Canceled-condo-conversion building Strata now up for sale
From our latest look at the commercial-real-estate listings: Strata on California (California & Graham, north edge of Morgan Junction) has just been put up for sale, $15,250,000. It was just last June that, after buying the then-Graham Street Apartments for almost $9 million, Mosaic announced the conversion plan (WSB coverage here); the sales pitch started in October (WSB coverage here); Mosaic canceled the conversion in late November (along with its plans to turn the West Ridge Park apartments on Delridge into “Gables” and sell them as condos too). The listing describes Strata as “luxury multi-family” and also notes, “The neighborhood is made up of mostly new townhomes, exciting newer restaurants, and upscale home and clothing retailers.” (And the ex-Chuck and Sally’s across the street.) Listing agent is McQuaid, which has sold a boatload of WS buildings in the past year or so (scroll here). THURSDAY AFTERNOON ADDENDUM: Thanks to Di for the tip that Strata’s having a “model furniture sale” this Saturday, according to this CL ad.
Welcoming a new WSB sponsor: 4415 SW Stevens, for sale
Tonight, the traditional WSB welcome to another new sponsor – this time, it’s 4415 SW Stevens (map), 
a home that’s up for sale, with an open house 2-4 pm Sunday. The photo’s at left; here’s what its owners want you to know: “The house is a 1929 Tudor, located about a block west of the Admiral PCC. There are quite a few similar looking houses in West Seattle of approximately the same age, but what distinguishes this one is that it has been beautifully restored & completely updated. Our new ad in WSB references that we had the house earthquake-retrofitted, one of several things that make the house safer than many houses of its vintage. The house has new electrical wiring; all knob-and-tube wiring was removed or decommissioned & vintage light fixtures were rewired or are new. The plumbing is updated including new water lines. There is a new gas furnace & updated ductwork. The lower level is fully finished. In other words, this house has no creepy old wiring, plumbing or basement! On the aesthetic side, the house has many beautiful period details; mahogany woodwork, original glass doorknobs, fireplace tile, & hardwood floors have all been refurbished. A primary goal of our remodel was to restore and preserve Old World Charm. We replaced old aluminum windows in the living & dining rooms with period leaded glass windows including a beautiful antique transom window with hand-cut bevels. The house has beautiful tile work & many other charming details. The exterior of the house had yellow aluminum siding for many years. We had it removed & discovered the original cedar siding underneath. We had a master carpenter recreate the traditional doorway arch with hand-cut custom molding. The yard is beautifully landscaped thanks to the previous owner; we have been amazed at the variety of beautiful flowers & plants. We hope that people will stop in at one of our open houses! It’s a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. We’ve enjoyed the convenience of being able to walk to nearby shops, parks & schools.” Here’s the website the owners set up to share more info about their home and open houses, including the one this Sunday, 2-4 pm.
Updates from real-estate and land-use land
Been gathering these most of the week, as other news kept getting in the way … So, it’s the Saturday “better late than never” collection of real-estate and land-use notes:
ANOTHER APARTMENT BUILDING FOR SALE: 9020 35th (map), $2,025,000 (here’s the listing). Right next door to the scheduled teardowns-to-mixed-use at 9030 35th. We always make a point of reporting apartment-building listings, because they’re often a prelude to some sort of future change, such as what’s happened here:
CONDO-IZED AFTER ALL: We’ve been watching the building shown above, West Aires at 6001 California SW (map), ever since it was up for sale last year for $2 million-plus. King County property records show it’s stlll owned by the people who bought it for under $1 mil in 2006, but they’ve apparently taken a new spin – selling individual units. Over the months, we’ve received several e-mails inquiring about West Aires’ status; each time we checked the city records for any sign of a condo-conversion application, but found none. Guess those aren’t always needed (or at least not always posted online), because as tipster Greg pointed out (thanks!), the shingle’s up and units are for sale. “Fabulous 2 & 3 bedroom condos,” says this listing.
FROM LAND-USE LAND: The permits have been granted for the 6002 Admiral teardown and the townhouses (permits at 6002 and 6004); that’s on this site, at 60th/Admiral:
Not far away, 2771 59th SW (across from Alki Elementary) appears in the latest Land Use Information Bulletin; comments will be taken till 4/2 on that teardown proposal for 2 homes and one 3-unit townhouse. Comments are also open till 4/2 for early design review on 4145 Beach Drive and environs; we mentioned recently that it’s getting an “administrative” review, which means no hearing — this page explains why (the developer wants a “departure” — exception — from setback requirements). And the same LUIB finally presents official notice of the upcoming 4/10 Design Review Board public meetings for the Harbor Properties proposal at 38th/Alaska and the Conner Homes proposal at California/Alaska/42nd, both hearings already mentioned here (with more details on the develelopments) when they appeared on the city website more than a week ago.
Got a house you’d like to see saved?
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.
Real-estate updates, Beach Drive and beyond
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.)
Updates from land-use land (and real estate too)
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”).
Alki building for sale – next door to the Shoremont
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.”
“Micropermitting”: From the pixels to the airwaves
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.
A tale of two sales: Shoremont and Cal Ray
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.)
Welcoming two new WSB sponsors tonight
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.
By request: Townhouse pix
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
High Point progress report
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.
| 5 COMMENTS