After living with an old, decrepit Safeway on Stone Way at N. 40th, followed by its demolition in 2006 and the festering pit left in its wake, it’s official: According to a spokesperson for Stoneway Village II, LLC, excavation will start next week for a new residential/retail building. We have a statement from one of the owners who provided us with some background behind the long wait and the details of the new building:
The “pit” and the old store were demolished back when there was going to be a new modern grocery store and a roof top condominium project which was finally permitted and ready for construction. At the time, we as owners could not bring the project into budget and had to abandon the planned project. In 2007, Stoneway Village, LLC entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement to re-develop the project into what is now permitted for a mixed use residential/commercial project. Once again, the project had been scheduled to start construction in December of 2008, after many months of processing and significant neighborhood input. The project had to be put on hold due to the national financial crisis that had occurred.
Fortunately, Stoneway Village, LLC was able to prevail, and we now have a project that is underway and will have onsite construction activity in the next few days. The project consists of 154 market rate rental apartments and 17,000 square feet of commercial space for lease. The construction activity will take 18 months and we will start leasing activity in early 2012. This will be one of the first new construction projects to be able to start since several months of the economic downturn.
There has been no commercial leasing activity to date. We will begin to solicit potential tenants in the next few months as we can now promise a completion date and provide details of the issues that commercial tenants are looking for. The interest from potential tenants has been very high and we can offer a variety and types of space. The exterior design of the building will be very appealing from the exterior and everybody that had input on the design will be very pleased with the final product.
The following companies have been involved in the design and will complete the building:
· Architect: Baylis Architects
· Contractor: Compass Construction
· Engineers: CPL Engineering
· Landscape: Berger Partnership
· Design: Sechrist Design
Baylis Architects provided us with the following sketches. If you click on the box with the four-way arrows, you can see the images in their original size.
That looks huge and out of scale even on Stone Way. Also, will there be ADEQUATE parking for all the apartment tenants AND the businesses? Or is this going to further impact the parking on neighborhood streets?
According to Baylis Architects: there will be approximately 189 stalls of subterranean parking with access from N. 39th St.
The statement says they took into consideration all the feedback in 2008, and I’m guessing this is the resultant design, so it should be fine.
I really hope we as a community don’t open that can of worms again. Our “involvement” last time directly contributed to that project missing its window the first time to spiralling costs and then the second time we got involved the economy imploded, resulting in the pit we have had for 3+ years.
All this on a street that is largely industrial to begin with. Heck, at this point I’d be ok with a penitentiary if they used nice bricks.
Yuck. I hated the plans QFC had put forth as well. I really was hoping who ever took over the project would scale it down.
Not seeing the problem. It’s only four stories on an industrial street that includes a roofing supply, electrical supply, two plumbing supply places, a storage facility, an indoor skate park, shall I go on? Even Pagliacci’s caught the industrial vibe and fit in by using galvanized panels.
If we’re going to go after ugly buildings that don’t fit in Wallingford, let’s make the Taco Time National Bank furnished in the Miami Vice collection our number one priority now that the Rooster and Payday Loans are gone.
Huge and out of scale? On Stone Way? The next block north consists of 4-story condos, leading into… more 4-story condos.
Great piece, Margaret. I plan to lead a bus full of commuters in a large cheer & clapping event the first time we go by there & the construction is underway.
Chris, love your comments as always — but am particularly tickled by the nice bricks comment!
Brought this up back in 2008:
The biggest issue that I can see is ingress/egress out onto 39th, which will require some kind of turn lane/light reconfiguration on Stone to work properly.
Traffic skirting through the “back way” in the neighborhood will also be an issue.
All that said, I welcome the structure. It will be a huge improvement to Stone Way and add some vibrancy to an otherwise bleak area.
I don’t have much to add to this discussion, other than the happy dance I did around the computer when I saw the news! YAY, no more pit!!!
There was nothing wrong with criticizing the poorly considered design choices last go-around. Expecting a busy grocery store parking lot to be accessed either within 30 feet of the stoplight at Stone and 40th or via a residential neighborhood was just silly. Even sillier is to keep presenting designs that did not address the problem and expect a different result.
