West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
(1st photo from King County Assessor; 2nd by WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli)
We have been reporting for almost a full year now on the fate of Charlestown Court, the 81-year-old brick fourplex across the street from the Charlestown Cafe. As we first told you last October, it is under review for possible city landmark status (or possible teardown); on February 20th, we covered the city Landmarks Preservation Board hearing downtown at which board members agreed to consider its exterior architecture for possible landmark designation. Now, it’s decision time — this Wednesday (agenda), the Landmarks Board is scheduled to listen to public comments, and vote. (The process is explained here.) If you want to tell the board what you think, e-mail comments to board coordinator Beth Chave before Wednesday at beth.chave@seattle.gov; you also can speak at the public hearing this Wednesday, 3:30 pm on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown. This process was set in motion by a proposal to tear down Charlestown Court and replace it with a 4-story mixed-use building (official city project page here), a project that’s still in the pipeline pending the outcome of the landmark review.
Remember this future-townhouses site at 5232 California, across from West Seattle Nursery?
Exactly one month after we reported on its demolition permit, WSB contributing photojournalist Matt Durham was there today to document firefighters putting it to good use:
More info from Matt: “SFD Recruits drilled in rooftop ventilation techniques; they also practiced ‘search and rescue’ scenarios inside a smoke-filled, two-story house. Firefighters charged the home with nontoxic smoke to simulate the rigors of operating in low visibility. Good luck to SFD recruits during your rigorous and stressful year. Their first year is inundated with hands-on training and classes and high expectations.” (Matt knows; in addition to being a photojournalist, he’s also a professional firefighter. Prints of his WSB photos and his other work are available through his site, MattDurhamPhotography.com.)
If you’ve driven by that new block wall along Harbor Avenue east of Salty’s and suspected it had something to do with the restaurant – it doesn’t. After a couple of reader e-mails asking about it, we doublechecked with Salty’s, which said no, it’s an unrelated industrial project. That sent us looking into the property records, which are a little convoluted for this parcel (#7666705250, owned by Anmarco), with multiple addresses, but finally we traced it to 2130 Harbor, which carries notes of a city DPD investigation: According to this page on the DPD website, the work was proceeding without permits, and the city posted a “stop-work order” — here’s the exact language:
Constructing a 400’+ long approx. 8′ tall retaining wall and grading in a designated shoreline environment requires permits. STOP WORK ORDER posted 3/5/08 by building inspector.
The DPD website shows two case numbers open for this investigation, here and here. Anmarco’s land in the area has quite a bit of history; this article goes back 11 years.
The teardowns-to-townhouses complex going up in the 3400 block of California now has a name: Madison Heights, per the new sign shown above (which promises “luxury living”). This is what used to be there:
It’s one of the sites discussed in this “micropermitting” post that got citywide attention. P.S. Slightly north of this site, in case you were wondering, no decision yet in the Hinds-to-Hanford “upzoning” proposal.
They’re not ready to ask for your money yet – but they’re asking for ideas, and optimism. Board members of the Fauntleroy Community Services Agency convened a community meeting last night to lay out where things stand with Seattle Public Schools‘ decision to sell Fauntleroy Schoolhouse (one of five former schools now declared “surplus”) and FCSA’s hope of buying it — and it’s going to be a challenge, to say the least:Read More
With BlueStar‘s announcement today of Gateway Center (earlier WSB coverage here), seemed like a good excuse to put together a clickable map of what’s been announced in the area so far. Each spot on the map will click to a brief description of what’s happening there plus a link to our most recent report about it, if applicable. We added some of the real estate that’s up for sale in the area. Certainly more parcels than this are in play (lots more ex-Huling/Gee land, for example), but this is a start. We’ll add to it as it goes and find it a home of its own soon, but here’s version 1.0.
This just in from BlueStar (which also provided the rendering shown above – we’re heading out for a different angle on the existing building so you can better compare the before/after):
BlueStar Management, Inc., of Shoreline, Washington announced today plans for “Gateway Center,” a mixed-use project to be developed on a one-acre site at the northeast corner of Fauntleroy Way and SW Alaska St. (adjacent to 39th Avenue SW).
The site is directly across the street (39th Ave. SW) from Fauntleroy Place, another BlueStar Management, Inc. project set to break ground in May, 2008. Fauntleroy Place will feature Whole Foods Market, Hancock Fabrics and 170 apartment homes.
BlueStar is also the developer of Spring Hill, a mixed-use development at the 5000 block of California Ave. S.W. in West Seattle, which is currently in the permitting phase.
Preliminary plans for Gateway Center include more than 100 residential units along with 47,000 square feet of commercial space on two floors. Marketing for the commercial space is underway.
