Last March, developer Murray Franklyn demolished a row of neighborhood businesses and bars on Pine Street and Belmont Avenue—including the Cha Cha, Bus Stop, Manray, and Kincora—to make room for a mixed-used development. Shortly thereafter, the project manager said Murray Franklyn may begin construction within a year. (The company faced a legal challenge over whether its design for the building jibed with city code; a judge gave the project a green light in July 2008.) That year is up, but the site remains a block-long, gravel-covered parking lot.
Murray Franklyn’s former development manager, Wade Metz, is no longer with the company. Instead, a receptionist directed me to the company’s new point person, Steve Hiller. I asked Hiller when construction would begin.
“No, no, no, no, really, no plans at the moment to where that’s going,” Hiller told me. “Basically it’s a ‘no comment’ because I don’t have knowledge on it.” Hiller, the head of marketing for the Bellevue-based company, which specializes in suburban housing developments, was not aware of the project, the site, and had never heard of The Stranger. He asked me to send an email and that “maybe” someone would get back to me.
I called back the main phone number, explaining that Hiller wasn’t familiar with the development plans. “He wasn’t?” said the receptionist. “He’s the marketing department head.”
Follow-up emails and phone messages left with other people at the company this morning have not been returned.
Murray Franklyn purchased the site in March 2007 for $6 million.
Murray Franklyn is a horrible company to work with. They will drag this project out for years and fuck as many people over as they can
This makes me cry a little.
Wow, that Murray Franklyn sounds like a fucking dick.
I wonder why anyone would buy anything associated with him.
I appreciate that you’re checking up on this. Sad though…
not knowing who the stranger is means they have zero connection to the community. i felt bad about what happened to their plans at the site….now, not so much.
It’s the cycle in Seattle. Small shop owners invest in an overlooked neighborhood and spruce it up. Landlords raise rents to reward their efforts. Developers come along and demolish everything that made the area livable to cash in on its livability and replace it with over priced junk that small shop owners avoid. New residents and tenents complain as their are no longer neighborhood places just hang outs for tourists and the bridge and tunnel crowd. See Fremont/Belltown etc, etc
The old Speakeasy site isn’t even a working parking lot yet.
I miss that block so much.
@6: it’s the cycle for just about every city everywhere. But yeah, it’s still annoying.
In other development news, the massive lot that used to be Leilani Lanes bowling alley looks like it may start construction.
I think it should turn into a tent city
haha. that sounds like the murray franklin i know! considering they’ve probably shrunk by about 2/3, i’m not surprised he has no idea.
call the president of the company if you want a straight answer, and don’t expect one then, either.
In the meantime, I propose that some folks go down there on nice evenings — how about tomorrow night? — pay for some parking spots, set up some lawn chairs in them, have some beers, play/listen to some music and generally make use of the space. I figure if there are enough folks there, the police can’t write everyone tickets? And if they can, fuck it, I’ll just pay the ticket with my unemployment benefits…
I’ll start an email list for interested parties; click on my name for more info.
Too bad there isn’t a law that would force developers who tear shit down and then build nothing to have to rebuild or recreate the structures that they destroyed after a certain length of time. But if it were up to me most developers would and should be sent to the guillotine. They are pretty much short sited scum who destroy (and when they do build it is utter crap) with little or no thought to public planning.
None of this would have happened if not for the NIMBY ass who filed a lawsuit to stop the project. Otherwise the project would be under construction (it would have started before the crash) creating both construction and architectural jobs. So to those who opposed it, enjoy your parking lot.
These are the kinds of people the city needs to TAX THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF. If you have property sitting without tenants, the city has a vested interest in seeing ,one way or another, that it benefits the people. Most importantly, if they tore down businesses and housing, they need to pay.
It’s not allowed to be a parking lot, actually, which is why Zipcar pulled out and hardly anyone is parking there. Surface parking is not a conforming use in that zone.
unbelievable. they destroy one of the best blocks in the neighborhood and now it will just sit there with nothing on it.
That block hasn’t been the same since Rebellious Jukebox and Squid Row were there. Even the Puss Puss cafe! The Cha Cha and Manray moved in and ruined everything. Glad to see it’s a parking lot now.
