Despite uncertainties in the coming months — and maybe years — in the Capitol Hill rental market, developers and property owners are still looking to build in the neighborhood in 2021 as taller projects with more units spread from the neighborhood’s core. A new project ready to move forward on the quieter eastern side of the Hill at 19th and John is an eight-story example.

The longtime property owner and architects from the Neiman Taber firm are moving forward with plans for an eight-story, 50-unit development that will rise nestled around the 1910-built Littlefield Apartments building. The project entered the city’s administrative design review process just before Christmas.

The proposed eight-story annex is hoped to complement the Littlefield with a “3-story podium” that “mimics the 3-story mass of the historic brick podium” of the existing 30-unit apartment building.

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“The 3’ setback provides a landscape buffer at the entry, while still accommodating a private amenity area on top,” the architects write. “The podium to upper level step is more more substantial, creating a podium that reads as a strong brick mass.”

“The 3-story base to 5-story tower is a pleasing proportion,” they conclude.

The development will preserve the Littlefield while adding 47 new units in the new eight-story wing — 19 one-bedroom apartments, and 28 studios under the preferred design. The developers describe 36 of the planned apartments as “small efficiency dwelling units.”

The project will require the demolition of a single family-style home behind the Littlefield.

No new parking is planned.

The Littlefield received city landmarks protections in 2014. It remains under the ownership of the Danz family according to King County records.

The project will come on a street and in an area busy with new development including several new townhome style projects. It will be the first eight-story development to stretch onto 19th Ave since the city’s 2019 push to update its zoning and create more affordable housing.

Once approved, it will come as construction has continued on new projects across the Hill despite concerns about renters as the pandemic and its economic fallout continue. New developments including hundreds of new apartments in the hugely important Capitol Hill Station mixed-use projects are entering this uncertain market as 2021 begins.

You can keep track of the Littlefield development via Record Number: 3036556-LU from the Seattle Services Portal.

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