Gateway Center Fast Facts*:
-6-Story building (four floors of living space above two levels of commercial)
-3 floors of underground parking (250 individual stalls)
-100+ residential units
-47,000 sq. ft. of total retail
-Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2009
-Completion expected in early 2011
-Commercial leasing is available now!
-Contact for leasing – Robert Mitchell, Associate Broker, 206-455-1165*(subject to change)
ADDED 10:20 AM: The logo on the rendering is for Collins Woerman, which is also the current architect on Fauntleroy Place (here’s BlueStar’s page for that project). If you haven’t read before about Spring Hill, which is also mentioned in BlueStar’s press release above, here’s our most recent coverage. We’re now working on a “roundup of announced West Seattle megaprojects” to post later today, since it’s now getting to be almost difficult even for us to keep up with, and we track ’em (among other news) for a living!
Spent the lunch hour today at a gathering in The Junction where reps from Conner Homes — developers of the upcoming buildings @ California/Alaska/42nd (city map above) — met local leaders, to start keeping their promise of making the rounds to talk about the megaproject, and to listen:Read More
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.
As of 1 o’clock this afternoon, the testimony’s over, and paperwork is what’s next in the fight over what can be built on the big front lawn of the landmark Satterlee House (the “Painted Lady” at 4866 Beach Drive, photo above). The city called one last “rebuttal witness” this afternoon — someone who almost wasn’t called to testify, as the city legal team explained while closing hearing-room proceedings with an official protest following the testimony:Read More
Now in its third (partial) week before city Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner, testimony in the Satterlee House (above) case is almost over, with no more than 2 additional witnesses expected tomorrow afternoon. It wasn’t supposed to continue into this week; property owner William Conner, who is appealing a city Landmarks Board decision about what he can do with the house’s huge lawn, isn’t even sitting in on the proceedings any more as of today:Read More
This 4-plex at 1716 California (map) is proposed for teardown-to-townhomes (four duplexes on the drawing board). That fact itself is not where the controversy lies here — it involves both the height of the proposed buildings and the fact that the property includes former city land with an open-space requirement, and the neighborhood is concerned about whether the development will live up to that requirement. A meeting with neighbors is planned for Thursday night, but even the purpose and scope of that meeting are in dispute:Read More
That photo is from the listing we just saw for yet another parcel in the “Triangle” zone between Fauntleroy, Alaska, and 35th east of The Junction — 4450 37th, just west of the Diva Espresso building, two buildings on 4,200 square feet for $700,000, a small lot with big visibility (and C1-65 zoning); as an aside, the “comparables” listed on the last page of its flyer include the sale price for 4550 38th, site of the future Harbor Properties development — $3.1 million.
Perfect caption from WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli for these photos looking into the excavations for the two crane-equipped megaprojects under way right now in The Junction:
That’s from Capco Plaza, aka the QFC project, and this one is from Mural, aka the ex-parking lot behind Petco:
Today’s proceedings in the case of Satterlee House (Beach Drive’s “Painted Lady”) owner William Conner vs. the city Landmarks Preservation Board only ran three and a half hours in the morning, but that span included testimony from Conner himself:Read More
The city Landmarks Preservation Board lawyers have called all their witnesses, and now the lawyer for Satterlee House (aka Beach Drive’s “Painted Lady”) owner William Conner is calling his, with testimony continuing before city Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner at 8 am tomorrow and 12:30 pm Tuesday. It’s already gone on for 2 1/2 days (coverage links: testimony from the house’s previous owner/namesake David Satterlee here; first full day, last Monday, wrapup here; this morning’s testimony here) and is attracting a fair level of attention in the historic-preservation and legal communities, since disputes over development involving official city landmarks almost never get to this stage (an appeal argued before the Hearing Examiner). Here’s what happened this afternoon:Read More
The city’s latest Land Use Information Bulletin is out, with decisions including the one that will allow a new 4-story building — ground-floor retail, 12 apartments above — to move forward on the site shown above, 2310 California, north of Admiral. City project page is here; our coverage of the final Design Review meeting last August is here.
