So far, 2011 has been a year of shovels and dirt when it comes to Capitol Hill redevelopment plans. CHS has reported on a roster of projects that are beginning or about to begin demolition that seems to grow nearly every week. Here is news of a project in a different phase in the heart of Pike/Pine — an early phase that might never lead to digging. The Winston Apartments building, home to the Wildrose, the Hot House spa and 20 residential units is for sale. The price for nearly 6,000 square feet of Pike/Pine? $4.65 million.
Winston owner Anne Michelson tells CHS she’s hoping to sell to a like-minded owner — presumably, not somebody who thinks with their shovel.
“I am hoping to find a buyer for the Winston who is sympathetic to this Artsy/alternative oriented neighborhood and who is preservation minded,” Michelson writes. “There are people like that out there and if I don’t find one, I will keep the Winston and that is good too.”
Michelson bought the wood-frame building in 1999 for just under $2 million. According to city and county records, she plowed $60,000 into an overhaul of the apartments — the building has stood at the site since 1905 but today’s structure underwent significant work around 1970.
Beyond the development and preservation aspects of the decision to list the property, the move has been monitored by real estate pros around the Hill since the building hit the market two weeks ago. 20-unit apartment buildings in the heart of one of the hottest commercial real estate areas in the city don’t get listed very often. Online tools blow up at the notion. Dot com real estate site Zillow, famous for its Zestimate pricing tool, barfs out an uninspiring “N/A” when asked to assess the prospects for 1023 East Pike. The $4.65 million listing price washes out to $235 per for the 20,000 square-foot building. Comparing apples to oranges, Zillow says the median list price for 98122 single family homes is $317.
Michelson owns a significant amount of property in central Pike/Pine and also operates her Crescent Down Works business on East Pike. She’s been part of the neighborhood for decades. “I used to drink at the Comet in the late 60’s and early 70’s and opened the Café Paradiso in 1990 where we featured local alternative bands on the weekend,” she writes. She recently told Preservation Magazine about her start in Capitol Hill real estate, acquiring the old Anderson Tool Supply building “for a song.” Turns out, a song cost $298,000 in 1990. Michelson sold the building to Caffe Vita owner Mike McConnell in 2006 for $1.9 million, according to county records.
Recently, Michelson has become embroiled in some of the heated discussions about the future of the Capitol Hill Block Party in the neighborhood. Michelson declined to comment on the Block Party for this article but her companies have been part of the opposition to the expansion of the music festival in Pike/Pine. Selling the apartment building, though, wouldn’t end Michelson’s part in the discussion.
According to Michelson, her Michelson Properties include the Winston, the 1423 10th Ave building, the 1100 East Pike Building and the 1115 East Pike Building. Michelson also owns “a few” condos in the 1111 East Pike Tom Kundig building and three “turn of the century houses dotted around the hill, central area and 16th ave east.”
If she sells, the divestiture of the Winston would give Michelson capital to pursue restoration projects at the other properties she owns in Pike/Pine and Capitol Hill.
She writes:
Well, there are several components to the motivation but predominantly it is that I have several restoration projects I really want to do on the other buildings I own in the neighborhood and banks these days are really impossibly tight. So I would love to have my own [capital] that selling the Winston would give me and freedom from the banks! But I am also cool with keeping it, I love my tenants.
Thanks tipster Eric.
That first photo, with the trashed utility pole and drainage pipe plastered with stickers, is a great example of the visual blight which is being caused by illegal (not in compliance with City regulations) postering/stickering. Unfortunately, it is only one of countless examples.
I would like the postering ban to be re-instituted because the current regulations, which are a reasonable compromise on this issue, are not being respected. But this is unlikely to happen, because of the influence/power of the “nightlife lobby.”
And now, I fully expect replies telling me to “move to Bellevue.” Sorry, I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for 30 years and am not going anywhere. There are many things I like, but a few things I don’t like.
Looks like home to me
Pls don’t push to have cap hill sterilized.
It is one of the things I like about the hill and one of the reasons I moved here.
Bellevue might be a better home for you.
That first photo, with the trashed utility pole and drainage pipe plastered with stickers, is a great example of the visually striking greatness and vibrancy which defines a city and a community. Unfortunately, it is only one of a few places in Seattle where this occurs.
I would like the postering/stickering and “nightlife lobby” to re-institute their efforts and be more zealous and to never compromise on this issue. But this is unlikely to happen, because of the influence/power of the “homogeneous lobby.”
I’d like to see kiosks (two per block on each end near the corners) like Paris has. They become ‘street furniture’ if you will. You can have artists design each one so they aren’t ‘homogenous’ and yet they still provide a forum for the adverts.
What is funny is that there is a kiosk directly across the street from this building that rarely gets used. All the postering still happens on poles and old buildings like Sun Electric. I don’t mind it, never had. I think it is what makes P/P feel gritty even when this is no longer the demographic that lives here.
Prost is homo Genius!!!
“plowing” $60,000 into this property in 12 years doesn’t double its’ value. The only way to accomplish this is to scrape it and replace with a higher density building. (“preservation” doesn’t pay the rent….)
I think the street art and postering are part of the area. If you don’t enjoy these things, move away. There are plenty of formulaic big box retail havens close by.
Kiosks work in Paris (and other European/Canadian cities) because people there respect their neighborhoods, and would not tolerate the level of trashiness that exists in parts of Capitol Hill (especially Pike-Pine, E. Olive Way, and 15th Ave E)…and also because these cities actually enforce their own regulations.
These things are not true in Seattle in many areas (not all), and therefore kiosks would not work here….unfortunately.
Unfortunately, the anti-postering law that was on the books was deemed illegal so what you now have is lots of utility polls that are plastered and plastered and plastered with posters that look like chit and there’s not much you can do about it. Even those who poster don’t have any problem postering over someone else’s event that hasn’t happened simply because they can do it and there’s not much that the original or anyone can do it. It’s the wild west. Anything goes. I’m a vigilante who rips that chit down near my building whenever I see it. The worst offender is the outfit that solicits people to work for “campaign” or “environment” jobs which is all BS.
“the visual blight which is being caused by illegal (not in compliance with City regulations) postering/stickering. Unfortunately, it is only one of countless examples.
I would like the postering ban to be re-instituted because the current regulations, which are a reasonable compromise on this issue, are not being respected. But this is unlikely to happen, because of the influence/power of the “nightlife lobby.””
Go away.
“Sorry, I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for 30 years”
Yeah, right. It’s sure the worst it’s ever been today.
Just a little factual reminder…the final (Washington State Supreme Court) ruling on the postering issue declared that utility poles/other public structures are NOT “traditional public forums,” and it therefore affirmed the City’s right to regulate this activity. Seattle has chosen to regulate as opposed to banning, but unfortunately the regulations are widely ignored (in many ways) and the City (SDOT) does nothing to enforce them.