Yikes! The traffic along Shilshole Ave. is bad enough now. I'm a bike commuter and this is the worst stretch of my ride to/from downtown. The idiot bar crowd on Thursday and Friday evenings makes for very, very dangerous riding. I'm hoping the City will go ahead with the Burke-Gilman Trail extension as part of this development effort.

Rusty, you say they are getting rid of the ballard post office? Do you have more info? As far as the hotel goes, it is difficult to to tell what it actually will looke like from the small rendering. I know I have family come and they always stay downtown, it would be nice to have them close by.

Oh wow, an oversized Ramada Inn

Word up on the steakhouse GB. Someone get on the horn to Jak's Grill.

I also agree with you on the design bit. I'm no fan of the "welcome to my garage" style townhouse/condo that's going up, but there are nice buildings going in too.

So many people bitch and whine about the design of a lot of the new places sprouting up around our great neighborhood. To all of those that don't approve of this design, how would you make it better? It'd be great if you all could back up your argument w/legitimate and realistic ideas of how it could be better. Also, construction costs are VERY high these days. You also have to look at it from the developer's perspective too. Designing and working out a realistic project budget is no easy task.

I think this hotel will be a welcome addition to our neighborhood!! It's a great location thats within a stone's throw of downtown Ballard.

Now, regarding the vacant restaurant space - formerly known as the Yankee Diner...I think Ballard needs a good steakhouse.

I still can't believe they are going to get rid of the Ballard post office. That drew the line, now im looking for rent in Fremont.

FYI... the Yankee Dinner/Roaster whatever you want to call it will stay put and not be "replaced". The new land owners wanted to tear it down but because of new laws in place since the Yankee was built there can't be anything built that close to the water front. I think I read it was 200 feet or something. Anyway if they tore it down nothing could be put there so the new owners have to find a way to make do with it. I heard they will have a new restaurant there.

I just don't understand how people can be so critical of a design when all we have to go off is one artists sketch.

Not to mention that hotels the nation over all generally look the same, sans for towers in downtown districts.

But Joey, EVERYONE's opinion counts as intelligent criticism, as long as it's presented in a thoughtful and respectful manner...your's included. Your second post accomplished that, so kudos. Your fist one did not.

And since when do we judge good design simply on the criteria that it's "better" than what it replaces...in this case, an abandoned restaraunt. That's it?

This project has lofty aspirations for our 'hood, and this cut & paste design falls way short.

I am sorry boardbrown, but I will respond intelligently as soon as someone posts intelligent criticism.

Your (or anyone elses for that matter) OPINION does not exactly qualify as intelligent criticism.

The buildings being put up in Ballard today are 100 times better than the eyesores built in the 70s/80s (you know, the crappy 3 story apartment buildings with exposed parking facing the street) and its certainly better than a run down and abandon restaurant.

I take pride in the neighborhood too. The fact that so many people want to live and visit Ballard is a great source of pride.

Crying about condos and other non sense is not.

Hope this helps.

What's so bad about the design? It's hella better than a craptastic Holiday Inn, and theYankee Roaster. Yowsers!

Looking forward to the Grand Opening. Please let it be before my BF's nutty family comes to town again, so they won't be in my hair at 0'dark thirty...

canal cottages are where its at in terms of a place to stay in ballard. incredible little boathouses. granted, a hotel is sorely needed in the ballard area.

Joey, it's because most folks take pride in our neighborhood...old time residents and new ones too. Don't know about you, but I care an awful lot about what developers force me to look at with my two eyes. These guys are imposing their aesthetic (or lack thereof) on the public...a responsibility that should most definately be taken very seriously. It's too easy to dismiss these comments as whining. Don't take the easy road. Back it up with some intelligent input.

Jesus apparently you people will whine about anything.

Wahhh wahhh I like the old abandoned Yankee Grill rather than a new hotel building. Wahhhh wahhhh condos, er I mean Hotels, are ruining Old Ballard, wahhhh wahhhh wahhhh.

Bunch of effing babies in here.

A hotel in the neighborhood will be convenient and its been reported that there has been dialog and some agreement reached between the developers and the local industries along the canal and that some of the use will actually be dedicated to the nearby industries. Something similar has worked in Eastlake. We spent a night at the Silver Cloud Hotel on Fairview in Eastlake/SouthLakeUnion earlier this year. It is a multistory hotel sandwiched into a narrow lot between The Hutch on the south and working boatyards across the street, and has multistory views of Lake Union. It looks a bit pedestrian from outside, but its got a lot more design appeal going for it than this exterior drawing, which is boxy and lacking in thoughtful details. A more creative and interesting exterior design could still yield economies in building and allow for greatest maximum use of interior spaces. They do have to build to suit the lot and surrounding businesses and all the restrictions and special features of the site. They have to do this AND get the most value from their construction dollar. I don't think that means it needs to look quite so much like everything has been sacrificed to expediency. Good design attracts people and creates spaces in which they'd like to be. It also maintains or increases the values of neighboring properties. It also usually costs a lot more than this standard boxy stuff that goes up everywhere. It won't hurt to ask the developer to consider some thoughtful or creative redesign that will make the streetscape more appealing while still juggling costs and the other design needs of the project. In twenty to fifty years will it have become an eyesore for the community or something the neighborhood is proud to still have in its midst? Too bad its not a public building. . .could you imagine the ideas the community would generate if there were a contest to design a better looking exterior at a minimum price?