Looks like today will be the second full day of testimony in the case of Satterlee House/Beach Drive “Painted Lady” owner William Conner vs. the city Landmarks Board — it originally was set for a half-day but as we mentioned in our previous reports, the case has been taking so long, the city Hearing Examiner had to add extra time to the calendar. Backstory: Conner has owned the house since 2000. After a previous development proposal went nowhere in the early ’00s, nothing happened for a while, till he filed to subdivide the house’s huge front lawn into three separate lots. That was granted; but before anyone could build on those three lots, the city Landmarks Board had to grant a Certificate of Approval, since the house and site comprise an official city landmark. Conner took a proposal for three homes, about 3,000 square feet each, to the board, and it said no. His appeal of that decision is what is being argued now, courtroom-style, before the city Hearing Examiner, in her hearing room on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower downtown. This morning’s testimony included revelations about how much Conner has spent so far — in legal fees as well as on the property — among other things:Read More
It’s going to be an all-Junction lineup at the Southwest Design Review Board meeting April 10 at Chief Sealth High School – we’d already told you a 6:30 pm review was planned that night for the newly proposed Conner Homes megaproject (WSB coverage here) along California/Alaska/42nd … as of this afternoon, the city just added 4550 38th SW — the Harbor Properties 200-unit building planned for the ex-Huling/Gee shop site shown above (and West Seattle Montessori) — to the agenda; that’ll start at 8 pm. (City page for the Harbor project is here; city page for the Conner project is here.)
Just alluded to this on the original post from late last night: Eric Radovich from BlueStar, developers of Fauntleroy Place (plus the forthcoming Spring Hill), says the artwork we posted, given by a rep from his company to project neighbors who showed it at last night’s JuNO meeting, is NOT a new look for the future home of Whole Foods/Hancock Fabrics — he says it is for MASSING ONLY. That means showing the approximate size and space that will be taken up by the buildings, but not their colors, decks, setbacks, etc. — he says the drawing was done so that Whole Foods could see where its entries would be. Radovich says there is not a final, final rendering yet for what Fauntleroy Place will look like, past this one that’s on the BlueStar website now:
… but architects are “on the brink” of the next one, which he reiterates will follow what the Design Review Board stipulated in previous reviews. He requested that we take down our photo of the drawing; we are honoring that request, and we have his 24-hour phone number for comment on anything else that turns up in the future. We apologize on all fronts for the fire drill – once in a while, that’s what happens in newsgathering/reporting, in all media – you report something quickly, and it turns out there’s more to the story; we are committed at WSB to as close to a perfect accuracy rate as we can get, so we certainly can, and will, do better.
(image removed at request of developer — see forthcoming post higher atop the page for new information, will be linked here when posted)
Update on the following – Eric Radovich from BlueStar explained the origin of the artwork that led to this post – he says it’s for massing, not colors or design – separate post to come atop the page.
One of the headlines from tonight’s Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) meeting — Brian and Katie Tucker, JuNO members living adjacent to the Fauntleroy Place (aka “the Whole Foods project”) site, received and shared this new rendering from developers BlueStar, who don’t even have it on their own website, which still shows this one (FP changed architects a few months ago):
The Tuckers were told the latest plan is for these to be apartments, not condos, and that they will have fancy interior touches and rent for higher than the current WS average. More first thing in the am from the JuNO meeting, where a city rep talked more about the upcoming Junction parking review, and also from the Fauntleroy Community Association meeting, where the other half of the team is getting the latest on the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse, among other things.
Just a few running updates (see earlier coverage further down the page) — In addition to the Landmarks Board witness who testified at midmorning, she was followed by the supervisor of the city’s Landmarks Preservation program, Karen Gordon. She reaffirmed the unusual nature of this hearing – saying she’s worked for the department for more than 20 years and only seen a few cases like this where applicants have challenged the board’s decision on economic grounds. (House owner William Conner’s contention is that he has to build larger houses on the site because that’s all that makes economic sense.) More on the afternoon testimony later. This is all moving slowly and general chatter is that it’s going to be difficult getting all the testimony done in the day and a half allotted before the Hearing Examiner. ADDED 4:09 PM: It’s looks like beyond the prescheduled time on Thursday, this may continue Friday morning as well, and possibly March 18 all day if needed. Those who are here, by the way, include Conner and his lawyer Richard Hill at the table across from the two city lawyers, and a few spectators, here in the Hearing Examiner’s chambers on the 40th floor of the Municipal Tower. Some of this afternoon’s testimony has included details about the condition of the Satterlee House itself – more on that in our full writeup later.
The design/build firm that recently bought the Shoremont at 57th/Alki (map) — and the neighboring house, which it’s reselling — is looking into saving and moving the building. That’s according to Chris Pardo at Pb Elemental. He tells WSB, “We have been in discussions with two building-moving firms; one is looking at the possibility of moving the existing building to Whidbey Island. The Shoremont has a brick facade rather than structural brick, so it seems feasible for them to move the building.” Pardo says that’s what Pb Elemental would prefer to do, but if the move doesn’t work out, he says, “We also have a few firms, including ourselves, interested in reusing the brick on the new project and nearby developments.” In addition, he sent us this rendering of the five-unit development they’re proposing at the Shoremont site (more details in this previous report):
Pardo says his firm hopes to start construction by “late spring” and finish by early next year.
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