A condominium development proposed for the literal edge of Capitol Hill’s westernmost slope will return this week for a second round in the early phase of the city’s design review process.
The virtual design review session will look at the latest plans for 1578 Lakeview Blvd E — a planned six-story, 40-unit development along Lakeview Blvd E that is also 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.
1578 Lakeview Blvd E
Design Review Early Design Guidance for 3, 5-story apartment buildings (40 units total). Parking for 40 vehicles proposed. Project includes a Contract Rezone from Single Family 5000 (SF5000) to LowRise 2(M) ( LR2 (M) ).
Project NumberPlanner
Crystal Torres / EDG2 Virtual Meeting: links below. For more info on how to provide comment: https://bit.ly/DRcomment
In January, the East Design Review Board decided the early design proposal for the project needed more work, asking for “more variation in massing” and suggesting that the developers do more to realize the “opportunity to bring a strong landscape presence down to street” with terracing that can be used “to further blend the building into the historic greenbelt context and topography.” The developer was also asked to better address the design of the sides of the buildings,
The 1578 Lakeview Blvd E project is being developed by 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.
CHS wrote about the project and its geotechnical aspirations here in January.
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I don’t understand why this site is even available for private development. It seems to be within the “St. Mark’s Greenbelt,” which is public property.
It’s not; you can see it on Parcel Viewer.
The parcels have been privately owned for ages by a longtime Capitol Hill family (remember Del-Teet furniture on Broadway?) who hope their fancy house on the uphill part will get slide protection by the shoring up from development below. The lot to the south is privately owned too, part of the Michael Malone’s historic mansion – he owns much of the Hill, for better and often worse. Check out the earlier story linked at the bottom of this article for more details on the owners’ motivations.