A six-story building with 300 residential units, 453 parking spaces underground and more than 15,000 square feet of retail and seven live/work units is proposed for Market Street. If built, this will be Ballard’s largest development to date.
The project site is orange, the arrows represent the primary views from the site.
The site takes up the majority of the 2400 block of Market and five buildings will be torn down including the old Jacobsen’s Marine building (now Maritime’s) and the former Archie McPhee building.
Of the three concepts to be presented, this is the preferred concept.
On Monday evening at 6:30 in the Ballard High School library, the Design Review Board will meet with planners and present information about the site. The meeting is open to the public and the public will have the opportunity to offer comments. So far developers have not applied for any permits for this project.
You can see the entire presentation here (.pdf).
This area of Ballard needs another gargantuan condo building about as much as it needs another HIPSTER bar. (See what I did there, Gurple?)
Isn’t that the truth! Right now the condo vacancy rate for Ballard is 30 to 70 percent! When is this insanity going to stop?
The only thing I don’t like about the way the city has gone about density in Ballard is the lack of human scale involved in the buildings.
When the economy turns around.
Looks like another Old Ballard family, the Jacobsens, is selling out. THanks!
Um don’t you mean it will start up again when the economy turns around?
This has been coming and is the reason Archie McPhee’s lost its lease. The old man died and the rest of the family is cashing in. I agree, it is much too big. Why are these developers so interested in ruining Ballard anyway?
Will there be a bowling alley in the new development?
so, did the spirit gas station owner refuse to sell or what? it looks like they’re going to build around his place. must be a story there…another edith macefield?
+1
you beat me to the punch!
“I agree, it is much too big. ”
No doubt, any building higher than a craftsman gives this old Ballard hand a nose bleed.
all of you criticizing the owner for selling are full of bs. you would sell in a second if you owned that strip of land. go back to eating your mcdonalds.
I liked this comment, because I like McDonalds.
How do you define a “HIPSTER” bar, Buddy? Just who are these mythical “HIPSTERS”, anyway? What defines a “HIPSTER” to you, and how do they differ from their lowercase cousins?
You hipster.
It doesn’t even have design elements yet and it still looks better than the buildings up 15th. Those who think the new stuff sucks should take a gander at the pristine 70’s and 80’s architecture aging horrendously throughout the area. People will complain it looks like all the other buildings or it doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood…completely unaware of the contradiction. But at least they get to hear themselves talk!
It doesn’t even have design elements yet and it still looks better than the buildings up 15th. Those who think the new stuff sucks should take a gander at the pristine 70’s and 80’s architecture aging horrendously throughout the area. People will complain it looks like all the other buildings or it doesn’t fit in with the neighborhood…completely unaware of the contradiction. But at least they get to hear themselves talk!
Looks like the new owners aren’t content to just buy the Jacobsen property — they have to rub salt in the wound by including a “Jacobsen Legacy Element” shaped like a Vonnegut-style cat’s a**hole.
In all seriousness, I wonder what that proposed ‘element’ is… I don’t see any details in the pdf.
Looks like the new owners aren’t content to just buy the Jacobsen property — they have to rub salt in the wound by including a “Jacobsen Legacy Element” shaped like a Vonnegut-style cat’s a**hole.
In all seriousness, I wonder what that proposed ‘element’ is… I don’t see any details in the pdf.
Hey, wait a minute — the .pdf also has a very tall “Future Development” ghosted in one block north of this, on 24th. Does anybody know anything about that? That’s where BikeSport is, currently.
Bikesport is really the only thing that structure has going for it. I could see the developer/owner offering an enticing lease to Bikesport to get them to move into the ground floor of their new building. Then they could buyout and demolish the single-story business just south of Aster.
Once a gas station, always a gas station due to land contamination… :(
They are making a big deal out of the proposed development in hopes of selling the land. If they were really going to build the permits would have been pulled already. There’s a lot of this going on around Seattle right now.
I think every time I see this aweful monstrocity I’m going to have to go to the Sloop and drink until I can’t feel feelings…..
