From the CHS Facebook Group
On Capitol Hill, history repeats.
At Broadway and Pine, passersby are learning one of the cold, hard facts of the neighborhood’s historical conservation incentives: Not much is preserved when Pike/Pine preservation projects dig in.
The start of construction on the Broadway Center for Youth affordable housing and job training center has included a brutal round of demolition that is tearing down every last shred of the Booth Building that has stood at the corner since 1906.
The center’s development has been described as an adaptive reuse project and the development is utilizing the Pike/Pine Conservation District’s incentive program to build an extra story of housing in the eight-story project.
So, what happened to the preservation?
Developer Community Roots Housing says to wait for it — the development is set to echo past neighborhood preservation projects by rebuilding the historic structure.
A rendering of the planned rebuild of the Booth Building
E Pine’s historical elements are also being echoed in the design
A Community Roots Housing spokesperson says both the Booth Building and the neighboring E.H. Hamlin structure along E Pine will be rebuilt “in the style of their original architecture, preserving neighborhood character while creating new space for critical housing and services.”
According to the developer, the Booth building exterior was found to contain asbestos. Community Roots says it initially explored preserving and rehabilitating the existing building, “but further investigation ultimately determined this was not a viable path forward.”
The architecture of the new buildings including the YouthCare job training center and the eight-story Community Roots Housing affordable apartment building “has been designed in the style of the original buildings,” the spokesperson said.
CHS reported here on the plans for the new center and YouthCare’s planned services.
The shifts in plans for the Broadway Youth Center echo past preservation projects on nearby blocks. CHS reported here in 2013 on the painstaking process that involved taking a historic building down and then rebuilding it brick by brick at 10th and Union for the mixed-use Infinity Apartments project that stands at the corner today.
Even when construction crews aren’t tearing the whole thing down first, the preservation efforts involved under the conservation district can sometimes look comically thin.
CHS reported on the strange experience of neighbors watching the projects first-hand in 2014 — Not much preserved when Pike/Pine preservation projects dig in, was the headline.
A dozen or so development projects have used the conservation district’s incentive program since they were implemented in 2009 with three rising along E Pike. While the incentives have been tweaked over time, the conservation rules are based on a straightforward premise: Developers get potentially lucrative extra height and bulk bonuses for saving building facades or character structures in their projects. For preservation-minded developers, the incentives have made saving some of Capitol Hill’s auto-row past a feasible business decision.
The city code spells out very little specifics of what it means to preserve a “character structure” — though it does spell out what a character structure is:
Character structure” means a structure on a lot within the
boundaries of the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District that has been in existence for at least 75 years, thereby contributing to the established scale, development pattern, and architectural character of the area.
The requirements for qualifying for height and size bonuses for preserving character building elements are fuzzier, requiring the portion of the structure retained to be “sufficient to give the appearance of a free-standing building” and “all street facing facades of the character structure are retained.”
A consequence of the program has been a handful of Capitol Hill mega-developments that sprawl entire blocks. Pike Motorworks is the largest development to take advantage of the preservation incentives. It was also the most complicated.
ANOTHER DEMOLITION: Another tear-down is underway at E Olive Way and Denny — CHS reported here on the “emergency conditions” from the crumbling facade of the Olive Way Improvement Company building as the property inches forward toward a planned mixed-use redevelopment
The brick-laden, semi-circle entrance to the former BMW dealership is one of the most recognizable features of Capitol Hill’s auto-row buildings. Developers saved the single character structure between Boylston and Harvard in return for adding entrance height bonuses across the jigsaw-shaped project. While height bonuses are supposed to be tied to the site of the retained structure, the East Design Review Board allowed developers to spread a third of their height bonus to other structures. The code departure also allowed for the a public courtyard that cuts through the middle of the block.
Other preservation-boosted projects are permitted but haven’t moved forward. Construction on one is wrapping up at Harvard and Union where a mixed-use and adaptive reuse project is fusing the landmarked Knights of Columbus building with new apartments.
The preservation elements at Community Roots Housing’s Pride Place senior housing and services development are making homes for a new generation of food and drink tenants along Broadway between Pike and Pine.
Denied landmarks protections in a decision made during the height of the pandemic, the Booth Building and its little neighbor on E Pine are now destined to rise again in new forms. But, for now, the neighborhood around Broadway and Pine will need to get used to not seeing them for the first time in 119 years.
HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
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i don’t get it – why did we limit the height on the corner if we weren’t going to keep the old building? that could have been 50 more housing units
Read the article…the Booth building will be rebuilt – same massing, same height.
yeah but then it’s not the landmarked building…it’s a replica. why did we need a replica of this building that had no particular thing about it that was noteworthy?
It’s better than a box…Which is what ya normally get due to budgets and the unwillingness for taxpayers to build fancy apartments that are affordable.
eh, i like boxes just fine
Yeah, I live in a box. My apartment is the corner one. It’s stunning.
What should have gone is that ghastly gas station and this center should have never moved in there.
I’d much rather have young professionals live in the area, and have more restaurant and bar space underneath.
Can’t believe some of the stupid decisions our city continues to make
That gas station is soo horrendous in that location. Could the city just kick out a business like that? I would guess not
It could be designated as a nuisance for supporting so much violence.
They charge tax on food and won’t accept SNAP because if it is food? SNAP pays no taxes. On beverages too, no tax. I bet they have bilked millions in taxes from us the tax payers.
They probably can’t accept SNAP because to be eligible a store has to carry a certain percentage of items considered healthy. A gas station C-store, heavy on chips, cookies, soda and so forth, is unlikely to meet that standard. But they shouldn’t be collecting tax on anything edible except ready-to-eat prepared food such as hot dogs.
I hear ya. Just one problem. Every other retail store does. Like 7/11. I have never heard of the “healthy food qualification”.
They charge tax on food.
And what do you think is going to happen when we start compounding the problem by putting troubled youth in this setting?
We need to disconnect them from areas where there are more, not less, opportunities to fail daily.
You mean fit for a certain “type”?
Yea – Maybe it’s my personal taste when it comes to urban aesthetic architecture but not a fan of the lifeless landscaping and concrete, harsh fluorescent lighting, the 76 logo, fuel tanks, oil spills.
E15 commenting with another dogwistle.
dogwistle = admission of guilt/shame
This project was billed for years as an adaptive reuse project. Community Roots Housing and other project backers (Frank Chopp, Youthcare, former Seattle city council) used that as cover to advance a homeless service facility equidistant between the two largest concentrations of drug dealers, drug dealer related shootings, and drug addicts (Broadway and Pike, Nagle by the Cal Anderson Basketball courts) on Capitol Hill. What could possibly go wrong? Why was the public not informed that the building was going to be demolished rather than integrated? What are the consequences for the lies and deception? The neighborhood deserves some answers.
You say all that like it’s supposed to be a bad thing, but putting a homeless service center in a neighborhood which has a lot of homeless people just sounds like good practical sense to me.
He said drug dealers and shootings and addicts are all around this center built for homeless teens and you’re like, makes sense
drug dealers and adicts are everywhere.
You do not understand.
Covid is over. We are coming back slowly but surely. It’s nothing like it was. Not even close.
I’m just repeating the conversation to demonstrate the willful blindness to a particular challenge of this location. Drug dealers and addicts are not evenly distributed and this area is one a handful of SODA zones in the city.
right…and SODA will migrate them to somewhere else.
Of course it makes sense, because that is also where the homeless teens are. Putting the building somewhere else wouldn’t make the homeless teens move somewhere else, it’d just make them less likely to take advantage of its services – what a waste that would be.
You’d simply be helping them somewhere else. Yet they will argue to the death to put it somewhere else.
No. You leave crumbs, you get rats. Capitol Hill already has plenty of rats.
“rats”?
Hmmm…How about humans?
Just makes it more of a magnet.
Seems like that would make it easier for law enforcement if all the criminal elements were in a 1-2 block radius. I’d rather that than having dozens of small pockets of crime over a wider area.
YES! that’s the whole point. *head desk*
Consequences? This is Seattle.
Didn’t handle the height of the bus stops correctly for the new Madison RapidRide to work for wheelchair users? No consequences.
Didn’t install the tracks correctly on I-90 for the light rail extension to the eastside? No consequences.
Even small things, like never filling potholes on arterials, let alone side streets…no consequences.
The only thing you listed that is under the purview of the City of Seattle was the potholes on arterials. Everything else is either county or regional agencies.
