Tag Archives: development

Seattle City Council set to decide on rezone approval for 16th Ave’s Conover House redevelopment

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(Image: Weinstein A+U)

Not a landmark: The Conover House (Image: City of Seattle)

For a 131-year-old house on Capitol Hill, a week here, a week there makes little difference.

But the 1893-built Conover House gained a few more days Tuesday when a small slip-up among the fresh faces of the newly seated Seattle City Council pushed back a key vote on the 16th Ave property that is destined to become home to a mixed-use building with dozens of new apartments above a new restaurant in a project from Jewish Family Service and its headquarters just down the street.

During Tuesday’s public comment in front of the first full meeting of the council in 2024, a diali-in speaker was mistakenly allowed to briefly speak against the proposed contract rezone of the Conover House property that would allow a proposed development that will include demolition of the historic but not landmarked house to move forward.

“Sadly, I’m here to testify in vain, a bit, to save a part of Seattle that is pretty much condemned to be destroyed and forgotten,” the speaker began.

Their impassioned plea for the Conover House was cut-off but the procedural damage was done.

Because the council’s role in the decision is to approve or disapprove of the city Hearing Examiner’s decision to approve the rezone, that short testimony against the change was a procedural no-no. President Sara Nelson and the council were left with no choice but to delay the vote for a week “to clear the ex parte communications” in the “quasi judicial matter.”

The decision to wait a week on the vote is likely delaying the inevitable. Continue reading →

Design review: Developers moving ahead with 6-story ‘U-shaped’ project on Broadway’s Bait Shop block

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Developers behind a project to create a new mixed-use development on the Bait Shop block of Broadway will present their plans for the new new six-story building at a city-required design review session next week.

Cascade Ridge Partners is moving forward with plans to develop the six-story, 121-unit, apartment building with street level commercial space and 3 live-work units plus underground parking for 127 vehicles in the 600 block of Broadway E.

600 Broadway E

Design Review Early Design Guidance for a 6-story, 121-unit, apartment building with retail and 3 live-work units. Parking for 127 vehicles proposed.

Review Meeting
January 24, 2024 5:00 PM

Meeting: https://bit.ly/Mtg3041389

Listen Line: 206-207-1700 Passcode: 2499 053 3515
Comment Sign Up: https://bit.ly/Comment3041389
Review Phase
EDG–Early Design Guidance

Project Number

Planner
Joseph Hurley / Email comments

CHS reported on the early planning for the project in November. A representative for Mark Craig and Cascade Ridge Partners said the developer was planning for Broadway North, a proposed mixed-use building with around more than 120 apartment units, underground parking, “123 bike stalls and conveniences,” a rooftop deck, and “other residential amenities.” Street-level will include 10,000 square feet of street-level space for retail, services, and food and drink establishments. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council notes: ‘Net-zero’ big building bill, sidewalk repair legislation, small business lease protections

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Under one new bill up for a vote Tuesday, sidewalk repair and installation would be a mandatory part of any major paving project (Image: SDOT)

It is the final week of the legislative calendar for the Seattle City Council in 2023 — and the final days at City Hall for some outgoing incumbents including District 3’s Kshama Sawant who will wrap up her years on the council with a “Ten Years of a Socialist in Office” celebration Thursday night on Capitol Hill. In January, the Central District’s Joy Hollingsworth will be sworn-in for Sawant’s D3 seat after her decisive victory in the November election.

In the meantime, there is some final work to attend to including Tuesday’s final full council meeting for the current members. The winter recess will run from December 18th through January 1st when staff will be working to get the new council offices up and running.

  • Climate change bill: Tuesday’s full council meeting will include a vote on legislation officials say will “dramatically lower the carbon footprint of existing large buildings in Seattle.” The bill aims to achieve net-zero building emissions by 2050 by establishing emissions reduction targets for buildings greater than 20,000 square feet, measuring and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, helping building owners create decarbonization plans, and establishing fees. The proposal impacts around 4,100 existing buildings around the city including a handful of school, health, and residential buildings around Capitol Hill and the Central District. The standards would be phased in over five-year intervals with the city’s largest structures first on the list. Continue reading →

Seattle considers plan for its 4,000+ largest buildings to be ‘net-zero’ by 2050

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(Image: City of Seattle)

Estimates show Seattle’s buildings are responsible for about 37% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the city. A new proposal would raise the standards on the city’s largest buildings to speed up efforts to address climate pollution.

Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s Committee on Climate Action will consider legislation that would “dramatically lower the carbon footprint of existing large buildings in Seattle,” according to a briefing on the bill.

The bill aims to achieve net-zero building emissions by 2050 by establishing emissions reduction targets for buildings greater than 20,000 square feet, measuring and verifying greenhouse gas emissions, helping building owners create decarbonization plans, and establishing fees.

The plan would impact around 4,100 existing buildings larger than 20,000 square feet around the city including a handful of school, health, and residential buildings around Capitol Hill and the Central District. The standards would be phased in over five-year intervals with the city’s largest structures first on the list. Continue reading →

With Gage Academy move and new grant, St. Mark’s moves forward on plan to develop ‘multigenerational housing’ on its Capitol Hill campus — UPDATE

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(Image: St. Mark’s)

Gage Academy and Bright Water School are creating new futures off Capitol Hill as St. Mark’s moves closer to creating new, affordable “multigenerational housing” on its 10th Ave campus.

The long-planned development effort is starting to speed up. The Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral announced it has received a $100,000 grant from Trinity Church Wall Street, an organization that helps churches and faith organizations fund feasibility and predevelopment costs. The boost will start new wheels turning on a mission at St. Mark’s to put its northern Capitol Hill land to use helping to address the housing and affordability crisis in the city.

St. Mark’s says the grant will span a six-month period through April 2024 and support the completion of key assessments of the St. Nicholas portion of its campus including financial feasibility, geotechnical surveys, environmental and historic building rehabilitation studies.

CHS reported here in 2020 on the future of the campus’s St. Nicholas building that had been home to Gage Academy and the Bright Water School. The private Waldorf school Bright Water already made its move off the Hill. Now arts academy Gage has its future lined out with an agreement to move into a South Lake Amazon office building where the 35-year-old school will become the ground-floor presence below floors of Amazon workers above next year.

UPDATE: CHS failed to include Amistad School in our initial report. The “two-way (Spanish/English) immersion school serving toddlers, Pre-K through 8th grade” has made the campus its home and remains active on 10th Ave E. We’ll follow up to learn more about the school’s long-term plans.

Continue reading →

Affordable, LGBTQIA+ focused, and neighboring Neighbours, Pride Place creates a new home for Capitol Hill seniors

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After decades of community hope, Pride Place is filling with residents.

On Broadway between Pike and Pine, the affordable housing for LGBTQIA+ seniors is the first of its kind in Washington. There are 118 new homes in the project. The conveniences of modern construction and quality windows will help keep dance club Neighbours a good neighbor.

The ribbon was cut on a cold fall night in late October but energy from the new senior residents cut the chill. Taking the stage was Laney, a resident of Pride Place who had been waiting a long time for queer elders to be placed at the forefront of the community’s needs.

“Pride Place is the kind of place my friends and I talked about in our 40s, something we could only dream about,” Laney said.

Pride Place is special. Applicants must financially qualify for the building that is utilizing “affirmative marketing” to reach out to underrepresented communities and help make the new building a home for the LGBTQIA+ senior community. The building cannot restrict leasing to queer-identifying seniors because of federal housing law. Instead, Pride Place is reaching out to LGBTQIA+ seniors who meet income requirements.

Laney was a longtime resident of Capitol Hill until COVID hit and she took to the road in her minivan, leaving behind her close-knit queer community. It wasn’t a decision she took lightly, while her travels over the next couple years were full of adventure she couldn’t forget those she had left behind.

“I missed my queer community,” Laney said. “I returned to Seattle but there was no way that I could afford my apartment on Capitol Hill any longer — I couldn’t return to my beloved neighborhood.” Continue reading →

City Council gives Acer House development rezone OK at 23rd and Cherry

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The Seattle City Council Tuesday signed off on a surgical rezone in the Central District that will allow the “Afrofuturist”-styled Acer House apartment development to move forward at 23rd and Cherry.

