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Design review: What Vulcan’s first Broadway project will look like, plus small efficiency dwelling units on 10th Ave E

Vulcan's Block 3 plan for Broadway at Yesler might finally justify the First Hill Streetcar

Vulcan’s Block 3 plan for Broadway at Yesler might finally justify the First Hill Streetcar

While Wednesday night’s review sessions will include one half of real estate giant Vulcan’s development plans for both sides of Broadway at Yesler and a review of a Central District project the review board was worried about being shoehorned into a residential area, the bigger design review decisions of the week won’t happen at a public meeting. More on Vulcan’s 120 Broadway development and a rowhouse project from Isola Homes at 18th and Spruce, below. But first, let’s stop by the squabble on 10th Ave E just past the curve from Broadway where neighbors aren’t happy about a planned five-story, “small efficiency dwelling unit” apartment building being lined up to rise above the lot currently home to a 1930s-built single family house.

screen-shot-2016-09-27-at-3-00-43-pmMcKee 10th
Though it will create a five-story building with 18 small units and one regular old “apartment”-style unit, the McKee 10th microhousing development being planned for 714 10th Ave E isn’t large enough to trigger a full design review. Instead, its “streamlined” review process wraps Friday without the full package of 90-minute meetings and a lineup of public comment by neighbors objecting to the bulk and scale of the project. But you can still have your say — here are some of the comments from letters sent to the city about the project:

The house that will demolished to make way

The house that will demolished to make way

If you, too, have something to say about the project’s design — or things planners probably aren’t interested in like the neighborhood’s character and parking — drop a line to planner [email protected].

While the microhousing industry has definitely been hampered, Seattle’s legislation passed in 2014 to regulate the developments left room for more on Capitol Hill and across the Central District.

Trading the old house for 19 new Capitol Hill apartment units is probably the kind of swap Seattle needs to make more often if it truly wants to achieve affordability goals. Cypress Property Development acquired the property for $927,500 earlier this year from real estate investors who had held the parcel since 2002.

Along with the 18 microhousing units and one standard unit, the new project will also include parking for 12 bikes.

You can learn more about the streamlined review here.

screen-shot-2016-09-27-at-3-07-03-pmYesler Terrace Block 3
Last spring, Vulcan began its part of redeveloping Yesler Terrace with a joint review of its twin projects on the west and east sides of Broadway. The Seattle developer looking to transform Yesler Terrace and soon 23rd and Jackson, is now taking the eastern side project forward first in the next step of the review process as Block 3 goes in front of the board Wednesday night.

“Our goal is to design a project that balances social, economic, and environmental interests through developing healthy community, healthy buildings and healthy residents,” the Vulcan design packet by project architects Runberg Architecture Group reads.

Design review: 120 Broadway

Now weighing in at 237 units and 7,995 square feet of commercial space along Broadway and Yesler, the seven-story project with underground parking for 149 vehicles will eventually climb above the greenway loop on E Fir and abut a small park to the north. The Broadway bikeway will pass by and the First Hill Streetcar might be able to finally fully justify its existence providing transit for the building’s residents up to Capitol Hill and down to Pioneer Square.

Back in May, the design board’s main concerns were about “the relationship of Block 3 to the pocket park” and “a visual separation between the public park and the private
property.”

We’re going to assume that Vulcan and Runberg’s designs nailed that one.

They're still dealing with massing issues but the designers of this 18th and Spruce project are raring to go with their more fleshed out renderings

They’re still dealing with massing issues but the designers of this 18th and Spruce project are raring to go with their more fleshed out renderings

1804 E Spruce
A mere 7/10ths of a mile away, this project from Isola Homes to build a 21-unit rowhouse and townhouse project has a ways to go before construction after an April first round failure when the board expressed serious concerns about the project’s “overbearing” massing in a neighborhood home to a Boys and Girls Club and neighboring single family-style homes and a triplex.

Wednesday night, the development goes back for a second “early design guidance” session for the board to decide whether the tweaks by JW Architects will be enough to make the project better blend in with its surroundings.

Zoned with a “lowrise” two-story limit, the project is a busy recipe combining two, four-unit rowhouse buildings, a six-unit townhouse building, and another seven-unit rowhouse building for a total 21 units. Surface parking for 21 vehicles is planned.

Design review: 1804 E Spruce St

 

 

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