Seattle: Mid-rise projects

[SteveM]

I went out on my bike today and noticed that it looks like the site in Ballard to the northwest of the QFC site has also broken ground. I think it's a 6-story, 30ish unit building, but I'm not sure.

Also, the project at 95th and Stone Ave looks to have topped out and started on windows, etc. It's an interesting (to me, at least) because it's the first attempt to put Seattle-standard apartments over neighborhood retail in an area with a fair amount of (townhouse) density but no existing retail and few people walking on the streets.

[mhays]

I went through Ballard last weekend and they'd demo'd. Are they actually digging and shoring now?

[SteveM]

Originally Posted by mhays

I went through Ballard last weekend and they'd demo'd. Are they actually digging and shoring now?

That's what it looked like -- there was a hole in the ground, and there appeared to be backhoe action.

[mhays]

Backhoe action...porn for SSC'ers.

[seattleist]

Reading about QFC and a separate mid-rise project on Stone reminds me of the gaping hole thats been fenced off for months at Stone Way N and N 40th in Fremont/Wallingford.

There are small signs with a QFC logo that refer to a construction complaint hotline. I wonder if it is a project to replace the smaller QFC (with limited parking) on N 45th in Wallingford, but I haven't seen any work done there for a long time so I'm wondering if it's on hold.

EDIT:

I've answered my own question here:

http://southwallingford.org/qfc/index.html

"QFC (and its parent company, the Kroger Corporation) proposes to build a new 120,000+ square foot development on the old Wallingford Safeway site at Stone Way N and N 40th St. Their current plan calls for three floors of parking, 25 condominium units, and a large (35,000 sq ft) grocery store. All vehicular access to the complex would take place off neighborhood streets (N 39th and N 40th).

The Stone Way QFC committee continues to work diligently with Kroger and the Seattle Department of Construction and Land Use (DCLU), to affect this project for the better and to mitigate its negative impacts on our neighborhood."

But still, does anybody know the status of this project, or what would become of the QFC on 45th? That neon "Wallingford' sign is iconic!

SECOND EDIT:

Wow! What a coincidence! This was just posted in today's DJC:

QFC will sell Wallingford site
after mixed-use complex stalls
Mike Derr of Prescott Development said his firm wants to build 160 apartments and street-level retail on the Stone Way North site.


Any information anyone may have would still be appreciated.

[CityView Jim]

Other news. Looks like Veer Lofts have reached max height. Interesting that this is frame construction which I thought has a max of 5 floors above ground or any concrete pedestal. They have sneeked around this by adding 2-story 'lofts' on the 5th framed floor making the building look a total of 7 stories (including ground concrete floor).

Whatever works. It'll be a nice addition to this area of SLU.

[Capitol Hill]

The Brix on Broadway E. and E. Mercer St. has reached the top floor as well. As its steel stud framing above the ground floor retail, you see quite a gleaming of silver metal from that end of Broadway when the sun is out.

[SteveM]

Originally Posted by seattleist

Wow! What a coincidence! This was just posted in today's DJC:

QFC will sell Wallingford site
after mixed-use complex stalls
Mike Derr of Prescott Development said his firm wants to build 160 apartments and street-level retail on the Stone Way North site.


Any information anyone may have would still be appreciated.

I believe the design review docs for the new development are up on the DPD site:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/G...endaID2139.pdf

[CrazyAboutCities]

Last week ago, I got a notice letter about this proposed development on 1st and Cedar street. It will be 7 stories building. It will have 84 residential units and street level retail. Nice infill development on the parking lot. Too bad it won't take over entire parking lot on 1st and Cedar.

[Capitol Hill]

Originally Posted by SteveM

I believe the design review docs for the new development are up on the DPD site:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/G...endaID2139.pdf

I wonder if they'll get 'quality' retail in there, or if its going to be a lot of insurance agents, etc.

[Capitol Hill]

Originally Posted by SteveM

I believe the design review docs for the new development are up on the DPD site:
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/G...endaID2139.pdf

Some further thoughts on this project. It seems as though that Wallingford/Fremont are under grocery store retailed. You have the small QFC with the WALLINGFORD sign on the room (old Food Giant), and Fred Meyer in Ballard, and PCC. The Safeway where Stone and Bridge converge has been closed for years, and the Albertsons at Greenlake was torn down/being redeveloped.

I would have thought the project as originally proposed would have been successful, with a grocery store.

Am I the only one who thinks that a mixed use project with a grocery as a retail anchor be successful?

[citruspastels]

Originally Posted by Capitol Hill

Some further thoughts on this project. It seems as though that Wallingford/Fremont are under grocery store retailed. You have the small QFC with the WALLINGFORD sign on the room (old Food Giant), and Fred Meyer in Ballard, and PCC. The Safeway where Stone and Bridge converge has been closed for years, and the Albertsons at Greenlake was torn down/being redeveloped.

I would have thought the project as originally proposed would have been successful, with a grocery store.

Am I the only one who thinks that a mixed use project with a grocery as a retail anchor be successful?

Whole Foods, QFC, and Safeway all have very accesible locations in Roosevelt for people who live in northern Wallingford. Plus the Safeway to the east in the U-District. The area is actually pretty well served by grocery stores. The 45th location for QFC is awful due to its size and inaccesibility, but I'm not sure a new grocery store would do very well there.

