Amen. I live across the street from those new apartments, and before construction began, that area was a haven for drug usage and other shady activities. It's become dramatically better since folks started working on the site. And I look forward to even further improvements once my new neighbors move in. More people means less shit happening on my street. Yeah, the bulding's a little aesthetically challenged, but as long as it's not replacing anything great, bring it on.

Love both of those new developments. I just hope the new apartments and Neighbours can co-exist peacefully. (Fingers crossed.)

Technical note: The Walgreens/Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program (CHHIP)building sits where a Chevron once sat, not a Texaco. (I used to get my car's oil changed there. It was a nice Chevron, better than the Texaco, but I'd much prefer the new building.)

CHHIP worked really hard to make sure there were homes on top of that Walgreens. Walgreens orginally balked at the idea. Go, CHHIP!

Dan Savage: Yeah, it could be better designed.

I bet if it actually were better designed, many of the same folks bitching about the design would be bitching even more. I kinda recall people complained to no end about the EPI Apartments in Fremont, with its distinctive architecture and large balconies and all. Ultimately, the issue is not design. It's change, density, gentrification, and did I mention change?

Yes, it's also about the character of the neighborhood, and yes, that is a legitimate concern. But so often preserving the character of a neighborhood gets coopted as merely a euphemism for resisting change.

Epi apartments may be "distinctive," but that does not mean they aren't horrifyingly ugly (see: EMP). They are, indeed, horrifyingly ugly, and I still complain about them when I remember to.

Crap has been built in every age. No reason to believe that won't continue.

The narcissists at the Stranger continue to confuse marketing with reality.

"And as Erica pointed wrote, it’s a highly stupid move on the part of the developers. They can’t simultaneously sell condos by promoting their proximity to lively independent businesses while also tearing down the buildings that house their businesses (and refusing to build new retail spaces small enough to host small, indy businesses). Or they can—just not for long."

Not for long? Long being what, the time it took to to make Belltown what it is today?

Those "awful balconies" are designed for A) window-washing and B) opening your sliding-glass door without risk of your baby crawling out and falling to its death, a la "Tears in Heaven." They are not designed for standing on, hence their tinyness.

There's a joke developers have about how they name a subdivision. You find out the most important thing you're displacing and there's your name.

Gitai: There's a joke developers have about how they name a subdivision. You find out the most important thing you're displacing and there's your name.

So does this mean the developers should name that building something like "Parking Lot Lofts"? "Crack Den Condos"?

Hey, hey, don't be talking trash about one of our fine "dingbat" apartment houses (the one that precedes the current boom by decades).

I love those apartments on stilts—open parking below, apartments above. So... cozy. Well, at least they have balconies you can step out on when you want to get high.

Yes, Dan, this singular example of new apartment housing (that no one is talking about anyway, precisely because of the reasons you listed -- have you really heard people complaining about that trellis or are you making shit up?), fully carries the weight of your tear-down-and-build-anything philosophy.

Apropos of naming what you're displacing, I wonder what pre-existed The Minty in Ballard?

So does this mean the developers should name that building something like "Parking Lot Lofts"? "Crack Den Condos"?

Sure, but they should follow the one-word name trend. "Syringe" has potential: the accent on the last syllable gives it some pseudo-sophistication.

Given the loss of sunlight on the streets, the Seasonal Affective Disorder Apartments has a nice ring.

Sure, but they should follow the one-word name trend. "Syringe" has potential: the accent on the last syllable gives it some pseudo-sophistication.

Ha!!

Please cite examples of my tear-down-and-build-anything philosophy, Jason. Chapter and verse?

I lived in Belltown—and worked there—when I first got to Seattle. I will state for the record that Belltown is better now than it was then. Mostly because something (condos, dreaded condos) mostly replaced nothing (parking lots, wonderful parking lots). I was bummed when the jello mold building came down, and I miss the original cyclops.

