(Images: PB Architects)
We ask a lot of the designs for Capitol Hill’s new multifamily developments. A new project in the works is going to be asked to help hold up Capitol Hill — literally.
Set for its first session in front of the East Design Review Board this week, a planned six-story, 40-unit development along Lakeview Blvd E is being envisioned as a way to hold back at least one small stretch of the eroding, crumbling slopes of Capitol Hill’s western edge above I-5.
“Terracon, our geotechnical engineers have recently studied the soil and did test borings, and found the hillside to be stable,” the property owner and developer writes about the project in a recent response to community feedback on the proposal recorded in the city’s permitting system. “The soil that is to be removed during construction will be done in sections. As each is removed, tie-backs will be installed to insure stability. The new buildings themselves will then add permanent stability to the whole hill.”
https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/event/design-review-1578-lakeview-blvd-e/
The 1578 Lakeview Blvd E project is being developed by John DeFeo and Polly Teeter DeFeo, the owners of the multimillion, 3,900-square-foot home above the development site with a design from PB Architects. A neighboring $2 million-plus home also sits above the slope in the neighborhood home to Capitol Hill’s Streissguth Gardens.
In early 1997, the greenbelt slope above Lakeview moved and slid in many areas after heavy rainfall, setting off a flow of water, mud, and lawsuits that didn’t end until nearly seven years later with rounds of legal bickering, settlements, and, finally for three sad townhouse structures that were knocked off their foundations and left abandoned for years, demolition.
The city’s study of the problem showed the earliest recorded landslide along this area of western Capitol Hill happened in 1916. “Four landslides occurred in the 1930s, one in 1961, one in 1974, two in 1986, and seven in 1997,” the study (PDF) reports. Many of those same slide risks — minus the city’s faulty water drainage system which was since addressed and improved — still exist on slopes and edges across the Hill.
But with more known about the risks and how to engineer for them, slide-prone environments are becoming increasingly desirable for development. And with the region’s real estate still a premium market, the major expense of the more advanced engineering and construction is finally starting to pencil out.
1578 Lakeview Blvd E, of course, will not be affordable housing. The Daily Journal of Commerce reported the planned 40 units will be sold as condominiums when it was first to report on the project earlier this month.
The project is being planned as two, six-story buildings with five levels above a first floor of “structured parking.” To get there, the property will require a contract rezone from its current “single family” status as well as a departure from frontage design requirements. Without the departure, developers would break the project’s 40 units across three buildings, instead.
Beyond the possible frontage departure, the landslide and seismic issues, while key to the project, aren’t reflected greatly in the project’s design issues. But one design element that could play an important part in stabilizing the slope is landscaping. The plan for “green roofs” will be appreciated by residents and neighbors above. But what gets planted on the site could also help stabilize the slope. “Only 27% of the site will be disturbed by the construction, and our plan will include a replanting of deep-rooted trees, native plants, and vegetation welcoming to small birds and pollinators,” the developers write in another response to community feedback on the project.
“I have owned the property and the lots that are part of our Lakeview project since 1977, and live in the home above the area,” the project’s Teeter DeFeo continues. “This will remain my neighborhood and keeping as many plantings on the site is very important to me.”
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Or could it be that since they own the home above buildin this prevents their home from sliding down the hill….
Also would have been very cheap land when it is slide risk, but worth $$ if you can build on it. Then sell up and get out.
Staring directly at I-5. Who would want to live there? I used to live at the north end of the hill between I-5 and 520 and there is constant white noise, along with a steady grit/particle buildup from the freeway traffic. There is traditionally a ton of traffic right here as it stalls before the ship canal bridge and the exit to 520, so I imagine the air quality is often poor, too. I recall reading a story here about a study that showed higher cancer rates for those living directly along the freeway and I believe it, having seen what accumulates on window sills, etc.
Given where these are to be built, most of the units would have direct views onto the highway and only those at the very top would have a semi-decent view of the lake. I can’t speak to whether or not this development would improve hillside stability, but they certainly wouldn’t be what I call a prime location.
I agree…..and, since the construction costs will be so high, these condos will be very expensive….for a view of the building to the west and the freeway!
LOL that people just wouldn’t want to live there. C’mon, don’t be silly, housing is desperately scarce and folks are willing to compromise more and more.
The woman in the owner-developer couple has a connection to old Broadway, beyond the big house right above that she bought 35 years ago: she long ago took over running the Del-Teet furnishings company (now based in Bellevue) that her grandfather had started on Broadway in 1929. He’d built the Anhalt-designed structure just north of Dick’s to launch his store in Seattle. The building survives and provides much needed multi-family housing today.
Great walking commute to SLU and downtown, too.