Tuesday’s vote to rezone seven parcels of land at the corner clears the way for the project to build to 55 feet instead of the 40-foot limit the properties are zoned for. Under the zoning where the Acer House building will stand, the allowed height is only 40-feet. However, in the commercial zone to the east, the higher limit is in place. Continue reading →

‘To see what they can build’ — Developer sizing up Bait Shop property for 6-story mixed-use project on Broadway

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(Image: Bait Shop)

The north end of Capitol Hill’s commercial core will reach to six stories and change will come for a favorite neighborhood watering hole if plans take shape for a new mixed-use development on the northeast corner of Broadway and Mercer.

The planning could be the latest effort on northern Broadway to extend the street’s redevelopment wave — or part of packaging property along the street for potential sale.

The development team says there is no planned start date for construction and that they are very early in what would be a multi-year process of public design and review.

A representative for Mark Craig and Cascade Ridge Partners says the developer has begun planning for Broadway North, a proposed five-story, 90,575 square-foot mixed-use building with around 121 apartment units, underground parking for 127 vehicles, “123 bike stalls and conveniences,” a rooftop deck, and “other residential amenities.” Street-level will include 10,000 square feet of street-level space for retail, services, and food and drink establishments. UPDATE: The developers say the planned building would rise five stories, not eight as CHS originally reported. The construction details include “5 levels type VA apartments over 3 levels of type IA base” but those levels include the underground parking and the project team says the resulting building would be a five-story structure. Sorry for the confusion. UPDATE x2: The development team has gotten back to us after we questioned the five story count. They have now clarified the project won’t be eight stories and it won’t be five, either. The project nets out at six total stories:

New construction of 5 levels type VA apartments over 3 levels of type IA base, commercial ground level and 2 levels of subterranean parking garage. The project consists of 118 apartment units, 3 live work units, 10,000 SF commercial space and 127 parking stalls.

It is possible someday existing commercial tenants Bait Shop and TRIBE Fitness could move back onto the block in the new project but the 1920s-era building they call home will be demolished to make way for the new development. Landlord and prolific Capitol Hill area property owner Redside Partners has informed its commercial tenants of the early plans.
Continue reading →

HoneyHole cousin Beck’s Bar and Grill could be pushed aside by re-started mixed-use development plans

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One design concept on the table for the E Jefferson development

From the short-lived E Jefferson HoneyHole days

If you’ve been waiting to enjoy the new E Jefferson cousin in the HoneyHole Capitol Hill area restaurant family, there might be other plans.

A long stalled redevelopment of the corner restaurant property is moving forward with plans for a new 5-story, 52-unit apartment building with street level commercial space from Seattle real estate developer Lei Cheng. Land use signs have gone up on the block in recent weeks but the project has been in motion for years.

The project would demolish the 1950s-era building where HoneyHole spinoff Beck’s Bar & Grill has been lined up for in spite of the lingering development plan. Continue reading →

‘Monolithic’ — The Aquarian Foundation new age church appeals approval of neighboring Capitol Hill Safeway redevelopment

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The design proposal for the Safeway project approved earlier this year showed how the new development would wrap around the Aquarian Foundation (Image: Weber Thompson)

The Aquarian Foundation’s Keith Milton Rhinehart in a video demonstrating his spiritual ability to produce gems from his body

A secretive and reclusive Capitol Hill religious organization is speaking out against plans to redevelop its block of 15th Ave E with a new 50,000-square-foot grocery store, new apartments, and a massive underground parking lot on the site of the neighborhood Safeway.

The Aquarian Foundation has filed an appeal with the Seattle Hearing Examiner hoping to bring the major new retail and housing development to a stop as it demands changes including preservation of trees and street parking and a design for the planned “monolithic structure” to better match the neighborhood’s “look and feel.”

“The sheer size and the aesthetics of the monolithic structure does not consider the surrounding topography, adjacent properties and structures, and the look the feel and ambience of Capitol Hill and the 15th Ave E corridor,” the Aquarian Foundation’s appeal filed last week reads.

CHS reported here in February as the project from property owner Safeway and developer Greystar with a design from Weber Thompson passed through the city’s public review process opening the way to start final planning for demolition of the old store and construction of two new five-story buildings including the new grocery, around 330 market rate apartment units, some new, smaller retail spaces, and an underground parking lot for more than 300 cars on the Safeway property at 15th and John. Continue reading →