West Seattle, Washington
29 Friday
First one: If you haven’t seen these banners yet — Morton’s Pharmacy in The Junction is being taken over by Pharmaca, a chain that bills itself as an “integrative pharmacy” and already has stores in Madison Park and Wallingford. (Thanks to Krista for the tip.) The other new name — remember the Rip Tide condo conversion on Alki Point? We now know the building’s new name is Lighthouse Point. Here’s its website; news of the name actually emerged when the developers called to ask if it’s OK if they link WSB to the community section of their website. (If you’re curious – we were – the site lists only a few prices so far, in the $200K vicinity.)
From the WSB inbox, sent by Kelsey Diller:
I am writing to ask your help to save homes in West Seattle from being torn down. I was inspired to start a company, Orbit Homes LLC after watching my neighbor’s home get scheduled for demolition. After compiling a competent team of specialists I am now looking for a charming home located in West Seattle that is 18 ft. high or less and no more than 27 ft. wide to fit on a property I bought to move a house onto. If you know of any homes that may be within this size range please call me at 206 554-1622 and become a part of saving the environment and preserving West Seattle’s flavor.
That’s yet another new sign on the big lawn in front of the “Painted Lady,” aka Satterlee House (inset right), in the 4800 block of Beach Drive, this time for Ewing and Clark, at least the third time it’s switched listing agents since we started watching it a year and a half ago. Current price, $2.2 million. As we reported earlier this month, the proposal to build three houses on that lawn is going before the city Hearing Examiner in a few weeks; the Landmarks Preservation Board has a say because the Satterlee House is an official landmark, and its ruling is what’s being appealed. One more Beach Drive real-estate note: The fourplex at 4131 Beach Drive is up for sale, $3,050,000, and the listing says it’s in the process of condo conversion. And regarding real-estate in general – it’s been reported that prices are falling more slowly in Seattle than the rest of the country; if you want to track West Seattle real estate, WS realtor (and WSB sponsor) Bill Barna is now offering a regularly e-mailed “market tracker” report. Click here to e-mail Bill for the Market Tracker; or you can see a sample version here. (He also has an automated “new listings e-mail” service that we find useful to monitor for local listings which might be worth noting here.)
FIRST, THE REAL ESTATE: Yet another West Seattle apartment building is up for sale, with listing copy suggesting it might make a good condo conversion (though the pace of those seems to have slowed in the wake of the Strata and West Ridge conversion reversions). The photo above is from the listing, which is for the Siberay Apartments west of The Junction at 4546 45th SW (map), 17 units, $2,100,000.
LAND-USE UPDATE – 4502 42ND: The preliminary plan for this 7-story project on the site of several old houses (photo above) at 42nd and Oregon didn’t get a good reception at its first Design Review Board meeting in October (WSB coverage here). Developers have now applied for the official land-use permit to build it, and the city webpage says they’ve paid for the notice and public-room rental required for the next Design Review meeting — but that’s not listed on the city website anywhere, yet. Keep an eye out for that to be scheduled shortly; we’ll let you know when we see it.
LAND USE REMINDER — 5020 CALIFORNIA (AND 9030 35th): The California Ave project is Spring Hill, the mixed-use building, not to be confused with Spring Hill, the restaurant. Its next Design Review meeting is coming up this Thursday, 8 pm, Denny Middle School (following a 6:30 meeting about 9030 35th SW, a smaller project first reported here). Recent WSB coverage is here (first Design Review meeting) and here (follow-up “open house”).
That’s 2312-2314 44th SW in North Admiral, with applications just filed for demolition of this building and replacement with five townhomes split between two buildings. According to county property records, the doomed duplex is exactly a century old, and sold last month for $750,000. The multiplex immediately south is an ex-apartment building that converted to condos last year.
The latest listing: 2112 Alki (map), a newly built 6-unit apartment building, offered for $4,200,000 with a description that uses the word “condominium” twice. (We reported the listing of another Alki building just last Friday.) 5:14 PM ADDITION: While taking the above photo to add to this post, we noticed prominent signs out front, CONDOS FOR LEASE.
Just spotted the listing for 2514 57th SW (map), 9 units, $3,200,000. Here’s the official listing page. If the address doesn’t sound familiar, it’s the condo-conversion building (with failed inspections listed on this city page), right next door to the Shoremont and the adjacent “Mediterranean home” that just changed hands to a different construction company (latest WSB update here). APRIL 7 UPDATE: The owner of The Sidney e-mailed WSB to point out that, as per the same city page in the original report, the building has since passed its inspections. Mackenzie Pinch says one unit in the building has just been purchased, and has a second sale pending, after doing a lot of work on the building: “It was once owned by my late great Uncle Sidney Pinch in the ’70s, bought by my father; now I have purchased it with a business partner. It is with pride and history that I have chosen to keep the name the Sidney there, and I have kept him in mind when making this property hugely improved than the way it was when he passed. I believe he would be proud to see how I have entirely remodeled the building.”
