The ambitious project to create a seven-story, 260-unit mixed-use apartment project while preserving a portion of the old auto row building at 714 E Pike is temporarily “on hold” and as a “backup” has been put up for sale, the company behind the development tells CHS.
“The equity for the 714 E Pike project is one of our closed-end funds that includes a mixture of both ground-up development projects as well as existing apartment properties we’ve acquired,” a Wolff Company representative tells us. “It turns out the fund’s ‘end date’ is earlier than we’d originally anticipated, and the timeline for the BMW site to be constructed and leased up is simply too long compared to the rest of the properties in the fund.”
[mappress mapid=”30″]CHS looked at the final design for the apartment, retail and restaurant project here.
The representative for the developer says the Sunset Electric project at 11th and Pine it paid $6.7 million for last year is part of the same funding pool but will be completed in time to satisfy investors.
The Wolff representative said the company is working to recapitalize the BMW project and has listed it for sale only as a contingency should no source of financing be found. The Arizona-based Wolff paid $14.9 million for the BMW property in 2012.
The delay could be a reprieve for sports drink start-up Golazo that has been using the old BMW building as its headquarters. There’s no such delay coming for neighboring Bill’s Off Broadway as the project slated to rise above its corner at Pine and Harvard will continue on its current schedule according to developer Denny Onslow. Onslow also tells us he’s hopeful that Bill’s owner Don Stevens will ultimately have a stronger business in the space following the construction of the new building.
Meanwhile, Wolff is busy with several other multimillion projects across the city including a seven-story West Seattle project, an 85-foot apartment building 17-story apartment tower (subscription required) near Amazon near 9th Ave N and Republican and this massive 6.2 acre, 5-building proposal (subscription required) in Columbia City.
The Wolff representative tells CHS the company does have other funds but “we currently don’t commingle investment vehicles.”
“Our strong bias is to proceed with constructing the project,” the Wolff rep says, “but because of our fiduciary responsibility to our fund investors we do need to have a backup plan as we pursue the recapitalization.”
[…] jseattle at Capitol Hill Seattle reports, Developer: Massive Pike/Pine project temporarily ‘on hold’: […]
Can the same thing please happen to the mercedes dealership project across the street so I don’t have to move out of the apartment i’ve lived in for 4 years so the amazoners can say they live in capitol hill?
Get out of my neighborhood regressive.
You’re obviously just a shill for developers. How stupid do you think we are? You are a lobbyist. Your neighborhood? I doubt you even live in the neighborhood.
Pretty lame “except”. “sweet” makes a very good point that many on this blog choose to ignore. Gee, maybe even saying that will get this post removed by the CHS censors.
We moderate the site to keep things on track and as productive as possible. There are plenty of other places to make your point if that’s not cool with you. By the way, pretty sure you’ve chosen to pick a fight with a joke comment but point taken!
Good news for those who use the space.
As for “sweet!”, everyone is welcome to live on the hill. It’s inclusion and openness is what makes this a great place to live. We shouldn’t care where someone works, how much money they make or where they’re from. A person’s character is far more important and by your post, I’d say yours is lacking.
The more people who move to Cap Hill the more customers our small businesses will have. I love the wide variety of restaurants and businesses we have here. The more people who move here the more commercial diversity we can enjoy within walking distance.
I guess you’re all missing “Sweet” ‘s point. I don’t think he’s really hating on any people. He’s afraid and, rightly so, that the more money that moves onto the hill, the more developers will jack up prices, thus forcing people from their living spaces. It’s easy to be all pro-developer-y and new-age-y with “it’s the character of a person” and “diversity” drivel but, in the end, if you care about people, you need to NOT ignore what large amounts of new money do to those who’ve been living here. Do you think, for a minute, that the diversity you ignorantly laud is really including lots of new immigrant families, artists, blue collar workers, etc? Adding more affluence isn’t usually called “diversity”. It IS often referred to as gentrification though.
As for new money = more BUSINESS diversity, I call BS. Greater population numbers (more consumers) mean more diversity, not more money. In fact, in many ways, this population boom has hurt business diversity as unique shops that used to be able to operate with lesser markup on their goods/services are and have been closing. Why? Developers double the cost of their leases and they can’t keep up without pricing themselves too high for the people who live here. Just because you make $60-100k per year doesn’t mean you’re going to pay $200 for a pair of jeans or a pair of shoes.
If those who post so enthusiastically here about every new development on the hill actually took the time to understand the reality of how many of those same developments (and tear downs / building re-dos) financially effect a neighborhood -and those who’ve been living in it- that, historically, has NOT been an exclusive place, maybe they’d be more sensitive and understanding to the many folks who are being pushed off the hill by ever rising proces charged by greedy developers.
My guess is that a new source of funding will shortly be found for this project, barring that, there are plenty of apartment investors who would happily pur has this project, seeing how much design work and permitting have occurred.
I am going to eat as much as I can of the delicious Old #23 pizza at Bill’s before it closes for (re)construction.
Yes, EYEROLLIN’ got my intended point.
I have, in fact, lived in a building across the street from one side of this (alleged) development for 6 years, and in lower-hill/pike-pine area for more like 10.
In the past few years the raise in rents has been astronomical. Frankly, when I moved here, I moved to where I live now because it was one of the cheapest options, and THE cheapest where you could live in a nice, old building. Made of brick. With 100 year old hardwood floors. And crown molding. What some of us classify as “character.” :)
I’ve seen most of my old friends and neighbors slowly priced out of the hill only to find that in the last 5 years the rent anywhere north of here has grown at an even-crazier place. Where is left for people in Seattle who work in the arts or other low-paying professions? Those of us who work our asses off at multiple jobs to piece together 35-40k a year?
Well, pretty much nowhere north of rainier beach, southwest seattle (highland park, roxhill, etc).
5 years from now we’ll all be looking for places in Tacoma and pike/pine will look like the “worst” (in my opinion) parts of ballard do now.
Which makes me sad, because I love my neighborhood.
[…] Wednesday night are united by their failures. Given the amount of money at play and factors like investment fund “end dates,” you don’t see a lot of architects and developers allowing their projects to be held back but […]
[…] We checked into the development project that will preserve and restore much of the facade of Bill’s and the neighboring garages as its backers have decided to continue with the project even as a massive neighboring project has been put on hiatus due to financing issues. […]
[…] the massive development on the same block was put “on hold” earlier this year, the smaller project that is planned to rise above Bill’s with 91 […]
[…] The review of the potential landmark comes as part of the permitting process for the seven-story, 90+ unit apartment building developer Denny Onslow’s company is planning to erect above the preserved facades of Bill’s and the neighboring motorcycle and auto garages at the corner of Harvard and Pine. The project, which still requires one last design review before construction, continues to move forward even as the massive 200+ unit, mixed-use and preservation project on the same block remains on hold. […]
[…] reported that developers at Wolff Company were putting the Pike Motorworks project on hold earlier this year when initial financing for the development and preservation project dried up. […]