"Why are 4-5 colors and 3-4 textures on new buildings all the rage? Do these people have ADHD? A little bit of this, a splash of that. Just puke on an easel and call it art."

Hoorah! Someone finally articulated what I have been struggling to put into words. Why lime green and orange so much? Or ever for that matter?

It looks like Hjarta.

"For a while I’ve worried that some one would develop that property and then, when it’s noisy and dust gets on someone’s car, they will try to “clean up” the area."

Naa...I work between those two businesses and it's not that noisy and no dust to worry about. However, at 7:00am when the welding and sand blasting starts it can be loud at times....I think it was mentioned in the past that the hotel would use extra thick glass on the side facing the boat yard. That should do the trick.

I know when I have family stay from out of town they usually stay downtown which is ok but if a nice place in Ballard was available I know they would pick it every time. Time will tell...

I just hope that before ground breaking they figure out that they are right between a working shipyard and a cement plant, both in business for the better part of a century. For a while I've worried that some one would develop that property and then, when it's noisy and dust gets on someone's car, they will try to "clean up" the area.

The design (what we can see) really is just bland corporate architecture. The design review board should get on this at once to try to inject some Ballard character into that plain donut of a building.

This is much more mediocre that the other new buildings in ballard - probably because it is being designed by a corporate hotel architect. Some organized opposition seems appropriate.

Boy, imagine if they built a really fancy one, using world class architects and charging $600 a night per room. Then we could all sit around and whine about that.

Isn't life great?

I hope they do something about traffic flow - heading south on 24th to shilshoe is already a bad mix of people who don't know what LEFT TURN ONLY lane is, plus people who RACE to make sure the person in the far right lane NEVER gets in front of them etc. And lordy, just imagine trying to turn left out of the hotel parking lot at 3pm - 7pm.....

Why are 4-5 colors and 3-4 textures on new buildings all the rage? Do these people have ADHD? A little bit of this, a splash of that. Just puke on an easel and call it art.

Geez, it looks like all the other newer buildings around here. Not that there's anything terribly wrong with that because if the hotel biz doesn't work out it could easily become another tech office building. Having a potentially nice hotel out of the downtown area is a plus, although the road down there is already getting too congested and is in need of some repair work.

True, this hotel does look more utilitarian than it does inspirational. Is it supposed to be a 4/5 star? Probably not in Ballard... more like a 2 1/2 to 3 star location. Under $150/night, I hope.

Looks way better than the Yankee grill, and maybe the development will help improve the road quality and find some way to take advantage of the nice proximity to the Ship Canal.

Maybe someone should post a listing of nice Ballard B&Bs or boutique hotels... don't we have a few of those... maybe not? If not, there's money to be made!

Looks like a giant turd ball to me. Ballard could use a hotel sure, but this thing belongs at a nameless faceless interstate exit somewhere. I think we could do better. Given the "credit crunch" I doubt it even breaks ground, if it does I cannot wait for the traffic at 24th and Market.

I like it. It's not too modern and the brick will fit in with old Ballard. My inlaws visit us several times a year and will definitely be staying at this hotel. They'll love being able to walk to the farmer's market on Sunday morning when the kids and I are sleeping in.

It looks like it belongs on some desolate stretch of I-5 outside Redding. Blech.

I think Ballard could really use a hotel. And frankly, I'm glad that it doesn't look too fancy, hopefully the rates will be affordable.

for me, not having family have to stay downtown when they visit is something I am looking forward to. Sure, there are closer hotels, but lets think about the neighborhoods they are in.

I'll risk sounding like one of those long time Ballard whiners (which I really do try not do to!), but I gotta totally agree with boardbrown on this one, too. What a yawner! Now, I'm not architect like I think board is, but wow, I at least have some notion of what is interesting. To think of what this could have been...

I'm just wondering how a HOTEL is going to fare in Ballard. Seriously, a HOTEL.

Boring, and butt f-ing ugly. Looks like it'll fit right in.

For once it would be nice if these developers would open a real design magazine and see what the rest of the world is building on their juicy properties. They don't build shit like this!

Yes, but it looks "astonishingly" better than most of the buildings alond Shilshole Ave! I agree the design could have been better to make it unique but that stretch of road is an eye sore.

it looks astonishingly like all the bulk condos we've already got. What was it they used to say about John Foster D ... "Dull, duller, Dulles' "