The concept for new retail on E Pine destined to be part of a new four-story apartment building set to rise at the corner of 14th Ave (Images: Revolve)
Nowhere in the design objectives for a four-story, 78-unit apartment building destined to rise at the corner of 14th Ave and E Pine do the developers include providing a key Capitol Hill resource: housing for foodies looking to minimize their commutes for stacked-high corned beef and pastrami sandwiches.
The planned L-shaped project from developer Revolve Development is slated to take its first bow in front of the East Design Review Board Wednesday night.
“This building site provides several unique opportunities,” developers write:
The major building form is scaled to compliment the development across 14th to the East. A slender section of the site projects south to front E Pine St, allowing for a dramatic vertically scaled expression along the busier street. Critical neighborhood nodes like this need to be treated with care and crafted to capture the vibrancy and unique character of the place. As the Pike/Pine neighborhood continues to evolve there are opportunities to impart a sense of care and community while utilizing mid-scale projects to impart an urban scale and texture to the busier arterials.
CHS wrote about the project earlier this summer as permitting began. The four-story building will rise on the parking lot behind Aria Salon and the commercial kitchen building that has been transformed into the home of “Old World” Jewish deli Dingfelder’s Delicatessen. Fire Station 25 neighbors to the west.
Developer John Schack of Revolve said that in addition to creating more than 80 new market-rate Pike/Pine homes, the building will also include about 1,500 square feet of commercial space fronting Pine between the deli, the salon, and the fire house. The commercial space “will be highly transparent with a clearly defined entry, dedicated outdoor seating, and weather protection.” The space will be “flexible enough to provide for a variety of tenants,” developers say. The 14th Ave side, meanwhile, will be lined with “residential stoops.”
The parking lot is owned by a partnership formed by a family who has owned the Capitol Hill land for decades but Revolve is lined up to purchase the land. We’d estimate a sale price of around 100,000 Dingfelder’s sandwiches.
Wednesday night, the review board will begin the process of considering the project’s design, starting with its massing and proportions. The design from Revolve has set out to “create a nuanced and carefully detailed exterior” while providing “a variety of outdoor spaces via an internal courtyard, and setbacks. The goal, they write, is to “enhance the unique identity of the neighborhood” while blending “clean minimalist design with craft inspired materials.” Add the kosher hot dogs, knishes, smoked fish, and bagels, and we’re sold.
1103 Summit
A project to create 91 units of microhousing on First Hill will take a second try at getting final sign-off from the board. The Johnson Carr project from architects Skidmore Janette is destined to rise from land currently used as a Virginia Mason parking lot snuggled up against The Tuscany Apartments. The developer acquired the property for $3.35 million in 2017, according to King County records.
In June, the board asked that the project return for a second pass citing unhappiness with the choice of cement fiber panel finish to step down at the upper levels of the northern edge of the building and echoing public comment that the color of bricks selected for the building was too dark for the neighborhood’s existing “context.” The board also wasn’t satisfied with the project design’s relationship to the street, saying that an area designed as seating looked more like a cement wall than a place to sit. We’ll find out Wednesday night if a new swing at the design and a new color palette will sway the board’s opinion.
