West Seattle, Washington
09 Saturday
Which we have been, extensively … Here’s an ad for a single-family home in WS, less than $300K — with a furnace that runs on biodiesel, even! Open house this weekend but you gotta wonder if it’ll last that long. (And here’s one even cheaper.)
If you haven’t checked out the comments on our post below – note that readers have revealed a brand-new, huge condo conversion in the works at the Graham Street Apartments just north of Morgan Junction, on the southeast corner of Cali/Graham. As first posted by Sue, here’s the property sale record (almost $9 million) finalized just a few days ago; here’s the condo conversion application noted on the city site.
Meantime, for those joining us in keeping track, here are a few of the other “multifamily” buildings currently listed for sale in WS, with links to the listings:
–West Aires, 6001 Cali, $2.2 million
–Riviera West, 7100 Cali, listed as “pending,” with “condo declarations in place,” $1.9 million (next to SeventyOne)
–Apartment/commercial building on Cali, south edge of The Junction, (with some units described as “condo quality”), $1.3 million
–5000 Fauntleroy, “pending,” $1.2 million
We usually find out about impending teardowns-to-townhomes by watching the city permit process. Today, though, we’ve got one that came to our attention from the people who are getting the boot before the backhoe shows up: the current renters of a doomed brick duplex along Fauntleroy, a couple who moved here from back east last year, and like so many of us, fell madly in love with WS. They aren’t ready to buy; one of them is in grad school. But now they’re on notice they’ve got to be out by the end of this month. There’s one instructive thing about their story; first, here’s a photo they kindly sent of their soon-to-be-ex-duplex …
The tenants note in their e-mail to us: “We rent through a property management company and didn’t know, till now, who the owner was — it’s Soleil Development.” (Which has other WS projects, including this one.) We checked property records for their address; Soleil technically didn’t take ownership till last winter, after these tenants moved in; but before their arrival last August, it was purchased last June by Dan Duffus, Soleil’s owner. So perhaps it would be worthwhile for would-be renters to use this site to check who owns their prospective new home; if it’s a development company, or someone you can easily see in search engines is linked to one, know you might not live there for long.
Looks like we have to drop Mischiefblog off our Other Blogs In WS page — he’s moved to Mill Creek, and just posted about getting ready to FSBO his WS house “cheap-cheap-cheap.”
Funny this P-I article didn’t even mention WS, where condos/townhomes are popping up like dandelions. And the teardown-to-townhomes along Cali are selling fast. Checking up on a few – Soundview in the 5900 block is “sold out,” as are Sea Holly in the 5600 block and Bayberry in the 6900 block of Cali. A bit further south, the condo-converted 1 bed/1 ba units at SeventyOne are close to half-sold. Question is now, how is the higher-end market doing? Still some openings listed at NoMo 12 — half-mil and up. (Though if you really want luxury, we’d suggest Alki’s most expensive current condo listing.)
Some general exterior and interior sprucing-up is going on at Morgan Junction’s big beige public-housing building, Cal-Mor Circle, and this weekend it looks rather Christo-like:
Nine months after the landmark Painted Lady of Beach Drive (aka the Satterlee House) went up for sale again, we just noticed a change in signage outside the house and its front lawn. 
Now, with a change in listing companies, it’s offered as one “estate” again, though the blurb goes on to say, “this property is actually two parcels … the one the house sits on and the front parcel which has been short platted for three homes. Buy one or both!” Hadn’t realized the short-plat had gotten final approval but it seems that happened right before Christmas, on a day most of us had something else (like this) on our minds. So then how come somebody hasn’t snapped up the land already? (P.S. Dear John L. Scott, the new blurb is kind of over the top. “Coyly awaits restoration”? And it’s not “near Alki Point.” 1.5 miles, to be precise. Plus “flair” is the word you’re looking for, not “flare.” /nitpick)
Toward the end of this article about the still-rising home prices in King County, a recently sold WS home is featured as an example of “what the median price will buy you.”
This Thursday night, the city’s Southwest Design Review Board meets to consider the plans for those two Cali Ave teardowns we 
lamented in extended posts a couple weeks back: 3811 Cali (left) and 6053 Cali (right). It’s at the SW Precinct (near Home Depot) — 3811 is first on the agenda at 6:30; 6053 follows at 8.
You won’t find it on the website for this converted apartment building (Cali/Myrtle) but a closer look at its streetside sign reveals creative phraseology for what one commenter called its “converted motel” look — “midcentury retro condominium homes.”
One day after the P-I noted that Seattle’s supply of rental homes is way down, we found a great rental right here in WS. This house first caught our eye because it had a “for sale” sign up; then a “sold” signlet went up the other day, and this Craigslist “for rent” ad appeared. See what it’s like to live in one of Alki Ave’s last remaining standalone homes! (Providing you can spare $3250/month.)
