A view from the top of The Danforth (Image: The Danforth)
The 17-story Broadway apartment tower set to bring Amazon’s grocery chain Whole Foods to the border of Capitol Hill and First Hill has set a July opening. But you will have to wait until the fall to do your grocery shopping at the base of The Danforth.
The developer of the project is beginning the process of recruiting residents to fill its 260 or so units complete with “smart, sophisticated design,” “well-appointed” and “clean, contemporary aesthetic,” “A/C in all homes, USB outlets and pantries in every kitchen,” and where even the bathrooms “make a statement.”
Rates for the “spacious one, two and three-bedroom plans” have not been publicly announced but a spokesperson tells CHS that pricing will start at $2,200.
“We would like The Danforth to not only be a great place to live, but also be a tangible supporter of the organizations and businesses that make the local neighborhood such a vibrant place to live,” Todd Seneker, managing director of real estate investment strategies at Danforth developer Columbia Pacific Advisors. “It’s important to us that we are a good neighbor, and we are committed to giving back to the community in which we also live, work, and play.”
To drum up some buzz — and live up to the lofty community goals — the company is donating $10,000 to three area nonprofits:
All three help make the neighborhood The Danforth is joining more vibrant and livable. Artist Trust, dedicated to providing funding and resources to local artists, Seattle Humane, saving and serving pets in need, and Country Doctor/Carolyn Downs Community Health Centers, ensuring that everyone has access to affordable healthcare regardless of income. Each nonprofit will receive a minimum of $2,500. Contest entrants can vote for the nonprofit of their choice. The organization with the most votes will receive an additional $2,500.
You can vote here. To sweeten the deal, The Danforth is also giving away some prize packages with local connections:
Frye After Dark Party, a gallery tour and art creation workshop at the Frye on First Hill.
/ OOLA Distillery Experience, a bespoke whiskey blending session at OOLA Distillery near Seattle University. / Northwest Film Forum Package, a private film screening at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill. / Classic Northwest Escape, culinary delight, luxury stay, spa experience and Moondance Sea Kayaking Adventures at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island.
The presence of the Amazon grocery chain is, of course, a defining element of the building described as “New apartments atop Whole Foods” in marketing materials. Despite stormy economic times for the chain, its acquisition by Amazon, and Amazon’s alternative grocery ventures, the project to bring the new store to Broadway and Madison has pushed forward since construction began in the summer of 2016. Even the name of the building is a nod to the grocery store. ““A Danforth is a style of anchor. The Danforth anchor was developed in the 1940s for use with landing craft,” a PR rep told us that summer. “Today, the anchor is widely used with a variety of vessels seeking to have security when in a harbor.”
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.
Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.
I’ve never understood why apartments here haven’t added AC with it getting into the 80s and 90s in the summer. This shouldn’t be a luxury
Get over it
I agree! When we moved here almost 40 years ago from the Midwest I couldn’t believe there was no air conditioning. Now they have great units that can be put in homes without central ducts. To the snarky commenter I would say, be polite.
Housing of any kind should not be a luxury. Air conditioning most certainly is a luxury. Pay more for it if you want it. I’ll pay for a roof over my head period.
This is my favorite Max comment yet
This was supposed to be a reply to “Get over it”
Unbelievably ugly building. Something out of East Berlin. Who approves these things?
Sadly looking at the plans windows in bedrooms are also a thing of the past. Perhaps that is why it needs AC ?
I assume given code that the bedrooms are more studio like since without egress you can’t have a door. Great to see architects working hard to pack in as many units as possible…
They are sponsored by the hardi board manu assoc.
Air conditioning isn’t a luxury
Am I the only one that thinks it’s nice that more housing and a grocery store are coming to a previously useless corner? Buncha whiners in here.
Nope, I agree. A great use for this space.
Tell that to the sick and elderly. Air conditioning is a given elsewhere in the country with the same temperatures.
No, you’re not the only one. More housing is badly needed in Seattle. Most neighborhoods would fight against a building of this size for years. Rents are going to keep going up until we have enough housing or until the next recession halts Amazon’s hiring process.
?????? I grew up in Pittsburgh, which has way hotter and more humid weather and no-one I knew had air conditioning… that was something that people down south had. We had screens and opened our windows to cool off… Out here air conditioning seems completely unnecessary. The weather rarely gets uncomfortably warm, and when it does it is usually only for a few days and it nearly always cools off considerably at night. A fan is all I’ve ever wanted or needed, even to sleep.
Really? I barely even use a fan here in the summer. We do have days over 80 but they are rare.
Yesterday’s luxuries are today’s essentials, apparently. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/seattle-renters-get-more-air-conditioning-as-landlords-launch-amenities-arms-race/. But I find it interesting that when people complain that replacing old buildings with newer ones increases rents, they usually forget to mention all the ways that the new building is nicer than the old one (such as AC, in-unit washer/dryer, better safety due to increasingly demanding building codes, faster elevators, etc.). It’s kindof apples and oranges.
It’s important to remember that Old Seattle is still a bastion of climate change denial and ethnic exceptionalism. For reference, see this article from last summer in which local curmudgeon Knute Berger whines about how Scandinavian spirit is more useful than air conditioning, which wasn’t needed before and will not be needed in the future because the climate is not changing. https://crosscut.com/2017/05/seattle-air-conditioning-heat-wave-hot-boohoo
Ethic exceptionalism? Give me a break. Boo hoo I cant get a job (or whatever your beef with the world is) because I’m (insert your ethnicity or religion here)
Go to School Get good grades Work hard. You’ll be fine
Stop being a victim Life is not fair. No one is going to hand you life on a platter. In real life not everyone is a “winner” or going to succeed or be rich
All things your parents should have taught you
I call them the victimization generation.
Woweee… you do like to twist things around eh? or did you just not read what you are attempting to paraphrase….. He actually does talk about climate change in the article and *far* from saying there will be no need in the future for because the climate is not changing he says it will simply likely take 70 years for the summer temperatures here to rise to Houston like conditions…
“Since the 1970s, our average June-September temps have only increased by about 1.5 degrees, from 60.5 F to 62 F, though he admits 2015 was an unusually hot year. Our summers are also low in humidity.
Still, our summers were generally hotter in the 1950s and ’60s when we went old school without A/C.
As to warming, he says A/C likely won’t be needed here until perhaps the 2090s— 70 years from now!”
There is a relatively new way to have AC…..a ductless “heat pump.” I installed one of these a few years ago in my little home, and it provides heat over the fall/winter/early spring months, and AC on those warm days in the summer. It’s quite energy-efficient, and I sleep better as a result!
the “Air Conditioning” of today is nothing like that of the past. 30 years ago it was much more expensive, and today, AC is more likely just the tails side of an air source heat pump that is efficiently providing heating.
@johnwhittiertreat you approved this, unless you made your voice heard during the design review process. If you didn’t make your voice heard, you gave away your input to the building designers (via less opposition/influence from the community). If the design of buildings in your city is important, I hope you’ll join me at future design review meetings, all open to the public. If you’re too busy, at a minimum please submit your comments officially to the building designer/developer instead of the vacuum that is internet comments… nobody will hear you here.
I would love to see a Whole Foods on Capital Hill as an alternative to shopping at QFC (Kroger s) which doesn’t cater to vegetarians/vegans in their hot food deli unless you consider Mac & cheese and jojo potatoes great eating