Community Post

Design Reviews Tonight: 12th & Jeff, Deano’s Property

There’s two big neighborhood projects that are up for design review tonight at Seattle Central Community College:

12th & JeffersonFirst up at 6:30pm, Capitol Hill Housing will collect early design guidance on their 6-story low-income apartment project that is planned for the vacant lot at 12th & Jefferson. It is designed to provide workforce housing to people who earn up to $35,000 per year. The preferred alternative for the project features 40 apartments arranged around landscaped outdoor decks on the southwest corner, facing the main intersection below. The first floor would contain 4,000 square feet of commercial space and parking for 6 vehicles in back.  The property is currently only zoned for 4-story buildings, so the project requires a rezone to allow the full 6 stories of space.

2026 E. Madison – The large apartment project on the old Deano’s property will have what will likely be its last design review at 8:00pm tonight.  The project has only seen a few tweaks since we last got a look back in December of last year. It still contains 222 apartments and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, all arranged around a central courtyard that will be partially open to the public. All of the retail is placed along Madison St, and the more residential sides along E. Denny Way include apartment units with small decks and entrances that face the street. But note that this project may be a long way from actual construction due to continuing issues in the capital markets.

0 thoughts on “Design Reviews Tonight: 12th & Jeff, Deano’s Property

  1. Anybody else think it’s pretty striking that all of the “people” in the renderings are white folks…? I mean wow, that’s a strong but subtle message about who is welcomed/invited…

  2. Massive expanses of squatty building. Can’t they make the fronts appear to be a series of separate buildings? The one facing seems to try. But, the other side? yuk.

    Better, would be to have mixes of heights, but the zoning does not provide for that level of variety.

    It’s the ‘K street’ phenomena. and, I am not talking about lobbyists.

  3. I’ve complained to them about that. They’re also all young!

    andrew
    (old white guy)

  4. Project and its 3 design departures approved.

    Most of the board’s (and some of the audience) comments were about the “breezeway” : the public walkway that approximates the location of the (now vacated) alley, and connects the central courtyard to the E. and W. sides of the building. An imposing 2 floor high walkway also connects Madison Street to the courtyard. Design Review Board thought that the architecture did not make it clear that it was a public walkway and wanted more obvious 2-story entryways to the breezeways on both the East (Denny Way) and West (alley) ends of the breezeways. Despite hints/urging from the SPD rep the board did not make any of this a requirement (just a strong suggestion) so we’ll see if it has any effect.

  5. even better if the facade could have in some way remembered what was there just prior to the bulldozing.

  6. I’m curious about whether there was any hint regarding when a project would actually materialize.

  7. I was at another meeting. The afternoon and evening were full of meetings, but I was wondering if anyone has information on 12th and Jefferson.

  8. The breezeway and walkway issues and depictions of people are important to note and to fix if the developer desires to be a good neighbor here. The neighborhood will in no way be improved by these divisive symbols and actions. If they are not fixed I would be very cautious in dealing with this group.

  9. I am the developer working on this project at CHHIP. The meeting went well, and the Board gave us pretty general feedback on massing, security and storage. They want our parking area to be secure and they want bike storage, both of which we want to include as well. Additionally, they advised us to use simple and durable materials on the exterior, something we are also already exploring. If you want more information, please feel free to email me at [email protected]