By the time this land gets built on, there will be a “Coalition to (or “Neighbors of” or “Citizens for”) Save the Pine Street Parking Lot” formed, and trying to save it.
#18 – the Puss Puss kinda sucked and had Swastika’s in the linoleum pattern. That place had to go one way or another.
Can I like the parking lot a million times less than what was there (don’t diss my Puss Puss), but way more than what was planned? Because I do.
At least now there’s a chance in the next few years for some nonprofit-housing outfit to go tickle a grant/loan combo off some government nutsack, then buy it off MF and at last build something Cap Hill needs that would benefit the whole city: a decently designed, attractive mix of workforce and truly affordable housing.
In the meantime, I adore Keith’s planned use.
Great. I walked by the other day and was happy to see that the hilarious WHORE tag is still up on the barrier around the lot. It’s been there since October.
http://demondoyle.squarespace.com/waste-…
@13 There is, it’s called land use codes. I remember listing to a story on NPR where a railroad company parked giant autotransporters near a town, and the town’s plan to get rid of them was to file non-stop land use violations. Tall grass, etc. The RR company then hired a landscaping crew, so it didn’t work, but the threat of thousands of dollars of fines was a serious threat…..same could be done here. But then you become a NIMBY for life. To get out, you need to get jumped.
I don’t think people should be allowed to own things if they’re not going to do what I think they should do with them.
And if they do, I should be paid damages to compensate me for my, uh, something or another.
if i had to choose between the bigass, ugly, inappropriate for the neighborhood piece of shit they were going to build and a parking lot that will hopefully be sold to a smart developer with a soul and a brain and replaced with a cool, appropriately sized and designed building then i would have to say, fuck yeah to the parking lot…
the original design was shitass awful.
They should move the Farmer’s Market there.
Keith’s plan should be city policy. If a property is left as an abandoned lot for more than a reasonable amount of time, it should become a public space until new construction is underway. Encourage street vendors to set up shop there (maybe even waiving the usual fees and licenses, or reducing them). Do whatever you can to get some activity on the site (other than drug-dealing and street crime). Hold the owner liable for anything that happens.
Conspiracy theory…They never had any intention of building there. Someone just wanted to get rid of the noise from the best street on the hill and up the property values of the new condos going up around it.
@26 damn straight.
I loved that block, and I cringe every time I pass the stinking pit it has become.
Screw you guys! Murray Franklyn is the shit!
Capitol Hill Bazaar on The Lot
@6&8: it’s not natural or inevitable. it’s the byproduct of the government being in the pocket of developers, and of all alternatives to developer/ landlord dismissed out of hand.
That’s right CommonKnowledge: Bazaar, tent city, flea market, farmer’s market, public park, “living room,” performance art venue. I think all we need is a little organization…
The demolition permit should require immediate new construction or start levying onerous penalties.
Ripping out Ballard’s Denny’s and Sunset Bowl has blighted that portion of Market Ave. They were both busy inexpensive hangouts for the locals before being snuffed.
Murray Franklyn … hm… M.F … Money-Frenzy … Murder-Fratricide … “My Friends” …. Make Fortune … Mangle Fellowship … hmmm…
Oh~! Mother Fuckers!
you know, lots of cheap retail spaces near the light rail station in Rainier Valley …
It’d be great if was something useful like a parking lot but they ripped the frickin’ ticket machine out about a month ago and now the space just rots. It was a relative bargain for all-day parking compared to other lots in the area. Sounds like everyone involved with the property would be too retarded to enforce towing so maybe we should all just park there.
I grew up in a Murray Franklin built house in Juanita. Piece of shit. Cheap construction, electrical outlets in entirely the wrong places and ugly boring architecture.
#12 sounds like a great idea. Tail Gate party!
Seriously though, is anyone REALLY surprised?
You should make sure that nice receptionist who pwned that asshole gets a spot on your notes from the unemployment line.
The Cha Cha Lounge wasn’t demolished. It had already moved, and the fabulous PONY jumped in to throw a party.
What a great space to build the new, full-city-block, multi-million $$ LGBT Community Center … library, organizations, hangout space, theatre, club, fitness center, coffee shops w beautiful trees and plants …
EXACTLY what CH needs and deserves. WHO’ll donate the *first* million $$?