I asked him and he said they tried to buy but he is not interested! He is someone who has not been sucked into this money greed! You should support this gas station! And I ride a bike!
Not so. The 76 station on Holman is being developed into something about a third the size of this thing. Contamination can be remediated in many cases and in others they can do brown field development.
Believe it or not, this is not a snarky reply:
If you don’t like the lack of human scale,
Blame the parking minimums.
Blame the parking minimums.
Blame the parking minimums.
And this city’s crappy public transit.
That’s why the economies of scale pencil out as they do, it’s why the buildings look the way they do, it’s why the retail spaces are shaped the way they are and have only certain kinds of businesses in them, and it’s why they shoot stale garage air out at the sidewalk at 100 mph.
And who is responsible for the parking minimums? Oh thats right, the city. Juts like I said in my post.
Support a gas station with gas prices 20 cents higher than every other station in town? No thanks.
The Rape of Ballard continues.
With a Denny’s inside the bowling alley no doubt.
No more high rises until we get our monorail! After all, that’s the reason they started allowing condos in the first place…
So don’t buy his gas. We’ve talked about this before — the guy operates a /service/ station. Get your car worked on there.
I buy propane from him, myself.
It’s not like they’re cutting down old growth rain forest to put this building in. Relax people! I’m OK with more density in Ballard if it helps to curb urban sprawl. This is what cities do.. they grow UP.
I bet you like Pabst Blue Ribbon as well!
Think I want a ferry dock. ;^)
Not really. I have commercial property and I have been refusing to sell for years.
I concur. Seems like Ballard has been home to a lot of design atrocities north of Market over the years. The most recent (and worst) are not the condos and apartments… the cookie cutter townhouses are horrible design errors.
Well, yes and no.
Whenever a new project gets announced, if it includes anything fewer than 88 parking spaces per unit, 4/5 MyBallard commenters emerge from the woodwork to moan and to fret, “where will they park?”
With that presumptive reaction, is it any wonder that the City Council is loathe to bring its guidelines into the 21st century?
Call the Council, call the DPD, and TELL YOUR NEIGHBORS that you don’t want Ballard to be L.A. Tell them that dense-yet-human-scaled architecture and pedestrian-friendly space — specifically cite Ballard Avenue so there’s no mistaking what you describe — are more important to you than acres of garages and the buildings they beget.
Most cities have reliable mass transportation connecting the dense areas to the downtown core and other dense neighborhoods.
Get that damn gas station out of there.
Let’s not let this become another empty hole for years. We have enough of those.
It’s not a rape if both parties are willing participants. Ballard, especially “Old Ballard” is getting a lot of money for this, so if anything you should be calling it the “Whoring Out of Old Ballard”.
What a great development. Especially for the area. I truly believe this is something that can bring great economic recovery to the neighborhood and will be an intregal part of the success and growth of Ballard. It’s such a neat area and to have someone like AMLI come into this part of our city is wonderful. After doing some research it seems as if AMLI does their due diligence and knows where and when new development needs to happen. The block(s) in question is a great spot for new retail AND housing. As a resident of the neighborhood, I am very excited to see how it all pans out. I look forward to more local businesses coming in as well as the prospect of new residents who will fit the criteria and have the ability to supply the demand of our constantly growing community. Finally an eye sore will be turned into something livable and community friendly.
Not necessarily. I have read that AMLI is very familiar with removing toxic ground AND if you do your research, you will see how diligent they have been on educating all of their employeess on how to build GREEN responsibly. I know most of us as residents are afraid but please do your research, as I believe these guys really do know what they’re doing and want the best for the area. If you look at their website, you can see that they have (in all of their developments) been very careful not to disrupt the history and/or livelihood of the neighborhoods. I think a site in Kansas City was actually remodeled to the original specs of an historical site and turned into a huge rental/retail complex that actually helped to revamp the city. Just saying, lets not get too ahead of ourselves and hear them out. I don’t want to see anything taken away from our history but isn’t it time that we make our own. I would just love to see some new faces as well as new businesses in our community. It doesn’t hurt at all AND it could possibly bring many jobs to our area.