“Didn’t handle the height of the bus stops correctly for the new Madison RapidRide to work for wheelchair users? No consequences.”
What are you babbling about?
“consequences”…Okay…Give me a couple examples of the proper “consequences” for such things please? I am not following you.
“What are you babbling about?”
Your instinctually dismissiveness regularly results in blindspots. He’s talking about SDOT engineers missing something big on the Rapidride. Look it up. Really tired of you pushing back on everyone that doesn’t talk like they are stuck in 2018.
“Consequences”…What are they? What should they be?
I was not talking to you and you didn’t answer my question.
If you want to be critical? At least have a point. I know ALL about the little bumps not being accounted for.
SO? WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES? YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE OTHER PERSON WAS THINKING!
But you do you mind reader.
It’s a land developer hiding behind a c(301)
What is a c(301)?
Community Roots is a Public Development Authority, a public corporation, created by and given oversight by the city (mayor appoints some of the board members and council approves all board members).
I’m dyslexic…for real…(301)c is what it is.
I know what CRH is.
Out of the 15 board members, the mayor appoints three. I recently attended a board meeting. Their charter also requires a resident on the council. The resident couldn’t even get a simple proposal seconded, and was shut out of the process. She didn’t get the materials needed. The organization suggests to the mayor those who need to be added.
There’s a lot afoot here. Tenant reactions to them in 50 locations is horrific. You can check yourself. They keep building more and more apartment buildings. The city and public pay for the building and then they own and manage it.
After a certain number of years, they can all become market priced apartments. There are multiple nested corporations involved and hard to understand tax statements and public records. It seems to me, they are going to own billions of dollars of land and buildings and jack up the rates. And they paid noting for the building or land.
Someone needs to do an investigation. They have this wonderful reputation for providing housing for moderate income people and solving one of our biggest problems. The deal is they get to do that for 20 years then become one of the biggest causes of our housing crisis.
Does anyone know a good investigative reporter. There is a Pullitzer waiting for someone.
You may not have to wait long ;O)
Thanks for those details, do you have any evidence for the 20 year thing, I haven’t seen that, but I know it’s a common pro-developer tactic. The majority of the Yesler Terrace land is now buildings that have some affordable units that are only temporary.
This is what I like about the Social Housing developer, rather than nested LLCs it has nested boards with significant amount of positions for renters.
“The majority of the Yesler Terrace land is now buildings that have some affordable units that are only temporary.”
Blatantly untrue. Source please.
“SHA’s ultimate goal, with private partners, is to replace the 80-year-old low-rise buildings, originally with about 561 units, with 5,000 apartments. Some of the new affordable units will sunset back to market-rate after 20 years, under terms of the city’s multifamily tax exemption program (MFTE), so about 3,200 units will end up being market-rate”
They are replacing those 561 original permanent low-income units with a single highrise building, and then Vulcan is building three massive buildings on land it now owns with views of the sound, downtown, and both mountains that can be market rate in two decades.
It seems a shame to have to trade the land for such a short term gain, but 20 years is I believe the standard for the Multi-family Tax Exemption program…
https://www.exxelpacific.com/on-the-block-at-yesler-terrace-new-construction-is-in-full-swing/
561 low income units become 1800 permanent low income units – what in the world is the complaint?
Actually I was reading some more and it looks like the other units are all only guaranteed for 50 years, pretty solid, but not permanent, essentially most units could be market rate within a generation or two.
My main point still stands, the most valuable asset, the land, is now in the hands of private developers, while those 3x affordable units are on a smaller fraction of the space, and many are temporary. Part of that is some awesome looking park space and some community and commercial space. I think it will be a game changer for Yesler, and the community there has been pretty engaged in helping to guide interests, but it’s hard to say what this all looks like when those commitments end and we still need affordable housing.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2017/05/05/yesler-terrace/
They way it works is there’s more below market rent apartments. Say…4 out of 50. Plus, another 12. They have to rent at the lower market rate for however long. The lower rate apartments are super nice corner on the 4th floor to in the hallway with 3 sets of windows. It can’t all be the worst apartments in the building.
Then?
After so many years. The 4 apartments become market rate. At which point all the market rate apartments contribute to the lower rate housing. I probably have it screwed up. But the point is to self sustain low income housing.
