:)

"It’s not going to happen. You’re telling me someone is seriously going to build on a former Capitol Hill bike shop and The Stranger’s old office? Who would want to live there? You want to wake up next to a revolting pile of beard hair that smells like Fernet and American Spirits? You will! Because your crib is going to be crawling with hipster ghosts. And good luck getting Savage and Nipper out of there because I’m not going to be the one to tell them we’re moving. And what are you going to do with Mudede’s bog/desk-that thing has been slowly burning for over a decade.
It’s like building a diner on a decommissioned bath house. It’s just not a good idea."
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2013/0…

Jeez, Dan, the sentence reads just the way you seem to be saying it doesn't. J's been on top of this for months, he gets a little credit, no?

Seattle's own little Bellevue!

This is how capital flows in a modern city. Some folks get rich, some folks get displaced. The place within the city where young, creative, often under-earning people will be able to afford to exist (and where the amenities they generate/require will be located) moves over time. What was Brooklyn 20 years ago?, The brewery district in St. Louis (which has a real name I'm forgetting)? etc.

Maybe they'll let you have that sweet corner suite?!

This would be good for neighborhood density, yes?

@2 Dan's teasing, I believe. But I do look forward to somebody marrying that building.

Have you asked Tim if he's an investor? That eyrie looks quite plush.

Seriously, guys? Future headline, right?

"STRANGER MOVES OFFICES TO WEST SEATTLE, SETTLES DOWN"

What's with this low-density shit? This area is ripe for high-rise development, because more housing means lower rents. This project should be at least 12 stories, but 24 would be better.

The Stranger is for density, so get with the program. No need to preserve those old dilapidated building fronts. We need to go tall, go modern. Enough of this Nimby-ism, I say.

This is how you get rid of socialist cheerleaders.

I hear Kent is nice...

Actually commenting on the building (heaven forbid): Too often these preserved facade buildings end up as grotesque pastiches, but, I must say, this one is really quite nice.

"buildings ... that have been home most recently to the likes of REI, Value Village and The Stranger..."

CHS worded it just fine; it doesn't at all suggest past tense. You seem to be the one who is syntax-challenged.

At least from the one rendering we have access to, this may be a relatively benign work of façadism (although façadism still sucks as a rule).

Sad about the loss of older, skinnier, distinct buildings with distinct personalities? Well, this is what happens when you freeze in amber the 90% of the city that's nothing but boring bungalows, and force all growth inorganically into the remaining 10%.

@2/14: It's dry wit and black humor, not grammar correction.

Ha! Your lurve of the librul environmentalist nanny state will end when you need to move and learn there's no legal way to dispose of all those broken old chairs with their toxic finishes and bong-water crusts.

/sarcasm

Live! Work! Play! in your very own aPODment relocation.

Don't mess with Value Village.

@20, I hope they keep the store too! The developer/builder is the owners of the Value Village chain, a Bellevue family. They've been the Stranger's landlords the whole time.

I'm surprised it's not taller. The glass seems nice.
Any rent projections yet?
I'm surprised they haven't already tried to demolish the entire block that Lifelong, AutoBattery and the Merc are on... That's inevitable too, I imagine.

Obviously what we need is another recession/real estate bust. The redevelopment of Pike/Pine and South Lake Union slowed down a teeny bit during the bottom of the slump, as I recall.

Not that much though.

They should be putting that shiny modern glass shit at Northgate. Northgate architecture is boring as hell and even stupid ugly new "mixed use" condos tend to be an improvement. LEAVE PIKE/PINE ALONE!

(Full disclosure: I currently live at Northgate and daydream about moving to Pike/Pine but I'm worried that by the time I can afford to move there, nothing cool will be left.)

@3 I always think of South Lake Union as Little Bellevue, but I guess it's spreading.

@23: How much cheaper is it out there, anyway? I I know I pay more for living in the city but from all I hear, it's not that much cheaper living further away, unless I want a house obviously.

@25 Well... this info is a bit out of date, because we moved to Seattle (from Bellingham) when real estate was still pretty depressed -- and of course it's based only on our personal experiences apartment-hunting -- but what we found was that we could get a lot more for the money at Northgate. You know, like two bedrooms for the price of a one bedroom or studio on Capitol Hill. But another thing we found, which still seems kinda true, is that rental prices vary a lot within the same neighborhood, seemingly based on the age and amenities of the building. So our place seems like a bargain, but people just a couple of blocks away might be paying a lot more.

The biggest money factor was the car. At Northgate you can usually get an apartment with its own parking place for no extra money, while on the hill you probably have to buy a garage spot for another $150-$200 a month. If you chuck the car, the hill gets a lot more affordable. When I lived there years ago as a single person, I hate driving, so it was a no-brainer. But the spousal unit likes driving. And I kinda like being driven places, so we compromised on Northgate.

Northgate feels like the ultimate compromise neighborhood. It's functional -- you can walk to most basic necessities of life and it's surprisingly transit-friendly -- but man, it is ugly and boring. Nearly all of the restaurants and pubs are chains, and there is ZERO nightlife in the form of live music, or theater, or whatever.

Leave the building alone. It is part of this city's history. I was just trying to find a clip of when they go to REI in Harry and the Hendersons. Alas, no dice.

Capitol Hill was built around the concept of "auto row" and "furniture row". Broadway was the much smaller city's (for the time) furniture row. It was a proto-IKEA.

Also as a bit of trivia, do you ever wonder about those vast parking lots around Westlake? Wonder no more. All that shit started as car (what we call today) dealerships, Most think that those lots are there for the vast marinas of pleasure boats. But no. It was car sales with enough room for the Interurban trolley line which would whisk prospective buyers to the developing north. Entice the car interested on their way to a potential real estate investment.

I like it but agree with the above commenters that say it should be bigger (at least 10 stories minimum) especially in that prime location

@23
So many people feel the way you do, that more apts are getting built!

@27

The Interurban predates the south lake union regrade.

The real reason for all the wasted space north of downtown is that the regrade there was finished just as Great Depression hit, meaning no one had any money to develop the land. It's recovering from that now, many decades later.