Boom In the Shadow of Schnitzer
posted by November 16 at 15:07 PM
on
8th and Virginia, MIDTOWN!
Residents at the Cosmopolitan condos, on 8th and Virginia, are banding together to stop a massive office development from blotting out the sun on the west side of their building.
Back in 2006, before the condos opened, developer Schnitzer West was working on a 14-story office project next door to Cosmo. That April, the city changed zoning regulations and Schnitzer resubmitted design plans for a 500-foot mega-office
Last week, in response to Schnitzer’s development and, they say, a lack of response from the city, Cosmo residents posted an open letter to Mayor Nickels, decrying the public process.
Because Cosmo was still vacant when Schnitzer’s designs were changed, the city’s requirement to notify nearby residents wasn’t triggered. Because of the lack of communication from the city, Clifford Tatum, Cosmo’s Community Committee Chair, says residents didn’t have the opportunity to back out purchasing their units without losing their deposits, which were between $15,000 and $50,000. “We entered into a purchase agreement in 2005. At the time, the lot across the street was permitted for a 12-14 story building. We were fairly comfortable with that,” Tatum says.
But hey, so what if rich people don’t have a view, right? Well, Tatum claims it’s about more than that. “It’s not about the view,” he says. “It’s the fact that this building is 15 feet away. There’s some consideration for light, for privacy—there would be office workers looking in our windows.” Indeed, a rendering from Schnitzer’s website does seem to indicate that the 500-foot office building will eclipse Cosmo’s west side.
Tatum says attorneys are looking into the building plans but that he’s hoping this can be settled through communication with the developer. “We don’t particularly don’t want to go down the lawsuit path,” he says. “[We’d like to] facilitate a better neighborly relationship. “
Comments
In otherwords, they do not give a shit about the views THEY blocked when their building was built (The Met Tower near Westlake lost views of West Seattle due to the COSMO!!) But they are going to bitch about someone blocking their view? FUCK THEM!! Lets demo the Cosmo with everyone inside!!!
I agree with NDD.
What kind of suit can they even file? what a bunch of pricks. They didn't seriously think their area was going to remain undeveloped. Morons.
This is gonna get messy...
I miss Jerseys.
God, I pray this building is never built. And I pray no other buildings are built either. Ever. These developers keep changing Seattle. The more they change it, the more different it is and by making it different, they are making me afraid. If I wanted to see the future I'd grow up.
I lived at both the Metro Tower on Westlake and now reside at the Cosmo. I do not believe The Cosmo blocks any views from the Metropolitan Tower.
I have no other comments other than folks could probaby express their opinion without the profanity.
If they have the right to ubild the 500 feet office building legally, the cosmo people don't have much say, they don't own that property.
I hate it when my neighbor leaves trash in the yard, but I don;t have control over it.
Life's not fair, get over it.
Hey you angry guys up there. Are you working for a PR firm -- employed by a developer perhaps? You guys crack me up! Didn't you get caught doing this same thing at the live2200 blog?!
15 feet? That's plenty. There's a great blogwar going on in the East Village right now about a new gigantic single-family home that's going to be three feet from umpteen tenement apartments' only windows.
http://www.artfagcity.com/2007/11/12/david-zwirner-upsets-the-neighbors/
haha,take that cosmo residents!
Wow! 3 feet!! I think I'd want to interview neighbors before they moved into my window box.
what's live2200? and if there were a way to get paid for all the posts i make on slog, please tell me how to go about it.
fuckface.
omg. I SWORE!
OH THE PROFANITY!
There's no vested property right to a view under Washington law, so yeaaaahhhh.....
Good luck with that....
Don't play coy with me, seattle98104. or is it fuckface now? I'm confused by your signature.
Don't play coy with me, seattle98104. or is it fuckface now? I'm confused by your signature.
Besides, the truly rich know that the One True Way to preserve their view is to build right down to the waterfront.
Every Seattle purchase and sale agreement that I've seen has included a specific clause that states the buyers cannot sue due to future loss of a view. Some even go so far as to spell out due to new construction, vegetation growth and so forth. So if this was included for the Cosmo buyers, the odds they could pursue a lawsuit successfully seem slim.
WHAT A BUNCH OF SORRY WHINERS!
Original andrew knows what he is talking about!
so which pr firm are you working for Andrew? I need to hit them up for my paycheck!
Small note from the true rich, true snobs and true class above you all assholes.
Penthouse. Ten acre estate.
The rest of you are pretenders.
Sounds like many attorneys will make big fees - hurrah for the attorneys.
Any tips where to get this fucking hair done right?
Just becaue you paid for a view doesn't mean you bought it.
Schnitzer West is a wonderful Jewish developer who is dragging Seattle into the future. The "old Seattle" crowds are backwards idiots who would have downtown full of ten story buildings and vast empty plazas.
If Seattle is every going to become dense and vibrant like Manhattan, old buildings have to be torn down and the "old Seattle" crowd needs to be silenced. It's the Jewish developers like Martin Selig and Sam Israel who have laid the groundwork for what Seattle has become. Now it's time to take Seattle to the next step, a real city.
Just build it. Nothing in life (views or otherwise) is guaranteed.
Did anyone bother to read the sentence about how zoning was changed *after* the condo sale? Imagine moving into a completely residential apartment then having a gun store open in the unit next door thanks to a zoning change.
The city set themselves up for this by tightly controlling building height, and by setting developers' and buyers' expectations that consistent zoning is a buildable assumption. A puppetmaster can't complain when his puppets start talking. I think anyone would be pissed about flushing $50,000.
ObDisc: I'm not affiliated w/buildings mentioned or the industry.
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