Development plans for key Pike/Pine, Broadway projects move forward

Ladies and gentleman, please warm up your development feedback engines. Two significant land-use projects are rumbling their way through the city's design review planning process in November -- one will breath life back into a wonderful old Pike/Pine building, the other will redesign nearly an entire block of Broadway and push out at least seven businesses and organizations.

• Sun Electric buildingThe plan for redevelopment of the at 11th and Pine comes back for a review in front of the Capitol Hill Design Board next week after the initial designs were sent back to the drawing board in August. The building in the heart of Pike/Pine was once a part of Capitol Hill's auto industry, according to neighborhood activist and historian Dennis Saxman. We'll have a deeper write-up on the second review once we get our grubby little hands on the updated design plan. In the meantime, here's our writeup on the project from August. The review board's big questions from the August session:
  o How to allow the developer to build high enough to preserve two floors of commercial space and leave more of the current character of the building intact?
  o What are the developer's strategies to achieve better integration of the preserved building and the new structure
  
  

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The proposal is to retain the existing two-story building facade and construct a new six-story building with ground level retail and artist lofts with 84 residential units above. Four parking spaces to be provided.

PROCESS

The applicant has applied for Design Review related to development of this site. At the Design Review Board meeting the applicant will present information about the proposed design and how it responds to the Design Guideline priorities established at the Early Design Guidance Board meeting on August 5, 2009, regarding this site; the public may offer comments regarding the proposed design; and, the Design Review Board members will offer additional guidance to the applicant regarding the design concepts.

MEETING

Date:                     Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Time:                     06:30 p.m.

Location:               Seattle University

                              Alumni Relations and Admissions Building

                              Meeting Room

                              824 12th Avenue

• Reshaping another key area of the Hill, the 224 Broadway projectSRM Development is finally starting to share its plans for -- the nearly complete block of Broadway it will demolish and redevelop as a mixed-use retail and housing development at Broadway and E. Thomas. Displaced by the project once demolition begins: Bank of America, the parking lot where the Broadway farmers market takes place, Noah's Bagels, Pho 900, Cafe Septieme and some residential structures including the old home that serves as offices for the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce. It's a massive project. More from CHS once we review any documentation from the project. This meeting will be a 'revised early design guidance' session so we might expect fewer details on the project from the developers and architects than we'll see in the Sun Electric project. The SRM development has been playing out for months. We first heard word that they were moving forward with public process on a smaller plan back in January but those meetings were scuttled. Three months later, rumors emerged about the expansion of the project to include the buildings where Noah's Bagels and Cafe Septieme now live.

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PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The proposal is for a six-story (six stories facing Broadway, four stories facing 10th Ave E) 235 unit residential, retail and office building.  Parking for 250 vehicles will be located below grade. Six existing structures to be demolished. This project has been expanded and revised since original EDG meeting.

PROCESS  

The applicants have applied for Design Review related to development of this site.  At the early design guidance meeting, the applicants will present information about the site and vicinity.  The public may offer comments regarding the design and siting of  the subject site; and, the Design Review Board members will also offer comments and identify those Citywide Design Guidelines of highest priority in developing the site.  

MEETING   ***REVISED EDG***

Date:            Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Time:           6:30 p.m.

Location:     Seattle University

                    Alumni Relations and Admissions Bldg

                    824 12th Ave

                    Meeting Room