Good news this morning from the Daily Journal of Commerce, which reports that construction at the pit at 40th and Stone Way will begin this month.
Marc Stiles writes that The Benaroya Company will finance Stone Way Village, a mixed-use project that will include 154 housing units and some retail.
See more images on the Baylis Architects site.
Many more details from the Daily Journal of Commerce story:
It has been 18 years since the QFC grocery chain acquired the site at 3920 Stone Way N. and announced plans for 26 condos above a grocery. Excacvation started, but high construction costs halted the work in 2007, leaving a one-acre hole that has been the bane of the neighborhood.
Prescott Development said in 2009 it would buy the site and build market-rate apartments above retail.
Last month, a limited liability company that shares an address with Kirkland-based Prescott bought the property from a QFC affiliate for $8 million.
Benaroya said his company is providing both the construction loan and mezzanine debt. The plan is to complete the project and sell it.
The Benaroya Co.’s decision gives Stone Way Village a significant stamp of approval and expands the Bellevue-based company’s role as a financer of residential projects. Benaroya is a long-time developer in the Seattle area, with a track record in office, industrial, retail and high-tech. It has financed one other housing deal: the $80 million Mosler Lofts in downtown Seattle. The Schuster Group developed Mosler Lofts five years ago, and it has been a commercial and architectural success.
The Stone Way Village team on Jan. 6 requested an exemption to do work during the rainy season, according to a spokesman for the Department of Planning and Development. He said permits have been issued for the excavation, foundation and garage, and that the developer applied on Nov. 30 for a permit to build the rest.
Benaroya officials said they like the location near transit connections as well as the design by Baylis Architects. Compass Construction is the general contractor.
Another advantage is excavation, often the riskiest part of a big construction project, is well under way.
Having now seen the design, can we please keep the hole?
Really? 18 years? That seems like a really long time.
Wow, did you get permission to re-post that article?
Hi, I'm Marc Stiles, the Daily Journal of Commerce reporter. My Wallingford did receive the DJC's permission to post the article.
OK, so it may not be your or my first choice… But rest assured that concerned members of the public spent literally thousands of labor hours (and dollars) working with two consecutive development teams, and the city, in an attempt to mitigate the project's effect on neighborhood homes, businesses and traffic. It's a very difficult site for building a mixed commercial-residential project of any scale; this design demonstrates serious effort toward healthy integration with the surroundings and should be welcomed.
Now we get to wade through all of the nattering neighbobs of negativity in the form of snarkery. Like anybody here is going to move in or by into this project. Not like they're sticking something like a boobie-joint or haven't thought this out a lot. How much have they already spent on enviro studies/impact, neighborhood impact, etc, etc? I thought this city was chock full of “progressives”? Isn't this “progress”?
I think that number is off … it was a (pretty crappy) Safeway for much of the time I lived down 40th (which was from Jan 2000 – October 2002). I can't imagine QFC buying it and keeping another company's store operating.
I recall it closed sometime before I moved, which would make it about 8 years, not 18. Maybe it's a typo?
I think you are right. It can't be 18 years, 8 sounds more like it.
It's “nabob”. Not “neighbob”.
Proper spelling is crucial to a good insane rant.
Hard to believe that so much time has passed, but the Seattle Times also has reported that QFC bought the site in 1993. In this 2002 story, the QFC real estate manager said they'll owned the property, even longer, for 11 years at that time: http://community.seattletimes…..
I'm just glad they're finally doing something with this.
“One pit down, 12 more to go!”*
But just for the record, it might be nice to get the exact date of the creation of The Pit. The article makes it sound like it was created in 2007; in fact, if my memory serves right, the original Safeway was demolished in 2000, at the latest, before the 1st Recession of G.W. Bush.
(*I picked a number arbitrarily for the slogan, but now that I think about it, how many pits are there in Seattle? Denny's and Sunset in Ballard, Leilani Lanes in Greenwood, the dairy in Greenlake… 5 off the top of my head. What are the others?)
Not a location I would want to live or shop….PARKING and access . . . yuck,
The pit itself was created in late 2006/early 2007. You're forgetting that the vacant Safeway sat there for years after it closed.
The spelling is correct. A “neighbob” is someone who misses living near a shabby Safeway store, and/or would rather live near a hole in the ground than another mixed retail/condo development.
Wait! That's a historical hole! We must stop this development! It doesn't fit in with the neighborhood! If it does fit in then we must stop it because its so boring and cookie cutter it looks like everything else! Lets turn it into a park!
