Post navigation

Prev: (11/30/09) | Next: (11/30/09)

New colors for Undrearms project: Third design review for 1111 E. Union on Wednesday

This Wednesday will be the third (and my guess final) Design Review meeting for the Runberg Architects designed 1111 E. Union project. The building is planned for the triangle at Union, Madison, and 10th and will replace the Undrearms Apartments, Buzz Espresso and the soon-to-be-departing-the-Hill Color Store.

The group was last in front of the Design Review Board back in September where neighbors seemed less than thrilled with the design. Community members, as well as the DRB felt that the building was too disjointed and the color and materials did not fit in with the neighborhood.

Runberg responded by simplifying the massing and using a “warmer color palette” for the facade. A few other changes include additional retail space at 11th and Madison and the removal of the art piece on the Street bulb at Union and 12th. Internally, a few of the units have been converted from 1-bedrooms (now 68) to studios (now 30) with 2-bedrooms remaining the same (6).

There were also some concerns about the parking entrance because it is situated adjacent to the lobby entrance in the midst of a small pedestrian plaza. To increase safety Runberg added concrete traffic calmers and bollards for more visual clarity. As much as I hate garage parking, if it’s going to happen this is the way it should be. They could have easily put the garage entrance at the South end of 11th, creating a big, blank vacuum of space. Instead they minimized the driveway width and forced cars to pass through a clearly designated pedestrian area. I like this approach because it doesn’t pretend to hide the cars and also allows drivers to engage with the pedestrian activity in their building instead of just entering and exiting without ever seeing the street life.

412 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Jefferson on First Hill will also be reviewed at Wednesday’s meeting. Since its not technically in the ‘hood I won’t go into too much detail but Lorig Associates have proposed a 6-story apartment building with 99 residential units, 6,700 sq ft of retail, and 117 parking spaces. It will likely be along the future First Hill Streetcar line so perhaps a destination for a streetcar pub crawl.

Project: 1111 E Union St  map
Design Proposal available (11.32 MB)
Review Meeting: December 2, 8:00 pm (412 Broadway @ 6:30)
  SU Alumni Relations & Admissions Building
  824 12th Ave  map
  Meeting Room
Review Phase: Recommendation past reviews
Project Number: 3007732 permit status | notice
Planner:

Lisa Rutzick

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Joe
Joe
14 years ago

how long before they kick me out of my apartment at the Undrearms?

cheesecake
cheesecake
14 years ago

I can’t really speak to the details of the design but just based on those pictures, I think it looked better before, especially in picture 3. Looks to me like “simplifying the massing” just turned it into another generic, flat walled breadbox (albeit with one pointy side) that we already have too many of.

Design review seems to do an ok job with making sure the building functions well (like the parking entrance changes you mentioned) but buildings seem to always come out of the design review process looking more generic than when they went in.

jseattle
jseattle
14 years ago

We’ll look into the timeframe for demolition and construction. Calls to the developer and the owners of the buildings on the lot were not returned. We know the Color Store will be staying through the holidays at least. http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2009/11/04/the-color-store

archie
archie
14 years ago

does 11th ave have the traffic loads requiring both of those Southbound traffic lanes between Union and Madison? I wonder how it’d work if they worked with SDOT to salvage one of those lanes for a wider sidewalk and/or greenspace…which might even allow for some outdoor seating?

JoshMahar
14 years ago

Cheesecake I think you really nail it here. When your judges are an incredibly diverse community it simply doesn’t pay to be innovative. What I’ve heard a lot is that Design Review makes sure when don’t get terrible buildings (ie. the Lamplighter) but it also makes sure we don’t get great building either. As the crop of Design Review stamped buildings grows, I think we are all beginning to despise the monotony of it. Hopefully we can work on something better for the future, such as performance based zoning, or giving more leeway to architects with a proven portfolio.

some dude
some dude
14 years ago

didn’t ayn rand write something that riffed on this idea… what was that thing called? i don’t remember. I don’t think anybody really read it.