When West Seattle’s first big construction crane in years started taking shape on New Year’s Eve at Capco Plaza (along Alaska between 41st and 42nd), it was a big deal with reader photos and all sorts of hoopla. Today (photo above), we happened onto West Seattle’s SECOND big construction crane in years taking shape one block south at Mural (aka “the former Petco parking lot”) and while there were a few spectators, pretty much zero hoopla. (Although now we do recall a Harbor Properties exec saying at the West Seattle Chamber lunch the other day that excavation at the Mural site had almost “bottomed out.”) Anyway, for crane fans, we’re making note of the occasion; here’s another pic:
We were actually in The Junction to take a look at this site on the SW corner of 41st and Edmunds (kitty-corner from the south side of Jefferson Square):
An application’s just been filed this week to tear down that house and build a 5-unit townhouse project.
Remember West Seattle architect and Design Review Board member David Foster’s beef about — and investigation into — so-called “micropermitting,” the loophole through which some big (and sometimes not-so-lovely) townhouse developments escape design review? Two weeks after the original WSB report (and followups here and here), KUOW picked up on it today, featuring Foster and someone who’d taken a different viewpoint in our original comments thread, High Point resident and real-estate agent Wendy Hughes-Jelen. Read the story and get audio links here.
Someone on the Alki Beach Community Yahoo! group asked this weekend about the status of Shoremont, the old brick apartments at 57th/Alki (photo above) proposed for teardown-to-townhomes as first reported here last summer. We just happened onto new information about it, while researching a different apartment-complex sale that’s now the second half of this post. A recent list of “weekly top King County property sales” posted here says Cobb Construction just sold the Shoremont site to Lead Construction, for $2,200,000 (verified in county records). Further research doesn’t bring up much about “Lead Construction” but crossreferencing suggests it’s related to this firm (whose site mentions a “Lead Consulting” on this page). Meantime, this too has sold:
We mentioned back in October that this 18-unit apartment complex, the Cal Ray at 6000 California, was up for sale. The latest areawide sales report (scroll down to West Seattle) shows it’s sold, for a bit more than its listing price ($1,995,000 at the time of our original report; the sales report says it sold for $2,000,000, county records say $1,998,000). The listing flyer had mentioned “strong redevelopment potential” – but nothing’s been applied for at the site, so far. (Meantime, if you missed it over the weekend, we’ve learned of at least one more new apartment building in West Seattle’s future.)
We always note the bigger commercial listings, and this one just turned up: The Limrock 11, 4501 Admiral (map), listed at $1,750,000.
Kind of expected this one, once this waterfront building at 3633 Beach Drive went up for sale last April, and now it’s official: City records confirm it’s converting to condos. Upgrade work is about to start, judging by one permit that’s just been issued (which lists the owners as Alki Eight Partners, LLC, possibly hinting at what the future condos might be called; property records show they bought the building last month for $3,350,000).
Housing is a popular theme around here this week (and many weeks). Tonight we welcome a real-estate agent listing a West Seattle home, and we welcome an ad for new apartment homes in The Junction. First, the home: Jayson Cantu from Windermere R/E Wall Street has listed a home at 4415 SW Stevens — a sketch of it is part of his ad in our right sidebar. You can see a photo gallery at Jayson’s website (click here); you can call him at 206/851-1147. Now, the apartments — The MD is a brand-new apartment building “in the heart of The Junction,” now leasing 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units; The MD too has lots of info online (click here). Thanks to Jayson and The MD Apartments for supporting WSB; if you’re interested in finding out how to join them and our other sponsors, here’s the page to see.
During our discussion of townhouse design standards last Friday, ignited by Southwest Design Review Board member (and West Seattle architect) David Foster‘s investigation of micropermitting (first report here; City Council President reaction here), it was suggested we should photograph some of the townhouse projects. So we did. Please keep in mind that unless otherwise noted, these are NOT examples of the practice he is concerned about – instead, the thought here was JUST to take a look at townhouse faces for some of the larger, newer groupings, for anyone interested in seeing examples of current West Seattle townhouse construction, somewhat side-by-side. Here’s a sample from a weekend morning drive: (PS: TUESDAY MORNING ADDITIONS AT BOTTOM OF POST)Read More
This just appeared on the list of upcoming Design Review Board meetings — 9030 35th SW (map) has been added to the agenda for the February 14th Southwest DRB meeting that was already set to consider Fauntleroy Place. This proposal would replace the two 85-year-old houses shown above with what the city project page describes as a “new 4-story building providing 3,000 sf of retail and 33 apartments with parking for 38 vehicles.” Apartment buildings already bookend this site, by the way.
