“Buildings of Similar Height, Size of Site, or Unit Density”
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A group of two and three story buildings will make way for a seven-story mixed use project at 1661 E Olive Way under a development proposal set to come before the East Design Review Board this week.
CHS reported earlier this year as rumblings restarted after a massive 2019 real estate deal with Vancouver, Canada-based real estate investment and management company Low Tide Properties paying $21 million for the collection of commercial buildings including the former Fred Wildlife events space.
The four existing buildings span the block between Boylston and Belmont on the south side of Olive. The project area is currently occupied by the former Coldwell Banker building which fronts on Olive. It stretches along Boylston/Belmont to include the low-slung office/warehouse buildings and also includes the existing parking lot.
1661 E Olive Way
Design Review Early Design Guidance for a 7-story, 160-unit apartment building, with retail. Parking for 110 vehicles proposed. View Design Proposal (7 MB)
EDG–Early Design Guidance
Project Number
In its place will rise a seven-story building with about 160 apartments and 2,400 square feet of ground level commercial space. The plan also calls for about 110 underground parking spots, an unusually high number for the neighborhood, doubly unusual for a building two blocks from the light rail station. The number of parking stalls has already drawn a public comment saying as much, and suggesting removing some of the stalls.
The project’s architect is Seattle’s MG2.
The developer has proposed three options for the building. All three plans call for the commercial space to front Olive Way, along with access to the residential lobby, although the lobby configuration differs in the different approaches. Plans for all three call for parking access off Belmont, as the steep hill on the site makes access off Boylston unfeasible.
The plans all call for a residential amenity on the second floor and a roof deck, though the placement of the deck varies.
Each of the three options also calls for some ground floor units with entries directly off Belmont Avenue, rather than going through the lobby. Ground floor units such as this sometimes draw criticism, since they can end up doing little to enliven the streetscape. Often, people who live in them simply draw their blinds, creating what amounts to a large blank wall. The developers seem to acknowledge this, as they spend a page of the proposal explaining that there are a number of other such buildings in the vicinity. They argue that their take on the units will give a chance for some interesting landscaping and a design that will allow for both privacy for the residents while also “activating the pedestrian streetscape.”
The developer’s preferred option of the three would be a long, rectangular building with three large cubes expanding outward, breaking up the massing. Balconies would be set backwards into these cubes. Each of the three would be “lifted and rotated” off the main axis of the building to add visual interest. The façade along Olive would have its cube jutting out at an angle to match the curve of the road there. Since the area is lifted, it would create space for a small open area of sidewalk in front of the building. This option would allow for 160 apartments. It would require permission to encroach into mandated setbacks.
A second option calls for the rectangle to be broken up by a series of four bays which would create articulation along Belmont and Boylston. It would be bookended by a pair of C-shaped bays wrapping around the corners both along Olive, and along the rear façade of the building. The developers say this option still makes the building seem like a large single mass. The version would generate 163 units. It would also require permission to encroach into the mandated setbacks.
The third option would be completely compliant with Seattle building codes. There would be a large generally rectangular building, with a central vertical strip to break up the mass. The corner facing Olive and Belmont would be cut off, to help the building shape match the curve of the road. The top two floors would be recessed to comply with building codes. This would result in the fewest units, with 146 apartments.
The project is still in the early design guidance phase, so there’s no firm plans yet for materials, colors or landscaping.
The project is part of a ripple of redevelopment and real estate activity along the curves of E Olive Way. CHS reported here on the plans for a new eight-story mixed use project being readied for the All Season Cleaners property just below Broadway. Meanwhile, across the street from the project heading to design review this week, the former Gaybucks E Olive Way Starbucks is searching for a tenant while eventual plans for a new mixed-use development on that wedge of land lurk in the background.
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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.
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So they’re building a Jawa sandcrawler on Capitol Hill? WTAF?
For whatever it’s worth, it looks like Starbucks’ closure of its Broadway/Denny store might be temporary. A note to that effect is posted on the door and most of the signage remains in place, which is unusual for Starbucks (the company is well-known for the speed with which it typically removes every shred of its trade when a store really does close for good — see the Olive Way shell for comparison).
I know “Temporarily Closed — Back Soon” signs are sometimes deployed by failed businesses to try to buy a little time before their creditors start freaking out, but I can’t think of any reason why a megacorp like Starbucks would feel the need to pull such a stunt. At the very least they seem to be keeping their options open.
CKathes, the signs now say PERMANENT….pen and ink correction to the “temporary” signs.
Another cultural space being replaced with a hardiboard box with the proportions of an eight-story loaf of bread with an abysmal streetscape. It looks very profitable.
Yeah that vacant grey box that used to be Coldwell Banker and its parking lot are definitely super value cultural space. What a loss.
That Coldwell Banker office had hilarious sandwich board signs on the sidewalk. Their split level building that was slightly set back from the street nicely broke up the boxy street scape on my daily walks there.
More housing is good but I guess one person’s vacant grey box is another person’s super value cultural space (& I’m so stealing that name for a music or arts venue hahaha)
I’m surprised the planning committee wants the developer to build less parking…There’s already such a shortage of parking on Capitol Hill I would welcome more parking spots.
I recently saw plans for the new Building at 123 Bellvue with 150 new units and 3 parking spaces…It’s naive to think people won’t own cars in Seattle. All new buildings should include adequate parking.