The City of Seattle is in the process of acquiring an empty, $1.1 million lot at the corner of Federal and Republican to turn the land into another new Capitol Hill park, according to an announcement from the Seattle Parks Department. Details of a community meeting to discuss the land acquisition are below. According to a department representative who spoke about the acquisition process at a Community Council meeting in October, planners were looking to spend up to $1.3 million for a lot with around 10,000 square-feet of space, flat terrain, under-utilized, good sun orientation, no or minimal relocation costs, and frontage on key pedestrian routes.
Capitol Hill Urban Village Park Acquisition Public Meeting
Seattle Parks and Recreation invites you to learn about a proposed new park in the Capitol Hill Urban Village. Parks is negotiating for the purchase of a 12,000 square foot property at the corner of Federal Avenue East and East Republican Street for a new neighborhood park. The Parks and Green Spaces Levy allocates funding for the acquisition of properties, such as this, in areas that have been identified in the 2006 Development Plan and Gap Analysis as being deficient in open space. Capitol Hill Urban Village is one such area to receive funding.
Learn more about this potential new park acquisition at the public meeting and provide your comments and suggestions. We encourage you to come and participate.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Lowell Elementary School
1058 E Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98102
Parks had also identified the area west of 15th and south of Aloha as a region in need of a park. Here is a map created by the city to illustrate ‘coverage’ areas for Capitol Hill’s parks. The land being planned for purchase is near the ‘p’ in the blue Capitol Hill label.
The lot is currently empty and had been planned as ‘Twelve Urban Rowhomes‘ by developers Great Northern Land Co. and Alchemy Real Estate. The land is now owned by a company called Fedrep Investors, LLC. According to King County property and state business records, Fedrep purchased the land last June, about two weeks after it was formed. It paid $1.1 million for the empty lot to Great Northern which had acquired two adjacent properties in 2006 to create the ‘rowhome’ project.
Here is an artist’s rendition of what the project would have looked like from Great Northern’s Web site:
The project was one of 4 Capitol Hill developments identified as stuck in limbo last summer due to the economic downturn.
Now it appears the a park is destined for the corner instead. With an intersection like Federal and Republican, naming for the green space might take a political turn. Then again, city leaders might be a little more cautious given the blow-up surrounding the ‘Pergugia Park’ naming fiasco.
Speaking of Capitol Hill’s other open space projects, if the Federal park project moves forward, it will be the third new park opening on the Hill. By spring, work should be wrapping up on the Seven Hills park at 16th at Howell while the Summit at John project won’t be completed until summer 2010.
How will work be wrapping up by spring on the Seven Hills park? It hasn’t even started yet.
$1.1 million? For that lot? Some rich prick is soaking city taxpayers. I’m all for new parks, but not giving away money to developers.
The two nearest parks to the proposed one (Bellevue Place and Tashkent Park) are hardly what you’d call outstanding urban parks, are they? I cycle past Bellevue Place daily and Tashkent Park ~ weekly on my way to /from Lake Union.
Bellevue Place is a high angle bit of soggy grass RIGHT next to I-5: occasional dog exercise, that’s about it.
I NEVER see anyone in Tashkent Park, other than an occasional apparently homeless person. The park is surrounded by high buildings, gloomy, poorly drained and is such a convoluted shape that it does not inspire confidence in one’s safety in being there.
I hope we can work with Parks to avoid the typical issues of urban parks and make this a success, like the Thomas Street mini park.
AFT
That space is actually three lots. So at around $366,000 per lot, I think the city is doing all right, especially since they don’t have to pay for the demolition and removal of the three houses that used to stand there. At $366,000 per lot, the city is buying them for about half what the original developer paid the property owners.
1.1 million sounds like a good price to me for the size of the space. They would have shoved a lot of townhomes in that space so the city is getting a deal on this relative to what the developers could have made.
I agree. Tash Kent could be so much better with simple things like a kids play area, BBQ area and or skate park.
…And grass.
I live half a block away so I do see people with dogs using it but I’ve also seen folks claiming a spot on the benches for the night. The park itself is not full of trash but it does have a slightly neglected look to it.
With more open space secured my vote always goes to the gardens. They activate the space much better than just a small grassy field. And certainly there is enough demand for them.
Heck, if we get enough new P-Patches we might be able to host an uber-local farmer’s market. Do we have any proud goat or chicken farmers here in the ‘hood yet?
I’m all for more park space. Any word on if this one will have a theme since it’s so close to both Volunteer and Cal Anderson? Maybe off-leash, maybe a garden? I’m excited to see the development as I live just around the corner!
Perhaps this park could be designed in order to host the Farmers Market(which is scheduled to be displaced due to new construction). How nice would it be to have a park that could also serve a community related dual purpose?
iirc, P-patchers are not allowed to sell their produce. Donate to food banks, but not sell.
