There’s an article in today’s Daily Journal of Commerce (online access for paid subscribers only) about the Bullitt Foundation’s intent to develop the C.C. Attle’s site, which they bought a year ago, with a “uniquely Northwest building.”
The Bullitt Foundation is looking
“not just for a piece of sculpture” but for a building that performed a series of technically rigorous functions in geology, hydrology and solar applications.
Bullitt’s CEO (and Earthday founder) Denis Hayes said he
imagines the building being a living structure with many controls and sensors. Parts of the building may even respond differently to the environment. For example, one side of the building faces a busy arterial, another a green park-like area and a third side faces a quiet street. It is “entirely possible,” he said, that each side will look and function differently.
They have selected an architect (Miller/Hull) but are still looking for project partners. They hope to have early design drawings by late summer.
this is going to be a very interesting project to follow!
This story makes me very sad. Since I was a young kid CC’s has always been there every time we drove by. We are losing a piece real Seattle History.
I wonder why all of the gay bars are disappearing.
No more C.C. Attles? Please tell me they’re able to move.
It’s sad to hear – I wonder where their new place will be? Maybe in the development they are building?
“Gentrification”
as the families move back into the city, so goes the night life. The Cuff will be next with that apartment building going up around it. Most likely next year would be my guess.
Cities grow up and move on. Businesses get displaced and find new homes. We cannot afford to shut down our urban and social progress to hold on to the look and feel our favorite year from our youth. If we are at all shy about aspiring to better, more vibrant, dense and sustainable futures then we will never get there. CC Attles will surely find a new home, it seems to have a thriving base of customers, and I am glad for that. If we are going to slam the Bullitt Foundation and Miller/Hull (probably the two most noble and ethical firms anyone could hope for, read up if you need to) for “gentrification,” then we should just give up, embalm our city, and hope our kids can deal with mess. My words are mellowdramatic, I know, but all buildings are new buildings some time, and we have now the chance to support an opportunity for a great one. [Full disclosure – I am an architect, but a direct competitor to Miller/Hull.)
Mellowdramatic
oxymoron or freudian slip?
:-)
Yikes! I think the same words were spoken in the 70’s when we were contemplating the merits of Pioneer Square, Pike Place Market and construction of the Thomson Expressway. While I wouldn’t put CC’s on the same plane, it’s a little sad to see another landmark (lower case “L”) go by the wayside. Part of the reason CC’s has a thriving base is indeed because of the building and location itself. There’s a certain quirkiness to the structure and layout that you can’t reproduce with new construction. Places like this are what give our neighborhood/city a sense of uniqueness as hinted at in other posts.
I used the word “gentrification” in my earlier post but did not intend this as a slam on Bullitt or Miller/Hull. If CC’s has to be replaced, at least there will be a quality development in it’s place. I’m just as guilty of participating in gentrification as an outsider that moved in to the CD. Main difference though is that I’ve worked to restore and improve the structure that is my home rather than to replace it with a shiny McMansion or 4-plex. “New” does not nececcarily equate to “Good”.
For those of us who, as youth in nearby schools, went there not really caring about sexuality-based businesses yet, Mike’s was the greasy spoon diner of choice. A place where you could buy smokes from ye olde time cig machine with the pull rods. They were 1.75 or 1.99 then… Jack O’Connell was a fixture in those days, as were all the Ave-rat wannabe kids from SAAS (if they weren’t down the block harassing the Piecora’s folks).
Sounds like the new building could be a neat bit o architecture, assuming they aren’t overmarketing/overselling themselves…
Thanks visitor, that is what I was thinking. And Rev.
I had good cheap eats at the restaurant. As a girl, I also had fun in the little bar while friends were in the big room.
There is something about the layout, that balcony overlooking Madison and the triangle of lawn that was especially nice for apartment dwellers I know. If the new building could reproduce that engaging relationship to the street, if a fun business with good eats can be in there, if the park could actually be accessible…
It’s a tall order for a relatively small piece of land, but it sounds like they know what they’re in for, and will hopefully work to make it wonderful and interesting for the neighborhood. Cities change…bars move (have you been to the new Twilight? It’s great)…life evolves, wrinkles form…get used to it.
It is sad that C.C.’s is going to be gone soon. No we can not slow down progress or urban growth, however Seattle seems to be unique in its quest for greatness and urban growth. It seems to just want to build the next “green” building and in the process raze and bury what was once there. No sense of history. Soon Seattle will only be left with buildings from the decade of 2000 and on. Yes bars can move, however where do they move too when everything is gone? I sure the new building will be lovely and will fit in perfectly with all the other block building cropping up on the hill. So sad….Seattle get a clue before its too late.