The design process to create 400 affordable and market-rate apartment units and 59,000 square feet of commercial and community space around Capitol Hill Station will move back into motion next week. Here is what the Capitol Hill Station “transit oriented development” is planned to look like.
Architects for developers Gerding Edlen and Capitol Hill Housing have submitted the second — and final — round of design proposals for the project planned to create four new seven-story buildings on Broadway and 10th Ave just north of Cal Anderson Park. The full proposal is available here (PDF).
The first round of public review wrapped up way back in December:
26+ things CHS heard as Capitol Hill Station development passes through first design review
We got our first look at revisions to the plans in spring as Hewitt Architects submitted a roster of planned changes based on feedback from the design review board for the project’s main Site A building along Broadway and the pedestrian plaza that will sit above the busy light rail station, hoped to create a central gathering place, a home for the Capitol Hill farmers market, and a new gateway for the adjacent Cal Anderson.
Schemata Workshop is the architect for the two buildings on 10th while Hewitt is designing the two buildings on Broadway. Berger Partnership is landscape architect for the entire site and part of the design super team working on the Capitol Hill Station development project.
Revisions included changes to plans for parking, the Broadway “pass-through,” the project’s bike racks, a better use of empty space required by Sound Transit in areas abutting its station, and refinement of the project’s “Market Hall” concept.
Another change from December is the announcement from Central Co-op that it has dropped out of the competition for what had been planned as anchor grocery store at the center of the project.
Beyond that, this is also CHS’s first look at the new designs and proposals for important elements like planned building materials and lighting so let us know what you see — or don’t see — in comments.
Site B South
Such a waste. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something grand at a significant transit center that can address housing needs at scale.
Instead we’ll have a few dozen boutique apartments and a handful of “affordable” ones.
It’s perfect!
Anything that keeps my property value high by artificially constraining housing supply = more money in my pockets.
Especially with First Come, First Served (which socially engineers small landlords like me to charge the highest rent possible), I’ll have have 2 units going on the market this coming year with a 20-35% premium over the last renters.
I’m so lucky there aren’t dense, tall buildings being built in Seattle. In other cities, landlords are even having to lower their rents because there’s so much new housing. Suckers!
https://ny.curbed.com/2017/3/6/14828646/downtown-brooklyns-rental-oversupply
@Timmy77
40% is a “handful”? Am I misreading something?
Asher, the overall project has only 400 apartments. You’re missing my point on the missed opportunity of scaling based on this prime location and our cities drastic needs.
I think we should demand better, but looks like others are complacent.
From CHS’ March 28, 2017 post on this topic:
“In 2013, the City Council approved a development agreement allowing developers to plan for 85-foot tall buildings along Broadway in exchange for going above minimum affordable housing requirements.”
What was approved and is being built is a significant departure and improvement from what was originally discussed. Eight years ago.
Twenty-story buildings? You and I would have been long gone, and the permits still wouldn’t have been issued.
Timmy, are you still beating the “higher is better” drum? There are hundreds of new apartments, including a significant number of “affordable” units, in this development…adding a lot of “density” to our neighborhood over what was there before. Are you never satisfied?
I think the scale of the buildings is just right and congratulate the developer and the architects on the design.
If I read the plans right, bike access to the new Sound Transit bike cage is only via the pass-through in building A. All of the other approaches have stairs. This means people on bikes will have to be on the sidewalk all the way from the intersections of Denny or John, having ridden past the station entrances to get to this hidden away secure bike parking. I hope I’m missing something, but it doesn’t seem well thought out.
Not a bad design. Was hoping for something a bit more classic that won’t look dated in 20 years, but it will definitely fit with the other apartment buildings being built. As long as there is New Seasons I’m all good with it.
The pedestrian plaza looks like a nice place for the homeless crazy people to hang out at
Please tell me the building along 11th isn’t going to be aqua blue?
There isn’t anything along 11th in this proposal.
When is this project’s construction ever going to start ??
Very impressive.
It’s a shame that Sound Transit couldn’t have coordinated better with developers …the site is sitting vacant for what, 2-3 years already? They knew the station was coming & building could’ve…should’ve started much sooner.
Butt ugly