Seattle, Greenlake Condo Projects

[BoulderGrad]

With a number of large projects getting started, the small urban village on the northeast end of one of Seattle's most popular parks is in for a major change in the next few years. Here's a rundown of a few of the biggest projects in the area.

The Greenlake Condominiums: Completed 2004
6 stories, 106 units



http://seattlecondosandlofts.com/200...eenlake-condos



The Florera: Under construction, seeking LEED Silver certification
Phase 1: 4 stories, 59 units, move-in September-October 2007
Phase 2: 25 units, move in fall 2008



http://seattlecondosandlofts.com/200...eenlake-condos
Hard Had Tour and impressions from Wendy Leung:
http://www.seattlecondoreview.com/20...ra-update.html



Park 71 (Vitamilk Dairy Re-development):

Phase 1: 6 stories, 235 units, 54,000 sqft ground level retail. Many articles on the project mention the developers desire to have a grocery store as the anchor tenant. Existing buildings in process of being demolished.

http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=3524

update: found some renderings in the DPD decision. Mentions more development on the other 2 sites as well:

http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/3003634.pdf

http://www.lorig.com/d_park71.htm

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr




Phase 2? 3? maybe:
Bit on the proposal in an old article from the times shows 3 blocks that could be developed. Also a rezoning request submitted to the city highlights more than just the current block under construction. Anyone know if they got approval for all three blocks, or just the one under construction right now?

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...eenlake06.html



The Alexan Greenlake (Albertsons site redevelopment): 4 stories, 137 residential units, 11 live/work units, and 14,950 sqft of ground floor retail

This project will replace the old Albertsons building that is right across the street from Greenlake park. The old building is well into being demolished.

http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=5636

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...eenlake08.html

Update:
Found renderings for this project (and the name for it as well) on the architect's webpage (http://www.collinswoerman.com/homepage.htm)

[Bond James Bond]

When I was on the bus on I-5 today going by there I noticed there were a couple spots they were tearing down and building something. Now I know what it is.

[BoulderGrad]

Also wanted to add my own kinda crazy idea for the area. Ravenna blvd, which is divided into one way streets by a wide grassy median:



leads directly into the heart of Greenlake. It also crosses 11th ave and Roosevelt ave, which are the main arterials through the U-district. 11th ave and Roosevelt ave also converge into Eastlake ave, before it crosses the Montlake Cut at the University Bridge.

Still with me?... Good...

After crossing the bridge Eastlake ave then connects with Fairview avenue down in South Lake Union, just before you get to the Fred Hutchinson Research Center. Now... whats big and orange, and ends at the Fred Hutchinson Research Center?



Thats right, the brand new SLU streetcar. :-D.

So.... From the end of the initial segment at Fred Hutchinson, the streetcar would continue up Fairview to Eastlake. Continue up Eastlake ave across the bridge and split at Roosevelt and 11th ave (this has been studied by SDOT to some small degree). The southbound trains would go down Roosevelt Ave, and the Northbound trains would run up 11th ave. They would then re-converge at Ravenna BLVD and run along the grassy median like the very popular style of euro trams:



The street car would continue down the grassy median of Ravenna until it reaches the line's terminus in the heart of the brand new Greenlake urban village.

But wait, it gets better... 11th Avenue and Roosevelt ave dont just stop at Ravenna blvd. 11th ave becomes 12th avenue and continues on through the heart of the Roosevelt urban village until it reaches Lake City Way and 75th street. Roosevelt ave (also the main drag through the Roosevelt Urban Village) becomes a southbound one way street at 75th street. SO , the trolley lines could continue on their north on 12th, south on Roosevelt until 75th street ("on your left, you will see the proposed Roosevelt Light Rail Station"), where the 12th ave line re-connects with the Roosevelt line and continues north until it reaches its terminus at Northgate way. Whew....

So to Sum up, this would add 6 miles to the down town street car, and connect Eastlake, The U-district, Roosevelt, Greenlake, Ravenna, Mapleleaf, Morningside, and Northgate with South Lake Union, Downtown, and 2 light rail stops (Roosevelt and Westlake) with easy access to 3 more (Husky Stadium, Brooklyn ave, and Northgate). So.... whose with me?

Of course, I understand that this would be expensive as all hell, buses would probably do the job faster, that corridor might not even need the capacity, and trains crossing all these streets might snarl things up worse.

But Damnit, I want to see this:

somewhere in the city of Seattle. And damnit I felt smart when I thought of it (at least at first).

Those are my thoughts, feel free to tell me what you think about my crazy greenlake and northgate trolley

[WESTSEATTLEGUY]

OOOO..... The Barcelona Tram, I love it, it is soooo cool and unique.

[CrazyAboutCities]

Great thread! I love the idea of adding more streetcars. I hope it will become reality one day.

[NW Mike]

Great Idea...I love Da Trolley
It makes me crazy! It would be beautiful!

[CrazyAboutCities]

Speaking of streetcar/trolley. I really love downtown Houston light rail system that built on the man-made street water feature. I was there last November. I like to see Seattle to do something similar to this but of course gotta to have its own style. THis picture isn't mine.