Speaking of grocery stores and mid-rises, when is somebody going to buy the Safeway that society forgot in the U-District? I would love to see that whole block (including Jack-in-the-Box) razed with a large mid-rise with a new-style Safeway as an anchor.

[mhays]

The Ballard QFC is also closed temporarily while it rebuilds with housing on top. So a large, prosperous, and relatively dense part of Seattle, Ballard to Green Lake to Wallingford, probably does have too few full-size stores. It does have a decent number of smaller and/or alternative type stores. There's a store on 15th of some kind, and PCCs in Fremont and Aurora & 80th, plus at least one other nice supermarket in Fremont.

It's important that the urban districts have good stores a moderately-easy walk away. In Ballard you can walk to 15th or shop at a smaller store. In Green Lake you can hit Aurora and 80th or cross the freeway to Roosevelt. But that's marginal in both cases.

It's a problem in Belltown too -- the last glaring hole in Downtown Seattle for supermarkets. Though personally, I like shopping at my corner store 90% of the time anyway -- I avoid lines like the plague, and my store rarely has one.

[mhays]

PS, I can confirm that Hyatt Place at 6th & Denny looks like a start. They're finally demo'ing, and they've parked a very big job-office-type trailer next to the site.

I vaguely recall that this is around 200 units including hotel and residential. Assuming they're building both parts (are they?), i.e. not just the hotel part. My guess is the hotel is around 150 rooms.

The hotel at 4th N & Roy hasn't started yet. They got a building permit a few months ago, but went back to DPD for a hotel-only concept, basically 140 rooms and 1 housing unit rather than more of a mix like they proposed before. This got tentative MUP a couple weeks ago. I have no idea how long the new building permit would take or how they're approaching it.

Anyone know the status on the conversion of the Alaska Building to a 250-room Marriott with housing in three added floors on top? I believe they got all their permits and could be starting at any time if they go forward.

Collectively, these projects would bring Downtown to 12,000 hotel rooms by the end of next year. That's pretty cool, given that we had a little over 2,000 in 1980, over 4,000 in late 1982 (a mammoth boom obviously!), and (extrapolating) around 6,000 in 1995. Since 1995 there's been at least one hotel under construction in Downtown Seattle at all times.

We don't talk about hotels as much as housing on SSC. That probably because housing has catchet, and tourists are often not very respected as a general category of people. But visitors (tourists, business travelers) are a large and extremely important component of Downtown Seattle's life. They comprise over half of Nordstrom's sales, or so I've heard. They fill our sidewalks in several key districts. They subsidize our museums, plays, and movie theaters. They keep our restaurants busy even on weeknights, and ensure that we have a lot of restaurants. Basically they show up, populate our sidewalks, spew money, and often flatter our city with praise, while not causing traffic problems, not committing crimes, and basically doing nothing worse than occasionally getting in the way. I love tourists.

A downtown condo might mean new furniture when they move in, some spending on food, and a 2 or 3 real clothes shopping trips per year. But a hotel room...it might have 100 different sets of guests in a year. 30 of them are buying lots of stuff, and 90 of them are buying a few meals per day at restaurants.

[SteveM]

Looks like demolition to make way for one of the Amazon buildings (Interurban Exchange 4, I think) in SLU took place late last week -- the site is still covered in debris.

I believe this one is already permitted, so construction may follow immediately.

[BoulderGrad]

Originally Posted by mhays

The Ballard QFC is also closed temporarily while it rebuilds with housing on top. So a large, prosperous, and relatively dense part of Seattle, Ballard to Green Lake to Wallingford, probably does have too few full-size stores. It does have a decent number of smaller and/or alternative type stores. There's a store on 15th of some kind, and PCCs in Fremont and Aurora & 80th, plus at least one other nice supermarket in Fremont.

It's important that the urban districts have good stores a moderately-easy walk away. In Ballard you can walk to 15th or shop at a smaller store. In Green Lake you can hit Aurora and 80th or cross the freeway to Roosevelt. But that's marginal in both cases.

It's a problem in Belltown too -- the last glaring hole in Downtown Seattle for supermarkets. Though personally, I like shopping at my corner store 90% of the time anyway -- I avoid lines like the plague, and my store rarely has one.

Greenlake was supposed to be getting their grocery store back soon. The Park 71 development at the former Vitamilk Dairy site was to have a grocery store (rumored to be a Trader Joes last I heard), but the project seems to be on hold for the moment as I hear from my apt. manager that the original developer sold the site to a different developer just as they were finishing excavation. No idea who the new developer is, what they plan on doing with the site, or when its going to get started again. Hopefully the answers to the second two questions are "the same thing" and "very soon".

[citruspastels]

anybody read this post on the slog today?-

http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/..._exposure#more

N 40th St and Aurora Ave N-



Elevation facing Aurora-



NE 105th St and Greenwood Ave N-



N 40th St and Stone Way N



NE 137th St and Lake City Way NE

[CrazyAboutCities]

EWWW Too tacky for Seattle!

[citruspastels]

Originally Posted by CrazyAboutCities

EWWW Too tacky for Seattle!

which one?

would you rather have beige craftsman-style rip-off townhouses?

[CrazyAboutCities]

Originally Posted by citruspastels

which one?

would you rather have beige craftsman-style rip-off townhouses?

All of it. I don't like them at all. Around half of them looks like they came straight from the late 60s and 70s.

Answer to your last question, I rather to live in brownstone style townhouses than these tacky buildings.