Belltown Development News and Photos

[shotsy]

Why don't we set a rule of thumb: anything northwest of the grid shift at Stewart street belongs in the belltown thread. Anything southeast of Stewart belongs in the downtown thread. Easy to remember because there's an obvious geographical feature.

[shotsy]

Note: Wikipedia denotes belltown's southeast border as Virginia... That could work too.

[RMacherat]

We old timers pretty much refer to that whole patch up there as the Regrade. In any event, Seattle has the (probably) unique opportunity to create an urban neighborhood unlike any other in the country. The views, having the city culture and business so close, excellent transit evolving and so many hardrock sites begging for 35-45 stories of affluent folks (who are just waiting out here in the no-longer-so-cool boonies until the time is right.).

[alexjonlin]

Will that Joseph Arnold block be completely full of new (past couple decades) mid/high-rise construction?

[Rogue Linguist]

Originally Posted by shotsy

Note: Wikipedia denotes belltown's southeast border as Virginia... That could work too.

I've always thought it it as north of Stewart personally, because it's at Stewart where the neighbourhood character and uses seem to shift. The block just north of Stewart, but south of Virginia, on First, contains places like Le Pichet, that old haunted former funeral home that belongs to Kell's Irish Pub now, the Virginia Inn, etc.

[mhays]

Stewart in my opinion, by a wide margin. The grid change is a big deal, and coincides with a change in predominant use. North of Stewart things change from mostly stuff of regional importance to mostly stuff of neighborhood importance.

[BoulderGrad]

Stewart to Denny, 5th ave to the Water

[BoulderGrad]

Posted one of my development maps on the front page. Was thinking it would be cool to have such a thing for each neighborhood page.

Edit: Anyone know the low income project completed recently that the Lucky Diner is now in?

[NW Mike]

Originally Posted by Ruffhauser

2700 Elliott aka the Joseph Arnold Lofts. Demo of the two existing buildings started last week.

image hosted on flickr



image hosted on flickr



image hosted on flickr

This will be a nice project....

[BellevueBoy]

Is it the same architect as Mosler Lofts? They look very similar. I know it's the same developer.

[Rogue Linguist]

Just a little tidbit: Belltown is going from zero to three liquor retailers with the privatization of liquor sales: Rite-Aid (Third Avenue), Ralph's Grocery & Deli (Fourth Avenue), and Cost Plus World Market (Western Avenue) all will be selling a drop of the grape (move the map around to go to Seattle): http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/0...lications.html

[Doomgoggles]

Originally Posted by BoulderGrad

Posted one of my development maps on the front page. Was thinking it would be cool to have such a thing for each neighborhood page.

Thank you; great map!

[CityView Jim]

Another crane going up today. I'm guess that it is 2nd and Bell.

[mhays]

Second and Bell was months ago. The new one is Viktoria.

[meku]

Two questions about Belltown: I've noticed there's a small corner building at 5th Ave and Bell, all wrapped in white plastic -anything interesting going on ? Also, a small surface parking lot right next to the Gallery is fenced of with a trailer on-site; staging area for a different project ?

[CityView Jim]

Originally Posted by mhays

Second and Bell was months ago. The new one is Viktoria.

i don't think I know that one. Where is it?

[mhays]

Viktoria is a 24-story apartment mid-block on Second between Olive and Virginia.

Not sure what they're doing to the small building.

[LCIII]

Originally Posted by meku

Two questions about Belltown: I've noticed there's a small corner building at 5th Ave and Bell, all wrapped in white plastic -anything interesting going on ? Also, a small surface parking lot right next to the Gallery is fenced of with a trailer on-site; staging area for a different project ?

Thats the Belltown community center project I believe.

[Ruffhauser]

From todays DJC.

http://www.djc.com/news/co/12043546.html

August 2, 2012

By JON SILVER
Journal Staff Reporter

As anyone who's ever worn white pants or a complicated hairdo knows, sometimes you'd rather look good than be practical.

So when Bellwether Housing renovated the former Sunset House apartments in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood last year, the nonprofit housing group opted for a type of metal siding panels that are typically used for roofing.

Bellwether, formerly called the Housing Resources Group, acquired the 82-unit apartment building in July 2011 and soon started on a $6 million, yearlong renovation that also included a new roof, window replacements and a complete redo of the interior.

The project, just about finished, will house low-income tenants and has been renamed the First & Vine Apartments.

Amy Hartwell, project manager for GGLO architects, said the panels add texture and give the 32-year-old building a more contemporary look. They are cut in 30-inch-long sections and installed in an overlapping pattern down much of the height of the nine-story building.

“When you look at them, you can see a shadow line every 30 inches,” she said.

Jim Moreland, a sales representative for the architectural metal supplier, AEP Span, said using the roof panels as siding takes some extra doing.

“It is definitely more work” to apply the panels on a vertical surface, he acknowledged. (AEP refers to the product as Select Seam with wide-batten joining panels.)

Still, there are quite a few buildings in Seattle that use the same siding system, Moreland said.

He said he wasn't aware of a similar product AEP or its competitors make that is used primarily for siding, rather than roofing.

The general contractor, Rafn Co., self-performed all the panel installation work, in part to ensure the process went as smoothly as possible.

Patrick Quinn, superintendent for the building envelope, said Rafn joined the project team early to work out details with the owner and architect.

“It helped the design to see how the components went together,” he said. After building a mock-up, for example, Rafn was able to help tweak the panel system to improve the waterproofing.

A second type of metal siding was applied horizontally, and had to line up with the vertical panels as they alternated across the face of the building.

Rafn set up its own metal shop to fabricate the steel on site, customizing pieces as needed and making sure the panels would fit properly.

Typically, Quinn said, Rafn would contract out such work to an off-site precision fabricator. Doing the work on site improved flexibility and quality control, he said, and was “good for us as a company,” keeping employees working through a slow period for the industry.

All told, the exterior cladding system required aligning nearly 9,000 individual parts using 30 different string lines.

“Everything has to be really clean and straight or else it's not going to look good,” Quinn said.

Hartwell, the GGLO project manager, said the new panels were installed over the building's existing EIFS panels, which were holding up well.

“There was no practical or financial reason to remove them,” she said.

Penetrations into the EIFS panels were sealed and a weather-resistant barrier was applied over the EIFS finish, she said.

Quinn marveled at the “sheer number of different pieces that had to go together — all the material that's behind the siding,” which made up the majority of the installation work.

The final tally included 6,224 pop rivets, 19,930 linear feet of hat channel, 561 tubes of silicone sealant, 80 gallons of weather-resistant barrier and 3,804 linear feet of backer rod for the windows. The panels themselves comprised 11,075 square feet of metal siding and 2,792 square feet of wide battens.

Quinn said the panel supplier commented the project would be “as hard as it gets with that product.”

Though the supplier was helpful, he said, the challenge of installing it was something that “for the most part we had to work out ourselves.”

Other project team members included DCI, the structural engineer, and RDH, the waterproofing consultant.

Bellwether, which manages more than 1,850 apartments throughout Seattle, will operate the building as owner and property manager.

[Ruffhauser]

A crane base being installed at the Joseph Arnold Lofts site.

image hosted on flickr