[Ginkgo]

Now... whats big and orange, and ends at the Fred Hutchinson Research Center?

Working at the Hutchinson Center, I have an even more acute interest in this line than usual--and I love anything rail. For now, and let's hope Boulder's plan comes to fruition, there will be three cars: one red, one green and one purple. Two will run simultaneously, the third on call and rotated in, giving another color a rest. BTW, as this forum does not allow direct uploading of pictures from one's hard drive (via attachments), I haven't posted any, but I have a lengthy thread with SELU streetcar construction photos over time on railroadforums.com--if such a plug is allowed--for those who might be interested.

[BoulderGrad]

I understand it's not quite Greenlake, but linear distance, its only a stone's throw away. The re-zoning application for the Roosevelt QFC was just sent in to the land use board. This would normally just be another low rise apartment project, except this happens to be the site for the proposed Roosevelt light rail stop:

http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?id=6062

[citruspastels]

ouch, hope that doesn't spell doom for that station. that would be such a wonderful place for it!

as for the streetcar, that's a beautiful idea, but where i really wish we had a rail stop of some sort is the woodland park zoo. it's such a great touristy place for people visiting, but so hard to get to unless you have a car and the desire to figure out the roads.

possibly if there were and east-west light rail line (subway) connecting ballard, freemont, and wallingford to the brooklyn station, then i'd like to see a streetcar running straight up from freemont, hitting woodland park and phinney ridge. possibly looping around greenlake, connecting the north end to the roosevelt station.

just a pipe dream though... hopefully those with the numbers and civil engineering/urban planner degrees can figure it out best.

[BoulderGrad]

Originally Posted by citruspastels

ouch, hope that doesn't spell doom for that station. that would be such a wonderful place for it!

Oh, no no, Sound transit already owns the corner of the lot where the station is going (right now, just a fenced off empty area of the parking lot). But when they go to start designing and building this project, a big part of it is going to be planning and coordination with Sound Transit for the station. Exciting stuff actually. Instead of walking out of the stop into the parking lot of a QFC, you will instead come out underneath a huge new appartment building (that has a QFC under it....).

[citruspastels]

oo sounds nice! i remember driving by and seeing the dpd notice and being excited for it. now i can be excited for it again!

[Bond James Bond]

@BoudlerGrad,

No no no no no!!! I used to live in a house along Ravenna Blvd and that greenway is the best thing in the world. If they ever tore it down, even to build a tram, it would ruin the whole area!

[BoulderGrad]

I don't want to get rid of the greenway, I want it to be like those trams in Houstin and Barcelona where the tracks are incorporated into the greenway. Or maybe just run the trolley along ravenna.

[BoulderGrad]

Found some renderings of the buildings planned for the old vitamilk site on the DPD decision. See starter page.

[BoulderGrad]

Haha, also found renderings for the Alberston's site redevelopment. The architect for the project is Collins Woerman. The pedestrian alleyways seem to be very popular for these projects. See starter page.

[mhays]

I like those. At the Alexan, it looks like those are public pathways rather than private. Nice.

The Alexan site was fenced and cleared but not active as of last Saturday. Can't wait to hear about a start.

The main Vitamilk block, as I mentioned on another thread, was excavating. That's the 235-unit portion out of 375 total.

[BoulderGrad]

There was earth moving equipment (including a back-hoe, and a bulldozer with a jackhammer) back on the Alexan site. Looks like they had already started on tearing up the old foundation.

[SteveM]

BoulderGrad, I've had the same idea about running a trolley down Ravenna, though in my mind it's about linking to the light rail, so it would follow Ravenna to Brooklyn rather than Roosevelt/11th.

But it seems like there are serious issues, too:

1) All the big old trees that make the street so pretty have large root systems. Root systems are bad enough for sidewalks, roads, etc., but it seems like they'd be worse to rails.
2) If we ran it down the middle of the median, that would ruin the median for people who use it today for croquet, catch, frisbee, etc.
3) If we ran it down each side of the median, we'd need to widen the median, which would mean taking lane space away from traffic or bikes. I'd support that (as long as the bike lane was upgraded with, say, a curb, as it was narrowed), but I suspect a lot of folks would object.

I'd rather see us extend the trolley with grass-paved tracks elsewhere (e.g. branch the SLU trolley in a middle grass-covered median up Dexter).

Also, back on the original point of this thread: I went by the Alexan site this morning and saw the earthmoving equipment, but noticed that a large section of the site is not fenced off. I wonder if they're just taking out the old foundation but not starting the project overall.

[citruspastels]

i LOVE all the midrise development going on at greenlake right now. what i would also really love to see eventually is enough density to support a bit more nightlife in the neighborhood. not rowdy pioneer square style nightlife; but classy european style nightlife. like a late night euro-style cafebar or a nice wine bar, or an independent movie theater or something. it would be really great to enjoy a glass of wine or a capuccino with some friends overlooking the lake late at night.