“Out of the 15 board members, the mayor appoints three. I recently attended a board meeting. Their charter also requires a resident on the council. The resident couldn’t even get a simple proposal seconded, and was shut out of the process. She didn’t get the materials needed. The organization suggests to the mayor those who need to be added.”
Is the resident rep Saunatina Sanchez? If so? She’s not even close to qualified for that job. She runs around getting merit badges and never actually “does” anything of note. If, there’s anything done at all.
I do not know who else there is for that spot. But I feel for the residents if it’s as you say it is. Saunatina will change nothing. It will only stay the same.
Relax, read the article and look at the renderings of the proposed project…no lies or deceptions to be found here…
My immediate thoughts were similar – the neighborhood is already plagued by homeless, addicts, and all the pleasantries that come along with it…bringing yet another ‘low entry/barrier/income/’affordable” project to that area will certainly help. Build these in Magnolia.
The homeless people “plaguing” the neighborhood are the people this project is meant to help. What would be the point of building it somewhere far away instead?
They will be housing young people coming from (I forget the term) when they live in one private. home after another. It is needed, but does placing them in one of the highest drug areas in the city make good sense?
(I forget the term)
Foster Care and halfway homes.
The location was entirely about political patronage, it was about delivering jobs and money that senior elected officials can make good on. Frank Chopp is gone, so don’t expect to see more of this.
All of the money that went to the group he started, Low-Income Housing Institute? We won’t be seeing that again.
The Booth of Theseus.
Simulation Seattle.
wonderful reference
Maybe, but one which few people (including myself) would understand.
I had seen the images in their promotional materials and now feel quite misled.
it’s not a timeshare. do we leave it a empty space then? I mean? It had fleas.
The only think that’s empty is your ability to imagine
Gee John…Seems personal. Not sure why. But you but into conversations to troll and not a thing else.
Good that they left a building slowly decaying with asbestos in the middle of a hugely dense area. Very little of that material can cause cancer about 40 years later. Doesn’t appear that much precaution is being taken during demolition either…
Do you intend to go play in it?
Also? They hauled it off in a big ‘ol trailer…Several of them. There’s no dust ot anything.
Asbestos can be hard to see and remain airborne for quite a while. It’s really not something to mess around with!
No doubt!
I’ll give you a couple examples as opposed to particulate data.
My father in law was a mechanic. Asbestos breaks, petroleum etc.Mechanics were not dropping like flies. The ciggies they smoke did more damage.
They’ve torn down 100’s of thousands of asbestos filled buildings. They’ve studied this stuff. The way they did it was safe.
I was watching them for 3 days. The dust was near zero. You couldn’t see dust but for a tiny puff here or there on the initial tearing of the material (Bricks, drywall etc.) And even that was rare. It was amazingly dust free. I too was a little concerned. Not from the asbestos dust. I had no idea. But just dust in general getting everywhere. It didn’t happen even a little bit. I was impressed.
I’ve worked on expert reports for asbestos litigation, the literature is rife with corporate funded studies to minimize the amount and impact of asbestos.
I recall this response from some researchers to a particularly egregious article being a good read on the topic:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/10408444.2011.651011#d1e174
100% am aware. All I am saying is what’s there is not an issue.
They do not walk away. I mean…The sky is not falling on that corner. it just isn’t. If they were leaving it there? THEN I’d be worried. But the building is going to be completely rebuilt sans nasty stuff.
Whatever the data? They were well under that bar.
So now instead of facadomy we’re doing new builds meant to look like facadomy? Seattle is so weird lol.
Wait-what… it’s full of asbestos, but they are being allowed to just demolish it with a big crane and a little water!
That’s how you do it.
Wetting it is the absolute **minimum** that should be done.. and from what I can see the asbestos containing materials are supposed to be removed before any demolition happens.
I here you…I am not sure why that did not happen. All I know it they hauled it away.
I just thought of this…Water draining into where? Right?
Where’s the water going?
