Community Post

Apartment project at 12th & Jefferson moving forward, environmental cleanup starting soon

Capitol Hill Housing’s plan to add 40 affordable apartments to the vacant corner of 12th & Jefferson has made it another step through the city’s permitting process, receiving a recommendation from the Department of Planning and Development to allow a requested rezone to allow sixty-five feet of height for the building.

That leaves two additional steps, including an appearance before the hearing examiner on October 7th and the final approval of the Seattle City Council.

According to the city’s analysis of the rezone (attached at left), public comment was generally supportive of the project, though took issue with some design details:

  • Supportive of CHHP’s previous work and efforts on the12th Avenue redevelopment plan. 
  • Concern that the design some of the newer apartment buildings in the neighborhood is lacking.
  • Would like this building to utilize higher quality materials and not use vinyl siding, corrugated metal siding or fake balconies. Also feels that the design should endeavor to be less blocky and have more distinction between the levels. Agree with the gateway concept that development on this corner offers.
  • Would like to see more support for balconies located at the corner location. 
  • Would like to see each unit have its own individual balcony rather than the proposed single communal balcony on each floor. 
  • Encourage integration of secure bicycle parking and storage near the parking area for building tenants.
  • Support the proposed balcony concept and would discourage Option 3 showing the balconies at the corner.
  • The proposed design has appropriate massing for this location and anchors the corner. Both 12th and Jefferson are very wide streets that can handle and benefit from a taller building at the corner. Pleased with the south facing green central part of the building that breaks up this elevation in a meaningful way. The east facade is very visible and thus, important and needs to be well-detailed. Likes the ideas of more openings on the decks.
  • Believes Ceraclad is a very high quality product that provides a clean look that will wear well over time.

There will be other signs of progress starting in October, as contractors begin to clean up pollution left behind from a gas station that once sat on the property. Construction crews will dig up and haul off 4,000 cubic yards of dirt on the property, then regrade the site to support the new building.

0 thoughts on “Apartment project at 12th & Jefferson moving forward, environmental cleanup starting soon

  1. Hi All: On behalf of Betsy from CHH (the lead developer on this project) I just wanted to let people know that we (CHH) and our architects (EW) are working hard to create a solid, attractive and green-built building here for the neighborhood to be proud of. For example, we will never, ever, use vinyl siding on a new multi-family building. Because this building will be built to the State Evergreen Sustainable Standard (and because we believe in using high quality attractive materials) we will be using something much more lasting and solid looking, such as hardi-panel siding. We will also seek to use colors that will fit into the neighborhood. We have worked very hard to continually improve upon our design to meet community and design review design desires.

    Additionally, because this is part of our 12th Avenue community work, we hope to market and lease the commercial spaces here to small businesses to support the eclectic and local vibe of the business district on 12th. We have heard through many a community meeting that this is desired by neighborhood residents, students and other businesses on the corridor, and we are doing our best to structure the cost and size of these spaces to meet these neighborhood goals.

    In partnership with the 12th Avenue community, we believe that more “eyes on the street” will go a long way to making this corner feel more safe and vibrant. We are thankful for the continued partnership of small businesses, residents and neighborhood groups in the area for their support of our endeavor to clean up this contaminated site and turn it into a great neighborhood asset. Please feel free to email Betsy with any comments or concerns: [email protected].