I have lived in this neighborhood for 30 years- and I think for people to comment on what they know nothing about is fairly ridiculous. We actually shopped at the old Safeway. It's a great neighborhood- but parking can be tough, a big concern of the adjoining neighbors to this project was the amount of traffic the QFC would have generated. The design didn't allow for this and made it somewhat worse. Real people live here and were concerned with designers trying to fit a square per into a round hole, so to speak.
The neighborhood sewer line bisects the site to run west under the foundation to Stone Way N. Has Seattle Public Utilities approved and recorded the build-over agreement allowing this? I have not seen a contractor preparing this line during foundation & excavation work.
What is happening to the drainage of the alley along the east side of the site (the building wall will form a closed depression)? The runoff enters the pit now. Years ago it flowed into the combined sewer. Drainage into the sewer is no longer allowed since there's a separated storm drain system in Stone Way N.
The blank facade along N 4th St is distressing. What happened to the live-work units with separate entries lining that street?
Blank wall: great place for a mural?
Great location–good bus connections, good walking to lots of amenities and services, close to Burke Gilman, PCC, restaurants, parks–what're you talking about?
All good questions. When the neighbors were hassling with QFC (went to Hearing Examiner where they lost), the sewer line was uAll good questions. When the neighbors were hassling with QFC (went to Hearing Examiner where they lost), the sewer line was used by QFC as an excuse not to bury the parking further. The drainage issues are worth a query to the City.
It's a very difficult site (shape and access/traffic flow).sed by QFC as an excuse not to bury the parking further. The drainage issues are worth a query to the City…
The parking and access could have been done better, but the location is pretty good. But I don't think many residents are going to walk to PCC and back. Restaurants sure, loads of groceries, I doubt it.
Correct. The issues were always access, parking and impacts on the immediate neighbors; the neighbors' fussing got some improvements, but the traffic at that complex intersection is going to take years to fix, if ever. Frank Furter and Man in the Street are indeed ranters without a clue.
Why do you say “literally” thousands of hours? What would the figurative meaning of thousands of hours be in this case? You probably meant “really” or “actually,” and not “literally.” Why do so many Americans say “literally” when they really mean “actually?” Is it because Americans feel the need to over-modify everything? The misuse of the word “literally” is a sure sign of creeping (and creepy) illiteracy.
I've lived north just north of 40th on Woodlawn since 1976. Access will be a HUGE problem for those driving. Imagine cars from a 180 space underground garage exiting on N. 39th then to stop and attempt turn right or left onto Stone Way. Same for entering from StoneWay to 39th. I see massive traffic jams coming, especially since Stone Way was squeezed down to ONE lane north and ONE lane southbound with the adding of a bike lane. Those poor people who live on 39th, as THEIR access will be much more difficult.
SW
Yes, they tried “to mitigate the project's effect on neighborhood homes, businesses and traffic.” If you want to read how the City's environmental review process works, read the Hearing Examiner's decision: go to http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/… and read: In the Matter of the Appeal of STONEWAY QFC COMMITTEE, etc., Hearing Examiner File: MUP-03-047 (March 1, 2004).
In a nutshell, traffic was NOT addressed by design review process, and Hearing Examiner Tanner deferred to City's opinions as to impacts. Now we'll see how well it's actually going to work. (Caveat–I think there have been further changes in project design since the 2004 decision.)
You know what's really creepy, Jsmith (unregistered)? People like
you, with too much time on their hands. Or should I say people
“such as” you…
There is nothing incorrect about my use of “literally” in that
sentence. It tells a reader who may be unfamiliar with the
subject that I am not being overly dramatic when stating
“thousands of hours.”
Here's an exercise for you. Substitute your suggested
alternatives — “really” and/or “actually” in my original
sentence. It doesn't work, does it?
If you are in search of literacy, I suggest you avoid the
internet at all costs, and stop badgering people who are
perfectly capable writers.
On Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:10 +0000, “Disqus”
I wouldn't work with Prescott Development in Kirkland. They always have money issues. They have changed there partnership names so many times, and/or lost licenses. They always have a problem paying there sub contractors. Come on, they don't even have a web site. Never had a returned phone call from there office. I know a few customers who are not happy working. There staff doesn't even get treated well. I could go on. They are depending to much on this Stoneway project to save them, but with there budgeting issues; It will only save them and screw everyone else. Don't work with Prescott Development!!!!!
I found this post by googling Prescott Development to see if there was any website for them…surprise surprise! they owe my company LOTS of MONEY..Lied to our faces, now won't return our calls or emails..
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