Central District Art Inn boutique hotel checks in for last step in design review

The first project on the docket for Wednesday night’s session of the East Design Review Board might will create a mixed-use office development and preservation project in the heart of Pike/Pine. But the second one, well… the second project will create… art.

The Art Inn, a four-story, 15-room component of a small global boutique hotel chain destined for the corner of E Jefferson and 13th Ave, will come before the review board for what should be its final step in the design process.

Its ambitious developers are ready to move forward and excited about the amount of community support the project saw in its early design review last fall.

Entrepreneurs Emily Magnatto and Giuseppe Pezzano are developing the project as part of a small group of Art Inn boutique hotels around the world in Portugal and Italy… and soon, Seattle.

“Big chain hotels are not much of an experience,” Magnatto said of her husband Pezzano’s globetrotting learnings. With worldwide businesses involving mobile phone rental and now involvement in the high stakes of the global soccer economy, Magnatto and Pezzano are creating what they hope will become a hospitality brand that stands for interesting, local experiences. “Each Art Inn has kind of a different, added element,” Magnatto said. In Seattle, that will mean a cafe and bakery designed as part of the Squire Park-area development bringing “lovely smells, and lovely breakfast” to the hotel’s guests.

But, first, the review board must sign off on the project’s final concept designed by Capitol Hill-based Hybrid Architecture.

Following feedback from the earlier review process, the proposed design has transitioned from a dependence on curtains to a “glass facade” with “frosted spandrels,” a darker shade of siding, and enclosures for the stairs and elevator.

Hopefully, the design will also imbue the Squire Park Art Inn with that magic quality Magnatto and Pezzano are seeking — “an experience.”

Wednesday, June 8th Design Reviews

1225 E Jefferson St

Land Use Application to allow a 4-story structure containing 15 hotel rooms with 1,400 sq. ft. of bakery/cafe space at ground level. Existing structure to be demolished. View Design Proposal  (65 MB)    

1525 11th Ave

Design Review Early Design Guidance application for renovation of an existing 2-story Landmark building (Kelly Springfield Building) including a 3-story addition above the existing structure and a new 5-story structure to the west. Proposal consists of 65,000 sq ft of office space and 12,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Parking for 31 vehicles to be provided below grade. View Design Proposal  (9 MB)