But I dig the density and would rather see empty nesters and young professionals paying property taxes in Seattle—and living where they can walk to, well, just about everything—than moving to goddamned Nevada or New Mexico or living in Kirkland. In-fill—all for it. And folks are moving here, and they've gotta live somewhere. And remember: today's new developments are tomorrow's affordable housing units. Oh, and overbuilding during a boom can create shitloads of affordable housing during the almost inevitable bust.

"Save the parking lots!"

The parking lot was saved: it's still there, but underground.

Thank you, Dan. I was waiting for this. I'm mixed about the whole housing growth situation, in relation to luxury condos, and feel there should be some restrictions to the growth, without restricting the growth altogether.

To give perspective, many people that are moving to Capitol Hill don't plan to stay there!. I overhear this all the time on the bus to work. Many couples just moved there temporarily, but plan to buy a house on the Eastside whenever the opportunity comes. That last clause is very flexible. However, the comment about today's luxury pads being tomorrow's affordable housing is literally half right! Well, as far as the "tomorrow" part goes. The "affordable" part is still far away, unfortunately.

And I was going to point out the Slog sidebar ad that sits right across the entry:

"APARTMENTS FOR RENT: Glamorous apartments on Capitol Hill/First Hill, just minutes away from all the city has to offer....... "

...and almost type "This usually anti-luxury condo editorial was brought to you in part by underwriting from the Luxury Condominium Company, Inc..

But not this time. It was a good day. There was no need to have brought out the muthafuckin' AK.

Overbuilding, Dan? So "just not for long" is long enough to allow overbuilding?

You approve of affordable housing? Wasn't a lot of that replaced by new condos in Belltown? Perhaps you'd "rather see young professionals and empty nesters paying property taxes" than the people of less means who were displaced by the new development. What's a little class warfare if you can shop at Whole Foods.

(Faux-pas city! The ad was about apartments for rent, not condos to buy. Still, there's something obfuscating about that word "Glamorous"... Never mind!)

Why, yes—I approve of affordable housing. There wasn't much in Belltown. Most of the new condos that offend folks so much went up on parking lots and empty lots.

Let me be the one going against the current and say "Y'all are gonna miss parking lots and gas stations when they're gone."

Of course, by that I COULD mean that "sooner than we think, we'll hit the time of 'peak oil' and our entire way of life will forever change...and the time when there were convenient places to park a internal combustion fossil-fuel burning vehicle...and places that stored large amounts of those fossil-fuels for inexpensive delivery to those vehicles were possible and needed."

OR, I could mean that--at least in the short term--businesses that all of us love will continue to be negatively impacted by the general feeling that one "shouldn't bother trying to go there, you can't find anywhere to park..." and the general queasiness of most car-based commuters when one realizes that there are areas of town where it's damn difficult to find a gas station when you need one.

Am I an environmental catastrophist or a self-centered anti-density consumerist? You decide...

Re: Frederick R @7 - erm, if there was no twee faux balcony, there would be a window instead of a sliding glass door, so the wee ones would be saved. And I can't believe that an architect would say "let's put a tiny not-balcony here so the resident can wash this ONE window!"

Wasn't it in Erica's P/P article that one of the developers said there was some sort of rule about outdoor space that made those Juliet balconies so pervasive?

I think the building at Pine/Bway is a better use of the space than the previous gas station, but it is going to bring huge change to that area - already the traffic light at that corner has changed, adding in left-turn only lights. For some reason I thought Walgreens had gotten nixed, though (clearly wishful thinking on my part). A drug store isn't needed on that corner - there's already a Rite Aid on top of the QFC one block away.

pgreyy -

"Am I an environmental catastrophist or a self-centered anti-density consumerist? You decide..."

You sound like neither...you just sound like a Texan.

A Texan? Really?

Wow. I don't think I could be more offended.

pg--Cheesehead by birth

During my last apartment hunt, the apartments with Juliet balconies were much more expensive than those without. It would seem that a ridiculously tiny balcony enables landlords to charge 100 bucks extra each month.

Pgreyy, so you think these businesses would suffer if they had a hundred new local tenants nearby instead of a gas station?

