Developers want to build on the vacant land at 6559 15th Ave NW, just across the street from the Ballard Pool.
The Department of Planning and Development has released information about an Early Design Guidance Meeting for the property. According to the DPD alert, “The proposal is for a four-story apartment building with live/work units and parking on the ground floor.”
The public meeting will be held on August 23rd at 6:30 p.m. in the Ballard High School library (1418 NW 65th St.)
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Make it a baseball field, or a bowling alley instead
does anyone know the current vacancy rate in ballard?
Oh give it a rest with the bowling alley already!
Want a bowling alley? Buy the property yourself. Then build a bowling alley. Problem solved.
Dear Anthony!
Please build me a bowling alley!! I want it!
that's funny coming from you, pho.
i'm willing to bet more people cared about when the Sunset Bowl closed and would love a new bowling alley than care about the missing link that you constantly whine about.
bowling alley bowling alley bowling alley bowling alley
Do you have any quantitative proof? I think your constant whining about the bowling alley is costing you support! I used it support a new bowling alley but after all these comments about it I've decided I would rather have a multi-use building with retail and below grade parking and condos!
the only proof I have is that all of my “upper-class, educated liberal” friends who live in ballard miss the sunset bowl. the same friends who know nothing about (read: don't care) about the missing link.
Methinks we have different definitions of “upper-class”
But I'm sure your friends miss it terribly and they sound well-versed on local issues to boot.
Yawn. You need to show up earlier, Pho. Here you are using my own arguments against a noble Michigan (alumni?) and I'm too worn out from all my troll feeding to keep doing it.
Bowling is awesome, though. I was once on a bowling team called The Semicolons of Death.
You've lived an amazing life Walter.
You're a bit of a snob, aren't you?
Is the vacant land a member of the Ballard Chamber? If it is then I will have to boycott the new apartments. Sorry, but every comment section must be hijacked for the bike trail fanatics.
Calling your bowling team “The Semicolons of Death” is about as snobby as it gets.
Very good point!
my friends are actually quite well-versed on local issues, it's just that the missing link isn't realy that important to them. they care more about the things that directly affect them and their children, like schools, crime, keeping community centers open, etc.
for the record, my friends include an owner of 3 hugely successful businesses in ballard which have made him quite affluent. and before you ask, they are not members of the BCoC. i've never asked why they're not, but i will next time i see him. and i'd bet my life savings it has nothing to do with the missing link or the lawsuit.
but keep making assumptions and claims for which you have no evidence to support. it's clearly what you do best.
thanks for your support, walter. however, i'm sorry to inform you that i am not a michigan alum. i'm actually a fan of the big blue that beat the 18-0 patriots in the super bowl.
Can you two please just get a room?
The problem with bowling alleys in the city seems to be that you can never find enough people willing to pay the lane rates required to make it worthwhile for a bowling alley owner. A bowling alley takes up a lot of expensive space, and the numbers just don't seem to work out in high-demand areas such as Ballard.
I can't say that I've noticed this lot before. But after looking at the photo I have to say that I wish whoever owns the eye-sore lots along 15th as well as Market would get moving. You know, those ones surrounded by temporary fences to keep the unsavory types out; the ones with litter strewn about; the ones with the broken rubble that makes them look like a no-mans land; the ones that no matter how people try to pretty them up with “art” on a fence still look like shit. The lot in this photo at least has some greenery, making it look nicer, which is probably why I haven't noticed it.
On an average weekend night there was always a wait of at least 45 minutes for a lane at the Sunset Bowl or Leilani Lanes, so I'd say there were plenty of people “willing to pay the lane rates”. As I was never employed at either of these bowling alley's, I can't say for sure whether they were profitable, but it sure seemed like they were doing just fine financially.
Well gob then do as pho says and buy the land and build. No one is stopping you.
It doesn't matter how long people were waiting on a weeknight to bowl…if the rate they were paying didn't make it worthwhile for the owner. If bowling alleys are so profitable, why do they keep on getting turned into something else? There's certainly a lot of people who like to bowl, but if they're only willing to bowl at below market prices, then alleys will continue to close.
Not to detract from some of the great arguments here, but I think I'll miss that little patch 'o green along 15th. It's such a refreshing break from building…building…building…building…
Oh give it a rest with the trail already!
Want a trail ? Buy the property yourself. Then build a Trail link .
Problem solved.
Donate the missing link to the city or whatever.
Go back to New York.
Thank you.
The Sunset was making good money. Very good money. The owners were tempted by the lump sum of selling the land vs the steady income over the long haul. They bought that place cheap way back when the land wasn't worth that much and now that the value went up it penciled out to just sell out for the one time payment instead of keeping a bowling alley going.
The sad part about it is a lot harder to buy/rent very expensive land and build a bowling alley in Ballard today, and make it profitable than it was a few decades ago. So, we won't get a bowling alley here.
That's the downside to this development boom, make a place desirable with fun things and a cool vibe and the development will capitalize on those things at the same time that it destroys them.
wow, that's original.
i guess i'll just take my money and my tax dollars with me then.
did you know that the CEOs of two of the biggest companies (read: employers) in this town also came here from New York?
Should they go back as well? Maybe they can take all the jobs they created with them?
grow up.
i actually have no interest in owning a bowling alley. i never said or implied i did.
but if someone else were to build one, i would take my kids there like i took them to the sunset bowl. so would all my friends.