A new project planned for the 600 block of 13th Ave E will continue the area’s transition away from most of its remaining single family-style housing. This week, the project takes its first bow in front of the East Design Review Board.
Under the project, three adjacent 120(ish)-year-old houses and a detached garage on 13th between E Mercer and E Roy will be torn down. In their place will rise a four-story, 50-foot tall building with about 36 apartments, a trade officials in the housing squeezed city say is necessary for Seattle to address ongoing affordability and homelessness crises.
The developer, Leschi Lakeside Property Management, working with Kirkland-based Milbrandt architects, are proposing the usual three options for how the building might be shaped. As this meeting is the early design guidance phase, most details are focused on the basic massing and layout of the planned development.
All three proposals call for parking access roughly in the middle of the building, and therefore, mid-block, which is less than ideal, but really the only option. All three are roughly rectangular in shape. There are plans to plant new trees along western edge of the property – the back of the building – to give the existing neighbors more privacy.
611 13th Ave E
Design Review Early Guidance for a 4-story, 36-unit apartment building. Parking for 12 vehicles proposed. View Design Proposal (14 MB)
EDG–Early Design Guidance
Allison Whitworth
The first option is a pretty by-the-book apartment building. There would be a long façade along 13th, peppered with some balconies. There would also be a private deck for some fourth floor residents. The developers say this presents a massing with a more modern form, which would contrast with the existing buildings in the area. It also ends up pushing the building to the north a bit. It would allow space for 37 apartments and 14 parking spots.
The second plan calls for a two-tiered building where the northern part is a bit lower in height. This better works with the heights of the surrounding neighborhood. However, this plan would also force the removal of the exceptional trees. The developers note that while the massing would be similar to a building across the street, this one would lack the historic character of that building. This plan would give a 38-unit building with 16 parking spots.
The third option is the developer’s preferred option. This one will preserve the trees, and present a massing that’s more in keeping with the neighborhood. This one also has a bit of design flourish with a pair of large concentric circles framing the building entrance and vehicle entrance. It also has a private terrace for some residents, and balconies for others.
The setbacks are larger than required by code, in a way that might allow for some more robust landscaping along 13th. In particular, there would be some raised planters, along with seat walls and space for bike parking. This option requires not departures from the zoning codes, which is really pretty unusual for a preferred option.
Early concept art of option three calls for the façade to be largely brick, with a vertical strip of concrete board to provide an accent. This option would result in 36 units and 12 parking spaces.
The proposal calls for about 12 parking spots. It notes that during a community outreach meeting in November 2022, some neighbors had been concerned about the lack of parking, as street parking in the area is already tight.
The property is also home to two exceptional trees, both of which may be preserved in the new development. It is also home to nine significant trees (meaning, in oversimplified terms, that they’re big trees, but not super-big trees). Those will not be preserved. There are also five existing trees along the street which the developer hopes to preserve.
But those tradeoffs, too, are part of how the city is continuing to respond project by project to the demand for more and denser housing in its core neighborhoods like Capitol Hill.
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This actually looks like an interesting design, unlike most of the ugly boxes going up in Seattle these days. And kudos to the developers for including some parking, in consideration of the neighbors’ need for available street parking.
Complaints about new buildings and parking, gee I wonder how old this guy is.
Ageism!
> the ugly boxes going up in Seattle these days
I really like the current style.
Nobody is entitled to street parking.
Of course no one is entitled to street parking, but it is an amenity which ALL cities/towns provide, so Seattle is hardly unique. Many people depend on it when they come home from work after a long day, and many businesses (small and large) depend on it to help maintain their customer base.
Please set aside your anti-car ideology for a minute and consider the needs of your fellow citizens.
Lol please feel for the poor car owner.
Wow…just when you thought you’d seen it all. FLW’s Maiden Lane meets suburban inspired multi-family. As they rhyme in Germany:
“Wenn der Architekt nicht weiter weiß, malt er einen Kreis.”
Haha, indeed so. Circle mania is definitely an architect-cutesy thing.
Don’t know how they’ll make this project pencil out, but good luck to them.
I like the use of brick and the interesting circular entrance! I love the Maryland building and this could be a great addition to the block.
I commend them for trying to weave in interesting design elements but I kind of recoil when looking at the oversize circles in the preferred design. It brings back the cringey proportions of 1990’s postmodernism. I do appreciate their care to preserve the older trees on these sites and observe some restraint in the setbacks as the neighborhood transitions zones right here, as well as add outdoor community spaces and nicer materiality.
My vote would be to tone down the wackiness of the preferred design and also incorporate the height transition of 5 to 4 stories as shown on one of the other options. They’re already doing a lot to soften the jarring mass of this building and I think that is the right fit for this transitional block. It’s a great block and hopefully this project can add something interesting here.
This Just another Sad Story to this Block – Just one House over North – 2 – 125+Year Old Craftsman Bungalows were torn down for more Boxy Overpriced Townhomes – One had a Japanese Inspired Pagoda Style roof – when the Current got wind that there was an attempt to get historic status for the Structure – Cut off the Curved Tips of the Roof and Bulldozed them down – Now we have 3 Equally Storied Homes about to get bulldozed for development. I have nothing against development, or even Townhomes but wish we had a better perspective for historic preservation in this town…
..
https://www.capitolhillpast.org/single-post/2019/09/12/historic-japonesque-bungalow-stripped-of-its-defining-features
And How Quickly We Forget – 20+ Years Ago – One of the House was facing the Bulldozer and The Community Reacted a lot differently then
https://www.thestranger.com/news/1999/06/10/1196/historical-materialism
“The setbacks are larger than required by code, in a way that might allow for some more robust landscaping along 13th.”
The existing street trees are some of the largest left on the Hill, so already pretty robust. The huge copper beech at the south edge of the south parcel has a circumference of over 14 feet. They should be protected.