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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Condo Owners Vs. Condo Builders on Capitol Hill

posted by on February 19 at 10:40 AM

You know that house on the corner of Belmont Ave and Republican St with all the televisions and weird crap in the yard?

belmont_and_republican.jpg

It’s being demolished. That house and the two houses to the north will be replaced by a six-story brick building, containing 40 condominiums—five street-level townhouses and 35 residential units.

500_belmont_illustration.jpg

The ghastly mauve sandstone color represents brick. The big trees will stay. Illustration by Arca Architecture.

But the project was almost much larger. Developer Belmont Properties had proposed adding 22 more units by using an adjacent parking lot to the north, owned by the Lamplighter building across the street. The deal would have provided the Lamplighter 10 additional parking spaces underground and a private lobby. However, despite majority support from the Lamplighter’s residents, the offer was rejected for failing the consensus required among owners of the 80 units.

According to Arca Architecture’s Alan Clark, “more than 90 percent” of the residents approved his company’s proposal, which, he says, was also supported by the city’s design review board. “There aren’t any arguments against it. It’s a 60’ wide lot; it cannot be developed,” he says. “It made sense to work with us.”

“I’m glad that we blocked it,” spat a dashing resident, who asked not to be named. The deal, it turns out, would have required selling the condo owners’ land, thereby giving up any appreciation value. “I’m tired of these five-story buildings going up all over Capitol Hill,” he told me before entering the 10-story Lamplighter.

RSS icon Comments

1

I am sure those will be very reasonably pricedso moderate income folks can readily afford..... BAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! God, I make myself laugh at times.

Posted by Andrew | February 19, 2008 10:47 AM
2

god, i love the smell of hypocrites in the morning!

Posted by michael strangeways | February 19, 2008 10:51 AM
3

it would appear that the firm has won a couple of AIA honor awards, here:
http://honorawards.aiaseattle.org/node/480/image_gallery
and here:
http://honorawards.aiaseattle.org/node/476/image_gallery

but man oh man. their graphics and renderings are ghastly.

Posted by lb | February 19, 2008 10:52 AM
4

HAHA I love it! One of the biggest eyesores on the Hill is complaining about all these ugly 5-story buildings.

Posted by JJ | February 19, 2008 10:53 AM
5

Yeah the Lamplighter and its two cousins are so pretty! I feel sorry for the residents of the buildings to the east of them (which is where this new construction will be). That entire street is walled off from afternoon sunlight.

Posted by Paul | February 19, 2008 10:53 AM
6

oh please let there be perpetually vacant ground-floor retail in there, too!

Posted by kinkos | February 19, 2008 10:56 AM
7

Fuck.

That monstrosity is right next to me.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 19, 2008 11:05 AM
8

Please God, make them knock down that vertical trailer park at Harvard and Harrison.

Posted by Hooty Sapperticker | February 19, 2008 11:13 AM
9

Oh, sweety. That's not mauve.

Posted by Michigan Matt | February 19, 2008 11:19 AM
10

Does he mean the little gray piece in the front? That's all that's going to be brick?

Which would mean that four stories of it will be that ghastly Drive-It stucco that has to be replaced every five years.

Par for the course, really.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 19, 2008 11:24 AM
11

The Lamplighter has 11 stories, for the record.

And I do love my view. Muhahahahaha.

Posted by Lamplighter Resident | February 19, 2008 11:28 AM
12

Oh, right you are, Michigan Matt. What would a fag like me call that pink-ish brown color. It looks too pastel to be called "brick."

Posted by Dominic Holden | February 19, 2008 11:29 AM
13

@12--Well, if we're talking about that color that makes up most of the building, *this* fag would call it sandstone. Check out the wikipedia entry. It's almost a perfect match!

Posted by Michigan Matt | February 19, 2008 11:35 AM
14

Thank you, queer hue hero!

@11) Does that include the basement? I counted 10 above-ground floors when I stood at the bottom and counted yesterday.

Posted by Dominic Holden | February 19, 2008 11:43 AM
15

It's still not gonna be a brick building.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 19, 2008 11:49 AM
16

@14 - the bottom floor from Belmont is actually the second floor; the first floor and basement are both below ground on that side.

Posted by Lamplighter Resident | February 19, 2008 11:52 AM
17

Looks nice.

Of course, 40 to 100 story inexpensive residential rental apartment buildings near Sound Transit stations would look even nicer ...

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 19, 2008 11:57 AM
18

You want to see Broadway dotted with World Trade Center height residential towers?

That'd interfere with the flight-paths to both SeaTac and Boeing Field, I think.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 19, 2008 12:22 PM
19

There's only one station on Capitol Hill, Nappy. The rest are much lower.