Too late now, but the expeditious demolition of a rare historic gem and construction of an ersatz version in modern materials runs against every historic preservation guideline in the discipline. This is Disney’esque from top to bottom and brutally disingenuous. Is everyone seeing that giant dumb Weinstein black box in the background? Another DOA project on the Hill. Turning old-growth lumber into landfill waste and dumping the carbon footprint of all those bricks is a total lazy waste. C’mon Community Roots, please start making better decisions for urban Seattle. It is not enough to build boxes for warehousing human beings in drywall cubes. Please work harder to find grants to make better buildings and something besides the cheapest methods available and aluminum storefront windows. Ughh
Community Roots is a disaster zone. They can’t even maintain their existing buildings. There newest building had a critical component for the HVAC system sitting uninstalled for a month because the person in charge had no clue it was already delivered! Imagine running your own household like this!
I wouldn’t expect a single competent decision from them anytime soon. This is all first hand accounts from a long time employee that I’m good friends with.
Well Tiffany, good news!
You may not have to wait long for a sudden quake at CRH.
They should be required to rebuild it with brick and stucco not fucking hardiboard.
You do know how expensive that is right
They actually separated the bricks/cement. The steel beams. It looks like they are going to salvage some of this stuff.
“Please work harder to find grants to make better buildings and something besides the cheapest methods available”
They do. It’s just that the tax payers want cheap. Plus 308 million dollars was stolen from Jump Start. At what point does trying harder fix that? We found the revenue and it was taken w/o the voters permission.
the council is elected by voters last time i checked
riiiight…You square that circle. Making sense doesn’t seem to matter. The voters? They voted for progressive revenue. NOT a slush fund.
then they voted for people clearly not aligned with “progressive” revenue…elections have consequences and that is how permission to change is given. no one stole anything.
Your point ios you don’t give a fuck. Because you got your way. HOW matters not.
MAGA tactics. Housing and green energy is not Cops and raises for cops and Saka’s 2 million dollar left turn lane.
“I can fix it! My Dad is a TV repairman. He has an awesome set of tools”
pretty weird and pointless compromise to accept a replica facade as any kind of historic accommodation. if the original had to go, let it go and put something in there that fits the space (and if it has nods to the old building, awesome). Of course most developers can’t be trusted to do even this well.
I also agree that it’s bizarre to have that gas station and a large parking lot on this block as people fight over every square inch. same as the bait shop situation. i guess the owners of said lots and the station are just watching the price rise and will sell when they are good and ready.
Gas stations sites are often challenging to develop due to environmental issues caused by leaky underground storage tanks. Can be done, see Hilltop on 15th, but not as easily and profitably as some here might assume.
People need to chill. The intent was to save and reuse the old buildings but they were full of asbestos. So they had to demo. I’m glad the new buildings will still look like the old ones. They looked nice and the new versions of them will look nice too, and will be a nice addition to the neighborhood.
housing for people > looks nice to dave
Me too…Why is it NOT a good thing? Housing is at a crisis level.
That sounds wonderful. IF so, they just exposed thousands to lung cancer. The asbestos will be all over Cal Anderson Park and every building nearby. They wouldn’t have done that if there were really asbestos.
Lies can sound good.
Dawn, that’s not how it works.
This was a unique building that should never have been allowed to be knocked down. At the very least the facade should have been saved.
Asbestos my foot. If the building had asbestos, they ignored every single safety law, and those who live and work nearby now have lungs full of this.
If there is Asbestos, throw Community Roots and the demolition company in Jail. They are CAUSING hundreds of cases of Mesothelioma.
I don’t know which is worse, but CRH does whatever they want with no oversight. They have become the new Seattle slumlord and no one is willing to demand that they do the right thing.
Maybe a tad overdramatic!? Are you an abatement specialist and followed exactly what they did and didn’t do over the course of the demo? Also, please elaborate on your intimate knowledge about CRH’s practices and supposed shortcomings instead of just throwing around wild claims and presenting them as “facts”…..
They are slumlords. They were my landlords for 8 years. Every single year was horrific. Rodents, building not maintained, unsafe conditions, rotting walls. I am not the only one with this experience and if you look online at reviews for them it is bad. This is a recent situation but there have been many more. They lie to journalists and journalists often repeat their lies unchecked. There are several articles about their issues with rodent infestations. The director pretended he was unaware. Blatant lie. Below is a recent article where they did nothing until a lawyer and Jesse Jones got involved. It really doesn’t take much to uncover some of the atrocities of this organization.
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/jesse-jones-tenants-left-high-dry-by-landlords-after-sewer-water-floods-apartments/SZHF466CNJDP3O2AHEZ5E6XN5E/