Please, no. That would be mostly a hardscape. We need more green space, especially as projects with designs like that pictured steadily wipe out the front gardens of houses on the Hill. Aren’t there initial plans in the ST construction to provide a place for the market near Nagle and Denny?
I would love it if this were a P-Patch. It’s perfect in that it’s in the heart of a residential neighborhood, it has a nice Southwesterly slope to it to maximize sunlight, and the trees have already been removed. The site is also big enough to incorporate a grassy area with benches that could be a social space and as a place to teach gardening classes. Throw in an adult size swing set for added pleasure potential.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the proposal.
There are quite a number of people with toddlers and young kids who live within as block or two of this lot. It would be great to have somewhere so close with a play area to go to. It would be particularly useful on those rainy days when you get a brief sunbreak. I personally already use the lot as an informal park – my son loves digging in the dirt and exploring there. I see many people there with their dogs.
I agree with other commentators that Tashkent park needs more to make it inviting and useful. I would hope that if the new park gets the go-ahead it would have a play area and possible a small area for things like basketball.
A good model would be the little park which is just below the corner of 23rd and E Harrison. There’s a play structure for kids and a basketball hoop. So, catering for little ones and older kids or adults.
It’s actually closer to the blue “C” in capitol hill…
RIPOFF: WITH houses, those 3 / 3.5 lots were formerly valued at a sum of 1.7 million*(see:zillow). Gotta agree that 1.1M is a bit steep, though not terribly so, for bare land with zero trees on it. The lot on 1515 Lakeview is going for $90,000 for an apples-to-applepears comparison.
TASHKENT: I’d welcome Tashkent’s one lovely element: great sculpture. Perhaps bring in something like the GRIFFON sculpture/climbing toy that Cal Anderson used to have…? I used to see Cornish Kids practicing fencing in Tashkent, before they moved the main campus away from the hill.
DEAR FARMERS – I love you, but you got yours already: Paradise aka the John/Summit park will be a pea-patch, won’t it?? And Thomas Street PeaPatch is exactly TWO blocks directly south of this site, so please do not push another pea patch for this site!!
I’m with Mr. Hart. The above 2 sound like plants with their cheery takes. The property value before houses were demolished should be MUCH higher than bare treeless land, and seems not far off at all. WTF?
Here’s hoping for a family-themed greenspace park that acknowledges the huge surge in (and wide variety of) parent population on the hill. Skate park or playground would get my vote, as would some picnic greenspaces. Half the swelling population/audience of the library’s childrens’ storytime passes right by this site. ((And before you suggest the Lowell playground: that playground’s PADLOCKED so it hardly gives off the vibe of being any sort of ‘friendly’ or ‘public’ place. Feels more like a gated/private community like certain parks in NYC.)) I’d vote for a sculpture park, too.
went to the meeting. huge turnout. Great info. Lots of different ideas about what’s best on that site*. Thanks capitol hill!
*How bout a pool?
This is very interesting to learn this parcel in in the running for potential acquisition for green space. In reply to Juliette F’s post, it is true that Lowell playground has limited access over the past decade. Historically this was a local elementary school with grounds enjoyed by children and others in the community outside of school hours. When I attended the grass field was unfenced and something of a dust bowl/ mud pit depending on the season. It was later transformed into a commuter school for special programs serving a city-wide constituency. The school serves a special population who need protection from needles, alcohol containers, broken glass, spoiled food waste and feces. I spent considerable time negotiating with the school on this subject to reach a compromise. I supplied combination lock several times and patiently explained the procedure to a succession of janitors. Later as my children moved on to other things another neighbor took on the task of supplying a lock and posting a cell phone number on the gate to be on call to provide the combination. I just walked by there and noticed no combination and no contact number. Yet legally speaking, according to state and municipal regulations, this park/play area/playground should be available from dawn to dusk for public use. The dilemma remains unsolved. Persons feeling strong enough about the issue could engage in civil disobedience by simply climbing the fences to make appropriate use of the public’s property. Persons found vandalizing, littering or trespassing after hours should be prosecuted and sentenced to an appropriate term of community service: cleaning up parks and graffiti.
Is the Lowell Playground/field truly public property? (owned by: parks dept? the neighborhoods/ neighborhood association? or the school?)
Tear down the wall, methinks. Well… at least the gate.
Also, to Charles: the school is now general population aka ‘neighborhood school’ rather than strictly special needs/gifted.
brainstorming…
what about a community center a.k.a. meeting space ?!? – or did that finally get incorporated into the TOD plans around the CH Link station?
I’d like to see anything; park, p-patch, whatever, other then the ugly “row home” design you have pictured, yuck!