Shoreline Development News/Pictures

I'm currently quite busy with work and school but if there's a nice sunny day coming up and I'm free I'll do another photo tour of Shoreline. Recently there's been an explosion of LR2/3 style townhome construction around the new 185th station area, with a couple townhouse projects already completed. That plus North City and obviously the light rail should make for a good update!

I saw am AIA or SAF panel a few years ago with a Shoreline planner on it talking about recent upzoning. She said because it was an older, largely built out suburb that until recently had no underutilized capacity they had been experiencing population stagnation. There was literally no where for more people to live. Which I guess could be fine if that's what you want to be and there is not a lot of growth/cost pressure. For Shoreline they wanted to have a more urbanized center or centers, so upzoned to encourage it. It's great to see it happening.

nwctybldr said:

I think the city has been trying to get more attention for a few years but the market hasn't been that interested until the last couple years. With light rail feeling very real and Seattle's insane land prices and slow entitlement process I think it has finally gotten some traction.

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They rezoned the two light rail areas as well as the blocks surrounding Aurora in 2015, and while there were some smaller projects here and there a couple years after, things are really starting to get going here. I think you're right about the outward push effect of Seattle land prices. Since downtown and SLU are pretty much built out, places like the U-District, Northgate, and Shoreline are going to start absorbing more and more of that demand.

Shoreline is absolutely embarrassing Seattle with TOD around the Lynnwood extension. Seattle electeds and staff should be ashamed. Honestly, many of them should probably be out of work with a swing and a miss as big as this.
On the Block: With $20M land buy, Shea plants the first TOD flag near Shoreline South station
Also, Shoreline is building a bike/ped bridge over I5 to connect to the new station. Very cool! 148th Street Non-Motorized Bridge | City of Shoreline

nwctybldr said:

Shoreline is absolutely embarrassing Seattle with TOD around the Lynnwood extension. Seattle electeds and staff should be ashamed. Honestly, many of them should probably be out of work with a swing and a miss as big as this.
On the Block: With $20M land buy, Shea plants the first TOD flag near Shoreline South station
Also, Shoreline is building a bike/ped bridge over I5 to connect to the new station. Very cool! 148th Street Non-Motorized Bridge | City of Shoreline

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Been to Roosevelt or the U-District or Capitol Hill recently?

BoulderGrad said:

Been to Roosevelt or the U-District or Capitol Hill recently?

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That's not really a fair comparison. All of those neighborhoods were already urban centers and they would have received lots of development pressure regardless of light rail (see Ballard or Greenwood, for example). Shoreline is literally facilitating dense multifamily redevelopment of single family tract houses from the 1960s and tying them to the station with a bridge. That's much more transformative.

nwctybldr said:

That's not really a fair comparison.

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Then neither is griping about the city council for TOD policies?...

"The Seattle city council is doing a terrible job compared to Shoreline in facilitating TOD!"

"What about this awesome TOD around stations?..."

"Doesn't count as it would have happened anyways..."

Edit: And if you think Roosevelt or Rainier Valley station areas were "dense urban centers" before light rail construction, your definitions might be off a bit here...

nwctybldr said:

The point I was making is that right now Shoreline is doing more to facilitate development around its light rail stations than Seattle is. I don't see the city of Seattle rezoning vast swaths of single family houses to NC-75 zoning.

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So there's this neighborhood in Seattle called Roosevelt...

Go use Reddit if you want to be snarky a**hole.

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I mostly jest... but perhaps you shouldn't be posting strong opinions in a public place if you can't handle someone disagreeing with them?...