The future Crosby Capitol Hill (Images: B+H Architects)

The recipe at Crosby Capitol Hill (Image: B+H Architects)

Now that we’ve solved downtown’s design issues, Capitol Hill can get back to making sure the buildings in its next waves of development are full of “community,” “connection,” and, as the developers of the Crosby Capitol Hill project on Bellevue Ave put it, “lifestyle.”

The Crosby and a six-story project planned for the *other* corner of 22nd and Madison will go in front of the East Design Review Board Wednesday night.

1517 Bellevue Ave
Land Use Application to allow a 7-story structure containing 45 residential units, 5 live/work units and 700 sq. ft. of retail space. Existing 2-story building is to be demolished. — View Design Proposal      

The first item on the agenda for what should be the final review for the project at 1517 Bellevue Ave is a discussion of the project’s branding:Just kidding. There’s nothing you can do about it other than accept and embrace.

But you can weigh in on whether the form and finish of the seven-story, 50 market-rate unit project live up to this:

The architectural character of Crosby Capitol Hill is contemporary but takes its cues from the historic references of Auto Row. Brick, metal, and wood form the complementary material palette. Strongly expressed vertical columns create repeating bays with large industrial windows and a high storefront at the street facade. The signage of the project includes mounted steel lettering, some with backlighting and neon. Metal and glass canopies and an arbor define the building entrances. The ground floor has tall ceilings and a highly translucent storefront to reflect the industrial scale of the neighborhood. Continuing the more active streetscape from the new development to the North, the retail space stretches across the majority of the ground level street facade. Retail frontage is maximized by locating the residential entry off of a semi-public courtyard to the South side of the building.

The exterior material planned for the project

The Bellevue Ave project designed by B+H Architects will fill in another portion of the block set to be dominated by the massive preservation and development Excelsior project that gobbled up the old Bauhaus building and is turning it into a seven-story mixed-use fortress. The two-story Garden Studios apartment building currently standing (barely?) on Bellevue Ave next to the Excelsior construction is doomed and slated for demolition. In its place will soon rise seven stories plus a penthouse level and 50 apartment units plus 2,400 square feet of retail. There will be no parking. That’s OK. The Excelsior will have space for more than 170 vehicles in its gigantic underground parking structure.

The Crosby went through a mostly uneventful early design guidance session in December. But back then, nobody had seen the logo yet.

2100 E. Madison St
Design Review, Early Design Guidance for a 6-story, 50 unit apartment building with retail located at street level. Parking for 22 vehicles will be located below grade. Existing structure to be demolished — View Design Proposal  (12 MB)    

With the city reconsidering how it does design review, we might suggest planners take a look at 2100 E Madison. Developer Jim Mueller.held a meeting open to the community to discuss the design proposal last week in advance of Wednesday night’s session.

(Images: Weinstein A+U)

What neighbors had a chance to hear and talk about in an informal format before the review is a planned six-story development set to eventually rise above a now empty tire shop and garage and join the belated development at 22nd and Madison. Across the street, on the southern corner of the 22nd/Madison intersection where the Twilight Exit once stood, another Mueller project is under construction just across the street from Safeway.

Here’s how Mueller and the architects at Weinstein A+U describe the new project on the northeast corner:

The proposed project will be a six-story, market rate apartment building approximately 65-feet in height and approximately 39,325-SF in area (above grade). A below grade parking accounts for an additional 8,400-SF in area. The building contains 50 residential apartment units, a resident lobby, exterior landscaped roof deck, balconies, and patios. There are three retail spaces, totalling approximately 3,800 SF. Two of the retail spaces can be combined to create a larger commercial space on East Madison Street. As the project is located in an urban village, parking is not required per SBC 23.54.015. However, 22 residential spaces are being designed for this building.

Mueller, who weathered the economic downturn and watched other development opportunities around Madison and the Central District fade, paid $1.8 million for the auto garage property last December. As development in the area digs in, big deals move forward, and plans for more are forged, this stretch of Madison, too, is again poised for change.