navel-gazing: cosmo roof deck via google maps

google recently updated their satellite image stock for downtown seattle. in past versions of google maps the cosmo was photographed at very early stages of construction.
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in addition to a fancy view of the roof deck, the new images reveal our macho-looking shadow.

design approval: 40-story apartment bldg

- Address: 1823 Minor Ave (near the Re-Bar)
- DPD Project # 3004848
- DPD Design Approval document
- Architect: Bumgardner Architects




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denny park: construction starts!

the denny park steering committee has made some big progress of late. thanks to $75,000 contribution from Vulcan Real Estate and a $25,000 contribution from Security Properties, they reached phase one fund raising goals and are now ready to start construction of the kids play area and park lighting.
anyone interested in the plan can come to the denny park open house next wednesday, 21 may at 12:00 noon. construction of phase one is planned to begin in april and to be completed by september 2008.

new neighbors: Avanade & Schnitzer!

according to today's seattle times schnitzer west has leased half of their 818 stewart building, completion of which is still six months out. of note are two new neighbors. avanade, an information technology joint venture of accenture and microsoft, will relocate their headquarters to 818 from a complex on elliott ave. thats all good and fine but the surprise new neighbor is schnitzer west, who is moving its head quarters to 818 from lovely bellevue.
schnitzer west, architect of seattle's butthole, is developing 1918 8th, 818 stewart, and the proposed watermark replacement. according to the seattle times, 818 is scheduled for completion in october of this year and 1918 is scheduled for completion some time next year

schnitzer's watermark plan

the seattle times today announced the final piece of development for our block. the proposed plan is to build another 14-story office building on the site of the Watermark Credit Union. located between 818 stewart and 1918 8th, this new building adds the finishing touches to schnitzer's development plan for our block. and at 14 stories it will be about the same height as 818, currently underway.

bat monday & view theory

speaking of our flying brethren, last week was all about the views-

Pacific Northwest Magazine: On The Up And Up: As expectations and demand rise, so does the price of our views. William Dietrich speculates about why views are important:

- evolution: since the day we humans stood upright, we have enjoyed looking down at the earth. call this the "biophilia," or "love of life" theory

- historical: throughout history powerful people--priests, kings, queens, jacks, etc.-- have lived high above others in towers or on hill tops. call this the pope theory.

- seattle: we have lots of cool stuff to look at, all that water for example, and it's not too hot so we can have big windows. not so much the case in places like "Waco, Omaha or Birmingham" which apparently are not so pretty and are too hot. call this the rain is pretty theory.

- technology: back in the day windows and large holes in ones home were both expensive and not very safe. as construction and materials technologies have improved over the years, so has our desire to look out at stuff. call this the because we can theory.

interesting that this author asks 'why' we like views. not an immediately obvious question to ask because it seems so, well, obvious. but when a comparison yields statements from appraisers such as, " a similar house on a view lot can fetch from 50 to 150 percent more," the question seems reasonable.
other articles about views-

the Stranger: A View Without a Room: It's the only part of your house that's not part of your house. What’s a view worth, anyway? here Jen Graves reveals how condo marketers get such amazing pictures of views from condos that don't yet exist. when cranes are too risky and there's not another rooftop conveniently located, one can hire an 18 foot kite-blimp or a miniature, remote-controlled helicopter. particularly useful with "imagined properties for sale all over town." see also matt's urbnlivn riff on this article.

Puget Sound Business Journal: 'Unblockable' views commanding steeper price in Seattle and Bellevue. more of the same with some insightful tidbits about zoning, but the online version is subscription based.

--bat picture from new york times science section

it's all about dogs

thanks to the new south lake union blog for pointing to this article. dave's dog shop is profiled in the pi.
if you haven't yet been, scraps serves the best bull penis this side of the butthole (aka denny triangle)! at least that's what jasper tells us.

denny triangle's emerging culture

denny triangle is slowly moving away from its parking lot personality of the past and towards something like a neighborhood. last Saturday a masked but friendly group of Scientology protesters made their way through the 2200 retail area.
it's unclear what kind of culture we're moving towards, but later in the day on Saturday i caught a glimpse of a new kind of game or dance that might actually prove to be a lasting feature of denny triangle's new personality.

Cosmo on KIRO 7 News

For anyone who did not see KIRO's feature on Seattle's condo density, below is a YouTube video of the story. In my opinion KIRO did a nice job, particularly given the limited time available. However, the real estate agent's advice misses the point that land use changes were made several months AFTER signing of the purchase agreement.



KIRO posted elements of the story on their web page, such as the transcript, links to land use info resources, the video, and a list of six other downtown projects that will be impacted by the elimination of tower spacing:

-- Cristala
-- Escala
-- Tower 801
-- 1521 2nd Avenue
-- 5th and Madison
-- Olive 8

Several months ago we sent a letter to Mayor Nickels and asked him to address (or at least acknowledge) this problem. No response!

Over 50 downtown residents have signed our letter. I'm guessing it will take a lot more to get the Mayor's attention. If you think downtown residents should have a voice in this process--or at least that we should be notified when land use changes are made unilaterally--you can support the cause by signing our letter.

As for us, it's not about views. We'd simply like that yellow space back.

Cosmo on KIRO 7 News - Monday, March 3, 6pm

The elimination of tower spacing in Denny Triangle will be featured in a KIRO news story about Seattle's urban density. The piece is scheduled to air this Monday, March 3, at 6:00pm.
Graham Johnson, a reporter at KIRO 7 Eyewitness News, was here recently filming the very small (18 foot) gap between the Cosmo and 1918 8th. While here, Graham interviewed a couple of Cosmo homeowners.
To help convey the impact of the the city's behind-closed-doors elimination of tower spacing, this sketch shows the space that would have been provided had the regulation not been eliminated from our neighborhood. The yellow section is (roughly) the spacing required for the city's definition of "downtown livability." That little dark shadow line between the two buildings is what they are building.


see also:
- the Seattle PI article
- zone w/out tower spacing
- condo pre-sales dilemma
- tower spacing time-line
- our letter to Mayor Nickels
- register your support!


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1918 8th web cam

nice of Sellen, the new builders of 1918 8th, to install a web cam for our viewing pleasure. Skanska was fired a month or two ago and replaced by Sellen. we can now check the status our west-side hole with updates every 15 minutes. the time lapse feature is kind of cool.


here's couple pictures of their pretty cool looking Luffer crane. it's designed for working high in tight spaces.

and here's jasper enjoying a bit of sun... while it lasts.

Déjà Vu comming to denny triangle

here's some odd development news. kery murakami, reports in the PI that Déjà Vu will open another strip club between the federal building and the metropolitan apartments.

at first glance i thought this was breaking news, but a quick google reveals another article about Déjà Vu's denny triangle branch. this one is also in the PI from about a month ago. in any case, it's news to me.