6 weeks.

Once that next meeting is scheduled, you’ll find it on the city’s Design Review/Upcoming page for starters, even before the official notice appears in the Land Use Information Bulletin; our fellow development-watchers may be interested to note, that page’s format and features have just been updated. Upcoming reviews can be sorted by district, among other things, and meeting announcements now include the city’s own maps (like this one showing the location of Madison MS for the 4/9 meeting).

The imagery available online before and during last week’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting for The Kenney‘s redevelopment project (WSB coverage here) didn’t include everything shown onscreen at that meeting. Now (thanks to Cindi Barker for the heads-up) the complete “packet” is on the city website; that includes the rendering for Alternative B (above), which board members considered most promising. It also includes comparison renderings of views from neighborhoods and Gatewood Elementary, with and without the new buildings proposed for the site.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

One man’s mere presence underscored the high stakes at last night’s Southwest Design Review Board meeting on the redevelopment proposal for The Kenney, the century-old nonprofit retirement complex in Fauntleroy: Vince Lyons.

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Tonight’s two-part session of the Southwest Design Review Board meeting ran almost four hours. First project on the agenda, 4502 42nd SW, won final design-review approval unanimously; second project, the $150 million “reinvention” of The Kenney, got approval to move out of the “early design guidance” stage (after two rounds), but not without extensive discussion under high-level supervision, and there are still more meetings to come (at least one more round of design review, and City Council approval would be required if they do pursue some rezoning). More details to come in separate reports.

We have been covering cancellations, changes, delays, closures (and some of what’s OPEN) in our main weather post – but this one needed a separate note too: The Design Review Board meeting that had been scheduled tonight at Madison Middle School for two projects, 4502 42nd SW and The Kenney‘s redevelopment, IS CANCELED per city planner Michael Dorcy. We will let you know when a new date is set.