Here’s this week’s development update, where the amount of activity in the city’s planning department continues to pick up from its holiday season lows:
23rd & Union – At the risk of sounding like a drama queen, this may be the most important project for the neighborhood since the big (and somewhat disappointing) 23rd & Madison Safeway project. The developer there is seeking city council action to allow a 65 foot tall building instead of the 40 foot limit imposed by the current zoning. There’s a new design review scheduled for March 5th where you can go and see the specifics of what’s planned. If you like what you see, contact the city council and tell them you want the additional height to be approved.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7480
12th & Madison – The next item isn’t quite in the CD, but it’s another example of the dramatic changes underway at 12th & Madison. The paint store and loveably dumpy Undre Arms apartment building are coming down, and a 6-story mixed use building with 91 residential units will take their place on the triangular lot at the west corner of the intersection.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7479
24th & Madison – There’s an application to subdivide the vacant lot on the east end of the block shared with Crush. They don’t say what kind of structures are planned, but the smart money is on town houses.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7442
424 31st Ave E – This one is kinda complicated. There’s a property in Madison valley that has two houses on it, and it stretches all the way across the block between 31st and 32nd Ave. Although the project describes it as two parcels, it’s listed as one in with the county. But in any case, it will soon become three parcels. The two existing houses will lose some deck space but will remain, and they don’t specify what will be done with the newly created lot.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7451
1108 – 1128 33rd Ave – There’s a row of six classic, well-proportioned houses across from the front door of Madrona Elementary, behind the newish apartment complex where Vierte Coffee sits. The entire set of properties is up for a rezone from L2 (lowrise 2) to NC1-30′ (neighborhood commercial 1-30′). That kind of upgrade would allow a developer to get 66% more square footage for a building on the site and allow commercial space on the first floor. The interesting thing here is that the properties are all owned by different families, so there must be some sort of deal going on behind the scenes. The applicant is Tom Flood, a fairly well known artist in the neighborhood who has a studio in the old auto shop at 34th and Pike.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7439
408 21st Ave – A small one-story house will have its property subdivided and a new duplex built on the back half.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7438
1311 30th Ave S – A small, kinda shabby one-story house is due to replaced by a new house and a new duplex townhouse. This is on the hill almost right over the I-90 tunnel, so they should have some nice downtown and sunset views.
http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=7455
http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=2505289
It was good to see the smelly, boarded-up wreck at 19th and Yesler finally get knocked down. It will be replaced by apartments and retail.
There are some nicely modern loft spaces on the boards for the vacant lot on Union next to the Bike shop. http://www.elementalarchitecture.com/projects/mixed/Union/index.html
*Note, this is not official*
About two months ago I spoke with the new owner of the old Dilettante Chocolate. He says he is a local and already owns the two adjacent lots, and that he finally got the Dilettante family to sell the building to him. He told me that he was planning on putting in another coffee shop for community space, and didn’t have plans to build on the other two lots. He also said that he runs a refurbished wood construction company and that was what he would use the two lots for.
We live in the building overlooking the lots, and I haven’t seen anyone there at all. There has been some work done inside of the old dilettante’s though, and it looks like they are slowly making progress.
He is a townhome builder, does green building, lots of salvaged lumber, the designs arn’t the best but atleast they are different.
http://www.greenleafconst.net/
Scott suggested in the “Development Update” that perhaps their is some kind of deal going on behind the scenes between the neighbors. Let me assure you their is not. We are just all in agreement that our 6 Parcels should be the same not only as the other 3 sides of our block but also the very ends of 33rd on our block. On one end we have The Library and on the other the zoning was changed by the Developer and Owner of Bowling Green Apartments(where Verite is) in 1998. The 6 parcels are left hanging as an island. Their is no deal going on between the neighbors other than a common goal to rezone our parcels.