Post navigation

Prev: (08/08/18) | Next: (08/08/18)

CHS Pics | Even more neighbors will come to E Republican’s block party next year

The neighbors around E Republican between 10th Ave E and Federal Ave have been gathering together for Night Out block parties for a few years now. Tuesday night, CHS stopped by the party. Next year, there will be even more neighbors to join in.

“We need to have more housing but development in a way that kind of fits the neighborhood,” neighbor John Stuntebaeck told CHS about the four-story, 36-unit apartment building under construction on the block.

“It’s great that they’re building more housing but it’s a little odd they’re not trying to make it aesthetically appealing as well.”

It’s not easy to live up to Stuntebaeck’s expectations — he purchased the adorably classic Capitol Hill pink house at the corner neighboring the new apartment building in 2014. He knew the development was coming next door so it’s not a case of sour grapes — only a hope for good neighbors after a disruptive demolition and construction phase in the neighborhood.

When it opens for new residents, the four-story building from Seattle developer Taylor Noren and Capitol Hill architecture firm S+H Works will add more multifamily housing to the neighborhood mix of single family-style homes and small apartment buildings surrounding Broadway Hill Park.

The land below the new apartment building used to hold two old houses similar to Stuntebaeck’s. Soon there will be 36 new homes where there used to be room for two. The process could have gone better and the building may not be the prettiest on the block but with more and more neighbors wanting to live on Capitol Hill, it’s the kind of trade neighborhoods like this are learning to live with. And, as far as having fun at neighborhood block parties goes, it might even be the kind of trade they’ll eventually love.

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 
Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

5 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
RWK
RWK
5 years ago

This is an example of how quiet, residential streets are being inundated by ugly, out-of-scale development. The same thing is happening just around the corner, in the 400 block of 10th Ave E (east side), where two modest bungalows in good condition were demolished for….you guessed it….town homes crammed into the 2 lots. And more to come….the two nice homes just north of there (one of which was recently and beautifully remodeled) are going to be destroyed too. Sad.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
5 years ago

2 homes disappear to be replaced by 36 overpriced cells and no parking, all rented by people who “don’t have cars”. Hahahahaha, yeah, sure they won’t. Sure.

Michèl Schummer
Michèl Schummer
5 years ago

I would like to comment on the people who keep repeating the mantra about dwellings with no parking creating gridlock. Here are my thoughts: a dwelling with parking creates an opportunity to own a car, which will add to the gridlock on our streets. If there is no parking provided with the dwelling, the owner might have to resort to street parking, which is scarce. Or they might opt for not owning car or use car sharing. So, in conclusion, which option has greater potential for avoidance of gridlock with an increasing population density: no parking provided or parking provided?

RWK
RWK
5 years ago

Michel, it is not realistic to think that most of the people in a “no-parking” building will not own a car….some will, and will park on the street, making an already-scarce amenity that much worse for everybody else.

The gridlock on our streets is mainly caused by the great increase in population in the Seattle area. Not providing parking in new buildings has only a minor effect on the problem. …all it does is increase profits for developers and at the same time make street parking more difficult.

Jason
5 years ago

Jimbert, your romanticism about free plentiful street parking is out of date. Given the choice between building homes for humans and building homes for cars, we’ve prioritized the former at the expense of the latter. It’s not 1962 anymore. There are ways to get around without dragging tons of metal along with you. Live for today, Jimbert.