Some updates on the biggest development/redevelopment project in West Seattle, from a presentation at last week’s joint meeting of the Delridge and Southwest District Councils: Project manager Tom Phillips from the Seattle Housing Authority told the groups he’s “very proud” of the way things are going, he says High Point Phase I has only 10 homes left to sell. As part of Phase II, the 160-unit seniors’ complex on Morgan will open in May, and the new park with amphitheater is in the works along with Neighborhood House. (NH construction is set to start this September; a capital campaign is under way now — read more here.) Phillips also told the councils that paperwork had just been signed with a developer for the commercial center at 35th/Graham, though there’s still no grocery-store commitment — he said he’s been told West Seattle is “over-grocered,” particularly with Whole Foods coming to Fauntleroy Place and QFC coming to Capco Plaza. The SHA’s official High Point site is here.
A bill to give cities the power to limit condo conversions is coming up for a State House hearing this Friday, says Slog. It’s HB 2014, which died last year. Here in West Seattle, the conversion pace seems to have slowed, with high-profile conversion cancellations at Strata and West Ridge/Gables, but apartment buildings continue to sell (and be put up for sale, with descriptions like “condo-quality”). If you want to tell your legislators what you think about HB 2014, remember your new State Representative is Sharon Nelson (WSB interview here, including contact info) and your new State Senator is Joe McDermott. 10 PM SIDE NOTE: The P-I has just posted an article about a condo development near Seattle Center that’s going to be finished as apartments instead; an expert quoted in the article says apartments “are the pre-eminent land use” in the city right now.
That house is at 5933 California (map), immediately south of the townhouses going up on the former Guadalajara Hacienda site (as we most recently documented here). On Friday, the city granted a permit to tear down this 85-year-old house; more townhouses are on the way. About a mile and a half north on California, in the 3400 block (map), demolition equipment is likely to be seen soon here:
We first mentioned the impending teardown-to-townhouses status of this site in October. The demolition permit’s been in effect since November but we just noticed the fence.
That’s the Bradford Arms at 3911 California (map), the latest West Seattle apartment building put up for sale (12 units, $2.2 million). As of this writing, the listing calls it a “condo-quality building.”
These numbers just in from West Seattle Realtor (and WSB sponsor) Bill Barna:
Average market time: 2006: 34 days / 2007: 42 days (up 24%)
Median price: 2006: $390,000 / 2007: $402,000 (up 3.1%)
Average price: 2006: $445,422 / 2007: $469,473 (up 5.3%)
Number of homes sold: 2006: 1,728 / 2007: 1,642 (down 5.0%)
Bill adds, “Although the annual appreciation is off a little from the record year of 2005 (almost 15% that year!) we are still growing here in West Seattle.” The numbers are from a detailed report he compiles every year, and he says anyone who wants a full copy is welcome to e-mail him (click here).
2 sizable projects in the south half of West Seattle got a second look from the Southwest Design Review Board tonight. One will be the new home of Swedish Auto Repair, at 7901 35th, currently home to the ex-Adventist church building and a Mars Hill bus pen; concerns from board members and neighbors have sent it back to the drawing board for one more round of revisions, particularly regarding the need for its 30-plus-foot-high L-shaped building fronting 35th and Kenyon to be more streetfront-friendly. However, city planner Holly Godard did laud the project for its voluntary “green” features such as solar panels and rainwater-collecting barrels. So that one will be back for one more SWDRB meeting. This next project, though, got the green light:
That’s what you’re going to see in a year or two at California/Graham, kitty corner from the almost-condos of Strata, north of the ex-Chuck and Sally’s. We knew this would be “live/work units” as well as townhouses, but now we have even more details:Read More
We first told you in October (detailed report here) about Spring Hill, the development planned for the area shown above, in the 5000 block of California, just south of The Junction (map). The developer is BlueStar Management, same firm behind Fauntleroy Place, future home to Whole Foods, 170 apartments, etc. Now, a date is set for the Southwest Design Review Board to give “early design guidance” on the project — January 10. According to the city project page, the scope of Spring Hill (no known relation to the future restaurant) has grown a little since our original post – it’s now described as six stories, 90 apartments, 4,000 sf of retail, 100 parking spaces.
Gee whiz, leave the house/computer for a couple hours and look what happens – for the second time today, Mosaic Homes announces it’s canceling a West Seattle condo conversion (thanks to everyone who e-mailed us about this; we also got our own e-mail, above, since we were on the mailing list). As we’ve reported previously, it’s been trying like mad to sell “Strata on California,” formerly the Graham Street Apartments at California/Graham north of Morgan Junction, but apparently not doing so well, hence the announcement above that Strata will be rented out. (And remember, as also reported here, the much-marketed West Water condo conversion less than a mile south is already resorting to rentals.)
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