January 6

200+ new Maple Leaf apartments near Northgate Mall?

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Update: Seattle Curbed.com has design drawings.

Daniel emails to say the city is reviewing proposals for more than 200 new apartments across the street from Northgate Mall:

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development posted Notices of Design Reviews on two pending construction projects in the Northgate area.

At 10720 Fifth Ave. N.E, the current location for The Tux Shop, the vacant MKG, Kennelly Keys Music, and Toshi’s Teriyaki, plans have been submitted for a 7-story, 132-unit residential building with 3,000 sq. ft. of retail at street level and parking for 104 vehicles located below grade.

At 10715 Eighty Ave. N.E. the vacant former location of Gene Juarez Hair Salon, plans have been submitted for a 4-story, 83-unit residential building with 3 live/work units, 28 surface parking spaces to remain. As is the current trend in Seattle, the developer is not required to match or add any new parking space for tenants.

Public hearings on these two projects will be held on Monday, January 12, 2015 at 8:00 pm at the University Heights Community Center, 5031 University Way N.E., Room 209.

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Sara W

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  1. Dan, Too much traffic, not enough affordable housing – Yeah, I know, I see it every day Dan. I try to find housing for people and they are being squeezed out. Not everybody owns a bike.

  2. Went to early design review meeting. Wasn’t too bad at first blush. I would encourage everyone to come to the next, not yet scheduled meeting for more details. There are a couple more projects in that area about ready to reveal themself. Stay tuned.

  3. Kathy- It’s simple supply and demand. Seattle is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, we need to build apartments to accommodate everyone. And building around the light rail stations makes sense–in fact it’s the best place to build if you are concerned with increased traffic, people that live right next to the light rail are much less likely to own a car and drive.

  4. 0.6 parking spaces per unit is hardly what I’d consider “more traffic” when it’s replacing a strip mall with similar capacity.

    However, to answer your question “Why are the developers…” the answer is simply “to make a profit”.

  5. Why are the developers constantly trying to overcrowd and create more traffic? Is there really a need to build more non-affordable housing?

  6. Loving that the light rail is bringing more growth, density, and improvements, but as a lot of people note, I sure hope the road and traffic improvements follow. I’ve loved the whole Thorton Creek complex with theater, restaurants and housing, more of that upgrades the Northgate neighborhood next to us and brings more people into our Maple Leaf businesses and helps them thrive.

  7. Honestly, I’m a little surprised they aren’t building higher than that. Throw in some office buildings and Northgate could easily turn into Silver Spring, Maryland, once the light rail arrives.

    In twenty years, people will probably look at those buildings and laugh. If we’re going to add density within the city limits, Northgate is a ***prime*** target. I’d guess this isn’t fondly thought of by those who live just outside of the target circle. Of course unless you own, and then you’ll make out like a bandit if you stay here for long.

  8. Grace – Do you realize that everyone north of you has no sidewalks as well and does not have “no entry” streets? Because Maple Leaf blocks all of the streets around Northgate, those north pay a price of more traffic.

  9. Having just moved from Greenwood to Northgate, this has become a lot more relevant to me. I am glad to see more living space coming to the area, and I do like the proposed pedestrian cuts through the property.

    I do wish we could get some incentive zoning for more affordable units though.

    We need more affordable housing AND pedestrian improvements. I would like to hear feasable plans from our leaders to achieve both.

  10. As someone who lives on 8th I don’t want to see the road directions opened up in any way that would encourage people to use 8th as a through road. There are no sidewalks on our part of 8th (8th and 100th) and I like that I can currently walk from my house with only a few cars around until I find sidewalks around 95th and 8th. If the city was going to install sidewalks that would a little different but I highly doubt they will.

  11. All of the street restrictions should be removed. SDOT does not enforce them and I constantly see people ignoring them.

    So you assume that because some people are ignoring them that they are 100% ineffective?

  12. All of the street restrictions should be removed. SDOT does not enforce them and I constantly see people ignoring them.