Public comment is part of the design process. Reasonable concerns need to be addressed. The site is unique in the way the roads converge. Site access is one of the main design criteria and is not an insurmountable problem. A good designer considers their project’s unique environment. Good design does not happen in a vacuum.
There never is, but it went on too long. and was in fact ultimately responsible for the pit being there to this day. Sometimes you just have to know when it’s good enough and you are hitting diminishing returns and stop sacrificing the good for the perfect. If I were QFC, I would have worried less and just put it up. The customer is not always right, and contrary to what most believe, that mantra puts more businesses under than rockets them to the top.
And if we don’t like the parking lot/entrance design, we won’t shop there, right? I mean that parking lot at Trader Joe’s on Roosevelt is totally killing their business. And we’ve all stopped shopping at QFC after their municipal airport remodel and totally screwing up the parking out front. And Target at NGN is totally struggling because it can take you 45 mins to get out of that structure, right?
And we’re all still really vigilant about monitoring that SHARE shelter at GoG too.
Anyway, let’s let these people build a building the best way they know how.
Chris,
If there was a ‘Like’ button, I would click it for your posts!
. Expecting a busy grocery store parking lot to be accessed either within 30 feet of the stoplight at Stone and 40th or via a residential neighborhood was just silly. Even sillier is to keep presenting designs that did not address the problem and expect a different result.
Wasn’t it a busy grocery with parking lot before it was a pit? Were QFC’s designs notably different from what was already at that location?
The old Safeway had entrances off of Stone, which the new one cannot have due to the Bridge Way/Stone road re-build and subsequent lane diet.
So, if the entrance is just to be 39th, they will have to do something..as it will be impossible to access (left to 39th) from Southbound on Stone or from Bridge Way.
Heavily impacted neighbor here.
Parking is going to be a nightmare, I imagine a saturday when Fusion is running a popular class that street parking will be impossible to find because you can’t park in their lot when doing classes.
189 stalls for 154 units and 17k retail space. That doesn’t seem like very much.
Getting onto 39th southbound from Stone is hard enough and there are already a fair share of fender benders.
I’d rather it remain an eye sore.
If Fusion is that popular, they should probably move someplace with more parking, no? Maybe into the 17k of retail space?
“I’d rather it remain an eye sore”
Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion.
My opinion is that this illustrates exactly public comment can be so counter-productive to smart urban development.
No no, I think we should try to please rodmunch so he will possibly, someday buy a smoothie there.
🙂
…or some beads?
Smoothie? I am hoping for a coffee shop. Wallingford is devoid of such places.
So no comments unless they match what you all think? Ok got it.
Certainly my opinion is the very slim minority and the project is going forward anyhow. I hope it works, really do. The 39th st issue is a huge concern. I look forward to seeing what the plan is to mitigate. In it’s present state it will be a disaster.
Oh snap!
Unfortunately too much of my money has been spent at Fusion beads but that’s not for this thread.
All comments welcome, but one should always be ready to defend them. 🙂
Re: “The exterior design of the building will be very appealing from the exterior and everybody that had input on the design will be very pleased with the final product.”
It’s “everybody WHO had input on the design”.
People are not objects!
Re: If you click on the box with the four-way arrows, you can see the images in their original size.
What “box with the four-way arrows”?!? There isn’t one.
“What “box with the four-way arrows”?!? There isn’t one.”
Yeah there is. Click play on the video, and then the box (aka maximize video) appears.
wow, this is still a hot subject!
2.5 years ago there were some community meetings about the mixed-use proposal for the Hole In The Ground (what i’ve always heard it referred to as). folks who live/d near there were adamant about wanting a supermarket of some sort; i sure hope they’re considering this. at the time, Trader Joe’s thought about it, then opened in Ballard. Whole Foods apparently looked too. since QFC bought it, everyone expected a QFC. but almost anything does seem better than this horrible Pit/Hole, that so many community members, bus riders, and especially nearby businesses have to look at every damn day….
but, how will it work with the bike lanes near where driveways will be? even if the driveways aren’t right near the corner, there may be cars lined up to get in or out, which would be a pedestrian/bike/driver problem.