Progress demands change.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 19, 2008 12:25 PM
20

So is the point of this entry to make the 10% of owners in the Lamplighter feel bad for exercising their rights as homeowners? I'm assuming that allowing the new building to take the lot also would have made the new building right next to the Lamplighter. I wonder if the 10% who voted no were ones who would've had the exterior of the new building right outside their windows.

Posted by genevieve | February 19, 2008 12:28 PM
21

Does that include the basement? I counted 10 above-ground floors when I stood at the bottom and counted yesterday.

Maybe they should try putting every story of these new buildings underground, perhaps then we can have density without offending everyone's design aesthetic.

Posted by JMR | February 19, 2008 12:38 PM
22

“I’m glad that we blocked it,” spat a dashing resident, who asked not to be named. The deal, it turns out, would have required selling the condo owners’ land, thereby giving up any appreciation value.

How does that reconcile with this:

“There aren’t any arguments against it. It’s a 60’ wide lot; it cannot be developed,” [the architect] says.

Fucking idiots. If the reason was for appreciation value, they'll be hard-pressed to realize it. Any effort to sell the piece by itself will be futile, as it's undevelopable on its own; any effort to sell the entire Lamplighter property will be hampered by 1) needing everyone to vote themselves out of their current home 2) the 11 story eyesore that pulls in enough income so that redeveloping the entire parcel isn't worth the hassle.

Basically, that extra lot will stay the way it is for 20, 30, 40(?!) years, likely very long after anyone currently living there will have a chance to realize its appreciation. Fucking retards. Does the Lamplighter condo association have any fiduciary duty to its members? If it does, it ought to null the retard vote.

Posted by Hey wait | February 19, 2008 1:06 PM
23

Underground apartments would rule. Then we can really start being 'groundhogs' like in all the science fiction books.

Posted by Greg | February 19, 2008 1:07 PM
24

@22 Although "appreciation" is not cited by any of the 10% voting against the project, "thereby giving up any appreciation value" is not a completely misplaced phrase in the post.

The value of the land to the current owners is embedded in their deeded parking spaces -- not the parcel as a whole. Today, a parking spot is worth about $40,000 to a Lamplighter owner -- and there's no sign of that value decreasing anytime soon.

Posted by oneway | February 19, 2008 1:28 PM
25

@23 Why not? Most of the people living here look like mole people anyway.

Posted by Go get a tan people | February 19, 2008 1:43 PM
26

@24 - really? My condo assessment says the land is worth only $100,000 for a quarter lot in Fremont. Those are some expensive parking spaces.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 19, 2008 4:07 PM
27

i can develop a 60' wide lot.

Acra can SUCK IT.

Posted by max solomon | February 19, 2008 4:11 PM
28

@20 actually, the Lamplighter is across the street. The parking lot is in between the proposed development and Tashkent Park.

Posted by Boylston | February 19, 2008 4:28 PM
29

@27 - Well, there is the set aside from the street front.

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 19, 2008 4:58 PM
30

Farewell, Stately Hidden Mangrove.

Posted by john | February 19, 2008 5:38 PM
31

I was one of the residents that approved selling the lot. Currently, there are 10 units in the building that don't have parking. Selling this lot would have solved that problem, and given us a nicer parking structure and a big pot of cash to take care of some capital improvements. The owners who didn't want to sell it have now forced all of us to pony up the money for these improvements. Incredibly short sighted. There was never a vote on the issue, just some sort of nonbinding straw poll. Seattle politics. Yah. Anyway, the new building will be nicer than the current eyesores.

Posted by Lamplighter owner #2 | February 19, 2008 6:44 PM
32

To 31. When is your ambulance pulling up in that eyesore tower that blocks our view?

Posted by The Grove | February 19, 2008 7:05 PM
33

The owners were not only opposed to fact their deeds and declaration would change- any realization of funds from the proposed sale would not be individual gains, but retained by the association.

Posted by Dashing Spatter | February 19, 2008 8:03 PM
34

I love the Lamplighter! It's so campy! Or at least it was, with its Frigidaire kitchens and oversized faggy decorator lanterns out front. It looked like the sort of place Doris Day would have lived in in one of her movies.

Posted by catalina vel-duray | February 20, 2008 6:34 AM
35

As one of the residents of the hidden mangrove (the house with the weird art in the yard), I must say that I enjoy living in such an unusual place with very funny/artsy/weird roommates.

Posted by Scyon | February 20, 2008 7:29 AM
36

the hidden mangrove has been a mecca for creative outlets for years. (i'm also one of the current residents.) it's a big, old, ugly house, with art in the yard from unknown sorces, but we all love it. we have band practice in our basement, record our music in the bedroom, and spray paint in the back yard. when's the last time you did that in your condo?

i've been watching this capitol hill transition. it's breaking my heart. seattle doesn't care about history or community. so build those condos, bring all your douche bag friends in. beat up some gays.

capitol hill doesn't need anymore condos. it didn't need any in the first place.

Posted by super! | February 20, 2008 12:19 PM

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