The Seattle City Council passed legislation today intended to preserve the Pike/Pine neighborhood, an old auto row on Capitol Hill defined by warehouses with swaths of windows, where proposed development was abundant before the recession.
The council sought to help “neighbors and developers… get on the same page with each other about how new construction will meld with existing structures,” Council Member Sally Clark, chair of the council’s Committee on Built Environment, said in a statement released after the vote.
While neighbors agree that this is an improvement, it’s not perfect. Chip Wall, a leader of the Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Coalition (PPUNC), says the measure indeed helps preserve the older character of the neighborhood and defines the boundaries of Pike/Pine. “But I think the downside is that there still needs to be much more serious effort on the part of the city, the building department, and rules and regulations to make it still easier to rehabilitate an older structure rather than to tear the damn thing down and put up a big new structure.” He says, for instance, city council members had contemplated selling unused heights of above older, historic buildings to developers on other locations, but that was softened to the point that it “doesn’t really have any teeth.” When new buildings displace the older building, Wall continues, “That’s when you get big-box stores that can afford the higher rents to come in. We not only want to keep the character buildings, we want incentives to keep older buildings that tend to rent for lower prices that give people affordable space and great restaurants.”
The new ordinance updates design guidelines adopted in 2000, many of which were suggested by Pike/Pine residents. For example, when an older building is present at the site of a proposed new project, the developer must present to the Design Review Board at least one design proposal that maintains or reflects the key architectural elements of the older buildings. “There’s no one magic bullet that would protect the buildings … but we really want to push developers to think creatively that if you had to save the building, what would you do,” Clark told The Stranger.
Some of the elements to be considered include large display windows on the first floor, prominent building entrances, and a building’s size and scale in proportion to current structures. Legislation approved by the council in 2009 is already geared toward preserving culturally significant buildings in Pike/Pine. More than 70 percent of the buildings in the Pike/Pine neighborhood were built before 1930.
Does this mean they’ll preserve the old wiring too?
This does nothing to bring back Hi*Score.
Sure it’s the blahblah chain stores that can only afford the rent when the building is first built, but give it a few years and a recession and the landlords will figure out some rent is better than no rent and make it affordable. It’s beginning to happen in Belltown. It used to be there was a sushi restaurant on every other block but no phở, takeout Chinese or fried chicken delis anywhere. With the recession, some of the sushi joints are closing – and you’ll soon find some more downscale options.
It takes a few years, but those new buildings eventually integrate into the neighborhoods with mixed types of retail on the bottom floor. During those boom years when so many of the buildings were replaced simultaneously it can be jarring and really shake up a hood. That’s what people are really upset about.
Obviously keeping existing structures around when they contribute to character is a good deal, but it’s not the death of a neighborhood just to go through reconstruction. Those new buildings should obviously be well-designed too.
Much as I like the idea of retaining any charming character present, trying to fight back market forces is pretty much always doomed to failure in the end. And everyone feels that way when it’s their turn to sell.