Not only did Megawatt move into the new WS Community Resource Center @ 35th/Morgan as of today, so did the West Seattle Food Bank, according to a DNDA e-mail newsletter kindly forwarded to us by a stalwart reader. Congrats to everyone who’s worked on that project for years! (WS Helpline tells us they’re making their move into the building next month.)
Didn’t know this was happening today, till we saw a banner at a worksite along Fauntleroy near Lincoln Park while we watched out a bus window: It was “Spring Rebuilding Day” for Rebuilding Together Seattle, which we hadn’t heard of till now; sounds like a great cause.
Just happened onto the “for sale” ad for the waterfront apartment building at 3633 Beach Drive. It touts “excellent high-end conversion opportunities.” (We have a memory of this building: a little-remembered windstorm in fall 1991 that caused some roof trouble, and other mayhem along that stretch of Beach Drive; the repair permit is still in city records.)
Or so say a couple newspaper articles today, including this one from the Times with a mostly-WS focus. Almost enough to make you want to put yours on the market and reap the profits … oh wait … as we remind ourselves here at WSB HQ, the only problem with selling our house at a nice (relatively) fat price would be, then we’d have to go jump into one of those bidding wars for some other house up for sale at a nice (relatively) fat price … sigh.
The new High Point gets a mention in this article today about the high cost of homeownership (condos included) within city limits.
Note on the front door of Gatewood Baptist says they’ve finally made their move to the new digs on 35th (formerly Calvary Lutheran), and the name change (Life Church) too. Meantime, the townhouses on ex-church property across the street are moving fast … frames are up for at least two of the buildings.
-Another one of our looming megaprojects gets its Design Review Board closeup this Thursday: 4729 42nd SW, aka Soon-To-Be-Ex-Parking-Lot Behind Soon-To-Be-Ex-Petco, aka Ex-Monorail Land.
-Make sure your calendar’s marked for the big meeting a week from Wednesday at Charlestown Cafe, which folks are trying to save from the fate of becoming future home to Soon-To-Be-Ex-Petco.
-Jumping back down to The Junction, we heard concerns a while back from the neighbors of 4515 41st SW, more “mixed use” creeping into a residential neighborhood. Its next Design Review Board spotlight comes up April 12.
-Now hopscotching back up toward Admiral, we got a note recently from a neighbor who wonders if anyone else cares about the phenomenon of creeping commercialism spilling further inland from Cali. This neighbor lives near the beauty salon across from the far corner of PCC’s lot, west of McDonald’s, and contends zoning only allows a home-based business, not a business-focused house with big signs. The neighbor says a zoning inspector ruled the signs could stay because they don’t have text — they’re considered “art.” They’re campaigning to get the businessperson to tone down the signs.
-Finally, another reader points out that the ex-Christian Science church north of the Hiawatha playground, east of Safeway Parking Smackdown Ground Zero, has relatively recently transitioned into something called Sanctuary At Admiral, giving The Hall At Fauntleroy (among other venues) a run for its money.
As mentioned about halfway through the plentiful comments on this post three weeks ago, a big Delridge apartment building is going condo. (Odd little blip on the city website about the complex “failing” an “inspection” this week, related to all this.) The Weekly features the project in this story (by photo, not by name) and links it to a company whose website simply notes “West Seattle, coming soon.”
“Open House,” sure, but “Grand Opening” for a mini-cluster of new $400K townhomes (Fauntleroy & Findlay)? Struck us funny, or maybe we’re just giddy from sunshine.
If you live in one of West Seattle’s many older houses and have a bit of curiosity about who lived in your house way back when, here’s an unlikely tool: The city database of “side sewer cards.” Look up your address and you’ll find an image of the hand-drawn, hand-written records showing where your house connects its “side sewer” to the nearest main city pipe and who owned it last time it was inspected (check the back of the “card” for that info). And if yours goes back far enough that the person who originally owned it is likely to have left the planet by now, you can look ’em up on the Social Security Death Index.
One day after the Tempest in a Pizza Box, the P-I’s got another story that appears ripped from the pages of West Seattle Blog (but with a few new details, such as, who’s trying to buy, and build on, that big front yard).
Yet another historic West Seattle house is on the market — a side note on this article reveals that this is your big chance to buy the “Hainsworth House” (our WS History page has a link to its backstory). And as far as we can tell, nobody’s ponied up yet for Beach Drive’s historic Satterlee House or its acreage-riffic front yard — but there’s been a price cut; the SH listing is now down to $995K, from $1.2m, where it had been since splitting off from the no-price-cut-yet front yard (originally last summer the two were bundled for $3m).
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