A plan to create a 25-story building on First Hill with around 350 living units above a street-level restaurant space will be on the table Wednesday as the city’s design review process kicks back into gear after a summer break with a virtual session of public comment and board deliberation.
The project slated to rise on the current site of a surface parking lot and a one-story masonry clinic at 1300 Spring is being backed by a team of national developers including Xenia Development and the architects at the Preston Partnership.
Look out, First Hill, they’re bringing “more architectural presence” to you:
The preferred design will create a sense of place by replacing a surface parking lot and unremarkable one-story corner building with a building of more architectural presence to anchor the corner and enhance the pedestrian experience through the first level retail function.
The preferred design concept rises around 275 feet high in a “Nested Boxes” design that features “interesting architectural moves for each axis” and a “simple mass” that “relates to contextual towers, with carved elements.”
Architects say the design will incorporate “a highly glazed retail colonnade” at Summit and Spring which will combine with residential levels “to create a podium base for the tower at a height comparable to the adjacent 4 and 5 story residential buildings.”
The market-rate apartment project is being planned for the same block where the Luma Condominiums building opened in 2016.
Want to add your thoughts on the design concepts for the project? Information on providing public comment for the COVID-19-era design review and the full design packet is here:
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great news any time a parking lot is replaced. and I love that the building has only 13 parking spots proposed. homes for people, not for cars! :) I’d love to see more density like this in capitol hill proper, not just first hill. (first hill is fine but it’s a little sleepy for my tastes.)