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News & ArtsThursday, April 23, 2009
City The Future of 12th Avenue
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 6:30 PM
The question was what can be done to perpetuate the evolution 12th Avenue. The strip—for a long time the sparse connector between Little Saigon and Capitol Hill—was partly transformed by a recent construction and renovation boom. But that ground to a halt.
About 100 people jammed into the seats and aisles of the Northwest Film Forum last night listening to a panel discuss what can be done, especially considering this economy. Folks brought up a few interesting ideas:
Transforming 12th and Madison Storage: Seattle University owns a five-story building on the axis of three streets (12th, Madison, and Union) that, for as long as I can remember, has been a gigantic beige wall (see photo). People store their stuff there. The university will evict the storage and renovate the building within five to six years, said Michael Kerns, SU’s VP of facilities.
Developing SPD’s Parking Lot: The former Paul Schell administration vowed to develop this 30,000-square-foot lot, which officers use to park their cars while they’re on shift and SPD uses to dock their massive, rolling anti-crime yachts. Capitol Hill Housing, a low-income housing developer who hosted the forum, may consider building a housing project on the site, says CHH project director Kate Steinback. But CHH can’t afford to build enough underground parking spaces—which cost about $35,000 each—to make up for what’s there currently.
No Parking: Building rules don’t require parking in a lot of places on 12th Avenue. To force people out of their cars and onto public transit, developers can just stop building it altogether. Clearly, plenty of old buildings on Capitol Hill lack parking and they’re full of tenants.
Getting Choosier About Tenants: Joining Seattle’s intolerance for national chain stores—such as Subway, Solar Tan, AT&T Mobile, etc. that seem to appear before new buildings are even complete—developer Liz Dunn, wearing mahogany high-heel boots, supported simply refusing to rent to non-local businesses.
King County Detention Center: The south end of 12th Avenue doesn’t get nearly the love it deserves. Maybe it’s because SU has several blocks of buildings and play fields that turn their back on the street between Capitol Hill and Little Saigon. Or, perhaps, everyone’s afraid of the kid jail on East Alder Street. King County Juvenile Detention and it's asphalt tundra consume 8.5 acres, but the county—which wasn’t represented at the meeting—is nurturing plans to replace the parking lot with a multi-acre, mixed use project. One of the challenges: King County is in a tough financial spot these days. Godspeed, county.
Ave street car route was also mentioned. And that, can move forward rapidly, as Sound Transit must pay the bill and all parties want it completed before the light rail going North is finished, ie. the station on Bwy.
The first public mention I have heard of the giant county property that is part of the juvenile prison - what potential for such a site in the middle of the city, and owned by public agency.
Parts were just plain tedious, as well. Oh, Seattle U talking about its plans was also informative and very cogent.
http://capitolhillseattle.com/2009/04/23…
"refuse to rent to non-local business"
yeh sounds like things are going in the right direction over there on 12th ave
idiots.
Bad timing, the steep spending decline - few too many pizza joints - great space, good product.
Had nothing to do with being a chain.
Montex, businesses just want customers. The don't care how they get there...unless they have to pay to build parking for the potential customers who live too far away, or are too lazy to walk, bike or use public transport. In dense urban areas there's enough local customers to keep businesses open, where "local" is pretty much defined as "within walking distance".
It seems to me it would be more reasonable to pay attention to the wasted space at SU on the edges of playfields, mini parking lots that serve nothing but students too lazy to walk 6 blocks, the blank, city-owned lot at 12/Jefferson, the blank lots at 12/Spruce, the under-utilized lots at 12/Yesler, etc.
The SPD lot serves many necessary purposes. If space is so badly needed in that block why is nobody willing to lease the CHAC space?
Empty. Quiet. Completely empty.
You could get up at 10 and go to Broadway Espresso in the little wooden mall and there wouldn't be a single car going down the street.
It was rainy and quiet and still.
I live in Seattle, and work in Lynnwood- a situation I know is not ideal, but in these economic times it's a reality. For me to commute round trip it's a 45 minute drive on I-5 with $15 in gas for a week. Compare that with the 3 hour commute by bus (with four transfers) and $30 in bus fare for a week, and you can see public transportation is not exactly ideal.
If I could take light rail from Broadway all the way to Lynnwood, would I? OH HELL YES. I vote for public transit everytime it comes up, and I hope one day it will all be a reality- but until then, trying to force drivers onto an already taxed bus system is not the answer. If you want to see what happens when car owners all suddenly start taking the bus, just look at our recent snow days: Buses were overcrowded, constantly late, and the overall experience was hellish.
Build widespread light rail and give the public an incentive not to own a car, and I guarantee you they won't use them... THEN you can remove parking requirements.
#21 - Hold no hope for ten years.
The real crises is coming as the real construction for the Sound Transit tunnel starts.
In ten years, with light rail done, then, the rebuild and a new vibrant street can emerge.
Many of the shops will close before then, not because they were bought by S.Transit.
In the meantime, 12th can stand some attention and planning.
NOTHING will change the construction chaos ... and all the PR spin in the world will not change a single fleet of trucks hauling dirt into unicorns.
Go 12th, look the future in the eyes.
And yes, i miss the old Bwy. I quit strolling a few years back, I even miss the jack in the Box, cause at the end of the month the 1.25 burger served a lot of us well.
Rodney
2)uh, most urban, dense, neighborhood stores don't give a rats ass about parking, (as long as there is SOME of it around). They know the majority of their customers are LOCAL, not casual drive by suburbanites.
3)the cops can walk/bus/park a little farther away. That lot is an eyesore and fucks up the flow of 12th...it needs to go.
4)also, the umpteen automotive businesses; the body shops/windshield-muffler-brake shops/luxury dealerships...a large chunk of them need to GO...they can relocate to SoDo. They take up too much space, create urban deadzones, eye/nose/ear sores. Capitol Hill no longer needs to be the auto repair zone for central Seattle.
And I liked the segue about the boots.
mmm mahogany high-heel boots... say more, please.. Do you mean they were mahogany-colored? Or were they made of ACTUAL mahogany? Because the latter would be far more interesting........
mmm boots boots boots mmmm
Also, as a point of clarification, the First Hill/Capitol Hill streetcar will connect the King Street ID Light Rail Station and the Cap Hill Light Rail Station. THIS IS A FULLY FUNDED PROJECT. A great discussion is happening online right now about where the alignment will be. See posts here:
http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2009/…
And here:
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2009/0…
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