If getting rid of gas stations and parking lots and replacing them with condos would turn away leisure commuters and nearby tourists, I guess these people would have to make their own facilities where they live in the outskirts. Oh the horror.

(oy, bad placing. remove "nearby tourists" in my last post. Meant for the above one. Sorry.)

Hey Matthew,

Certainly a business like a coffee shop or a grocery store would benefit from an expanded localized consumer base.

But not all businesses can depend on the localized consumer base's continued repeat business. Broadway used to have furniture stores...but, once you've bought your couch, how often do you go there to buy another one? If there's readily available parking--people beyond the localized area might come there to shop...if there isn't, they won't consider it--they'll go to UVillage or Tukwila.

So, yeah...getting rid of parking lots is great...but it'll mean that Capitol Hill will be filled with nothing but coffee shops, Thai restaurants and used clothing stores...

Oh...oops. Too late.

I guess what I'm really saying is that there's a fine line between a vibrant localized community and a desolate, insular enclave. I'm not saying that line is defined by one parking lot--but everything adds up. The bottom line is that I used to spend my life on Capitol Hill and now I rarely go there. Which is fine, of course...but allow me to feel melancholy about it from time to time.

pg--a former Bellevue Avenue East resident and assistant manager at a somewhat-fondly remembered indie-record store

Save the Parking lots, Save the world!

Ah, I remember Keeg's well, and Delteet's. Anyone remember Boondock's?

Pgreyy has a point; there's nothing on Capitol Hill that a non-resident of Capitol Hill would be interested in anymore. You'd better hope these condo dwellers get the retail going again or soon there won't be anything that even RESIDENTS are interested in.

Everyone:

Go re-read (or read) the first 100 pages or so of The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Second, those mini-balconies allowing for full-length doors to be opened actually serve a purpose: they're much more efficient for ventilation during warm weather, as their greater area allows for more air to circulate. They're not just baby-savers.

Third, for affordable housing, read housing that's less desireable. That's what makes it affordable: it's smaller or located over businesses, or a bit more remote. But if it's all mixed together, what do you get? A city. Re-read Geography of Nowhere.

Retail on Capitol Hill? Once it's built, why not take light rail downtown to shop? Or to U Village? Establish a shuttle bus from the stadium station to U Village. No need to buy anything except groceries on Capitol Hill. Commercial rents are as high as they are downtown.

I lived near that gas station for years, and I'm delighted to see it gone.

These are all great points, Dan, except that like most new housing in Seattle, these units are not going to be affordable for all but the most well-to-do, especially for what's being offered.

that's cool. we don't want fnarf and co. on cap hill anyways.

That's Bartell's above the QFC, not Rite Aid. Or is it Bartell Drugs? I dunno - but whichever of those is correct, that's what it is.

Metro has talked about restoring local service on Montlake north to U Village if the Pacific Interchange option is selected for the 520 replacement project; they wrote a letter to the betterbridge.org folks saying just that. Right now, the worst bottleneck on the 48 is the Montlake Bridge, and it kills the 43, too.

I knew that gas station from movies at the Egyptian, waiting on line for SIFF and running over there to use the restroom. As gas stations go it was a good one, but like someone above said, gas stations (and Dan's ubiquitous parking lots) don't make a city. The street-level facade of the new building, which amazingly enough is stone (I was expecting stucco or something else less expensive) is going to be a great contribution to a very busy corner. And God knows we need more housing.

Gomez, did you even look at the project?

From their Web site:

Unit Sizes and Rents

2 Studio Apartments
Average Sq Ft: 420
Rents: $475

14 One Bedrooms
Average Sq Ft: 580
Rent Range $620 - $660

28 Two Bedrooms
Average Sq Ft: 785
Rent Range $397* - $740

* Some rents will be lower; a portion of the apartments come with a project-based Section 8 subsidy, allowing rents to fluctuate based on tenant income.

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See also: CHHIP's Broadway & Pine Apartments

Note: that building was going to look like the Walgreen's on 15th (suburban-style retail with surface parking and non-functional windows) until the public expressed concern at Design Review Board meetings, and the property owner got CHHIP involved.

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