    I agree with Sue that the folks on 115th have significant traffic issues because the streets south of Norhgate Way were restricted.

  13. The proposal for the Gene Juarez site includes a boundary line adjustment. I am making the assumption the adjustment will be along the alignment of the present easement that goes through (and under) these propertie. I am very interested in knowing if this easement will be retained and allow vehicle and pedestrian/bike traffic, google “Woonerf” for creative and interesting ideas that may apply. NE 105th should not be the default east/west route, it is a one lane two way road ten feet wide over Thornton Creek with no guardrails or pedestrian separation from traffic. The new east/west access south of Wine, Beer and More and the 24 Hour Fitness building is useful and welcome, if unimaginative.

    The boundary line adjustment will also allow future development of the BevMo parcel and the area just to the east of it, the now fenced area south of Gene Juarez, north of Kindred Hospital.

    Email PRC@seattle.gov and ask to be put on their list for project numbers 3019072 and 3017692.

    The new sidewalks on 8th will be torn out during the construction? Sad, when NE 105th needs sidewalks, to see perfectly good new ones yanked out.

    NE 103rd needs a sidewalk and should be reopened to two way traffic, from the light at 5th NE to 15th NE. Or spend the millions required to make NE 105th meet modern standards?

  14. Ever since I’ve lived in Maple Leaf I’ve always been curious why North-South isn’t allowed at Northgate Way on 8th. Anyone have the story?

  15. Indeed when it is so easy to upzone the “incentive zoning” was an epic fail. As far as 8th Ave NE, I have made no bones that the intersection at Northgate Way and 8th needs to be opened up. Those of us north of Northgate Way have had to put up with unneccesay traffic on 115th for far too long since there is right turn only there. Its just not fair. I will always support infrastruture improvments. Sidewalks are needed on 8th and there are now developers that should provide them. Don’t let this opportunity pass as it may never come again.

  16. The Maple Leaf Community Council has been tracking this for a while now. Both developments expect to access NE 8th Street, which is problematic. One of the developers is asking for an upzone. (Remember the MLCC is on the record as supporting upzones in the Northgate Urban Center. See below.)

    Maple Leaf residents can read more about this in the Q1 (January) newsletter that should be on your doorsteps in a couple of weeks.

    At our January General Meeting (Jan 28, 7-9pm, Olympic view elementary) we’ll be doing a quick summary on this proposed project and asking for both input and volunteers to work on tracking it and advocating for the Maple Leaf community’s concerns (if any) as the project moves through permitting.

    One obvious concern is what happens to the light at 8th Ave NE and NE Northgate Way. This will affect cut-through traffic on largely sidewalkless 8th Ave NE. How (if) 8th Ave NE is improved across Thornton Creek just south of these developments is a key issue.

    FYI, the MLCC worked with Kevin Wallace and his development firm to address this on their new building (just opening, you should check it out) and hope to work with DPD and these developers as well. No reason why reasonable people can’t come to some sort of workable solution.

    It’s worth noting none of the >200 units are expected to be designated as affordable units. It would be nice if Mayor Murray’s administration would start paying attention to our repeated requests and ideas on this subject and task DPD and his Office of Housing to secure more honestly affordable (50% AMI or below) units in the Northgate Urban Center (NGUC). He (and the Seattle City Council) should be embarassed the only affordable units currently planned for the NGUC came about through legal settlement negotiations led by the MLCC and a truly honorable, community-minded developers of the Mullally family.

    David Miller
    President
    Maple Leaf Community Council

    P.S.: (For those who will knee-jerk assume “concerns” = “opposition” and call us “NIMBYs” over our views on development in the Northgate Urban Center, do yourself a favor and read the link below first so you don’t look silly…
    http://www.mapleleafcommunity.org/northgate.html)

  17. Finally! This is an exciting change for the neighborhood. The current use is such dead space. More residents can help support better restaurants and retail. Looking forward to this!

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