Craig,
Two things. 1) It’s a quote, so it’s correct to report it that way because that’s what was said. 2) Here’s an excerpt from the American Heritage Dictionary by way of GrammarGirl:
“It is entirely acceptable to write either the man *that* wanted to talk to you, or the man *who* wanted to talk to you (3). [emphasis added]”
Then she goes on to say “Wow. So I dug around some more and found that there is a long history of writers using that as a relative pronoun when writing about people. Chaucer did it, for example.”
So it seems like we have enough precedent for a neighborhood blog post to let it go.
I live on 39th and don’t know how they will get people who are traveling south on Stone to turn left on 39th in a turn lane used for people traveling north and turning left to go to Aurora. They will have to do something! As it exists now I never turn left on 39th and I live there. I either take the next block or just come from the Wallingford Ave side to avoid Stoneway altogether.
Hope it brings in some cool shops/restaurants and not a tanning salon and fast food. Excuse me to those hoping for a closer tanning salon and fast food franchise, no offense intended, just seems to be plenty of that stuff already.
But what I really really hope is it doesn’t bring in people (who do not live here) with giant Hummer size SUVs, parking their boat-sized-egomaniac cars on the narrow streets in my neighborhood. Otherwise, I am cool. It will chill out the scariness of the 7-11 corner.
All fear of the unknown aside, I will be glad when it is not a pit.
Pit neighbor, I don’t think you have much to worry about. Chances are, looking at the other condo/apartment on top and business on bottom places to pop up that about half the store fronts will remain vacant and the other half will be small business without a ton of traffic. Look at the building at 45th and Stone, still 2 vacant stores. Or at Bagley and 45th, still about half vacant. Just because the artist drew as being well populated doesn’t mean that will happen at all. I think we can garuntee it won’t. It might be a little challenging for cars to turn left from Stone, but I don’t think it is going to be a constant problem.
Also, this is Seattle. Do you really think a small strip of shops in lower Wallingford is going to attract a ton of Hummers? I think it’ll be fine, and that people are overstating it’s potential impact on the area.
I think the <1 parking stall per unit ratio is awesome. This is a site that is very well served by the bus, with 15 minute service right outside the front door:
http://seattletransitblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/2011-01-13-011.png
On top of that, it is a short walk to either Wallingford or Fremont. The Burke is accessible 5 blocks down the hill. I think residents will be able to live a very comfortable car-free existence at this location. The facade of the building seems cheesy but this looks like a good plan otherwise.
HEY! Very cool about the Stone Way Village project is FINALLY moving forward & the Wallingford / Fremont neighborhoods will not have “The Pit” anymore! It was a long & rewarding journey of process & discovery from very eclectic & creative neighborhoods, but it is good to see some positive progress on the horizon during such tough economic times…
Glad you enjoyed my Design efforts, DRB Presentation + Renderings of “A Village Evolving Over Time”.
Thank you Wallingford for all of your input & patience!
I would love to see a Whole Foods or another natural market and deli there. Wallingford could use it as there are those of us that find the PCC in Fremont or Ravenna too far to go, but QFC not serving what we are looking for.
Any more news on which retailers will be leasing the ground floor of the building?
No news yet, Dan, but we’re expecting an update from Stoneway Village soon…I don’t know if they’ll have leasing info yet but we’ll letcha know.
What is the URL for the Stoneway Village Apartments website?
well, a year ago shy 3 weeks it was apit. gotta hand i tto the constr guys.. they are actually makiing progress rather quickly.
Parking and left turns on 39th.. no one will park if they have to make a left on a very busy street.
Hi Will,
Stoneway Village has a new website:
http://www.prescottwallingford.com/
It’s live but not fully functional yet. You can sign up to have email alerts sent to you when they are up and running.