Since Hugh Sisley began buying houses in Seattle’s Roosevelt
neighborhood 40 years ago, his properties have degenerated into
squalor. But he has dreamed, all the while, of one day redeveloping his
43 lots into a cluster of high-rise towers that he humbly refers to as
“Sisleyville.” Now, neighborhood residents say, Sisley has finally
teamed up with a developer to make his longtime dream a reality.
A single house near the intersection of Northeast 66th Street and
15th Avenue Northeast bears a fresh coat of royal-blue paint. It has a
lawn trimmed squarely to the sidewalk and a black Cadillac SUV in the
driveway. But all down the rest of the block, clumps of weeds grow from
roofs, faded paint reveals cracked eaves, and grass zigzags along the
sidewalk. This is the contrast between the tidy houses that define most
of the Roosevelt neighborhood and Sisley’s dilapidated properties. This
spring alone, Sisley had eight scheduled city hearings related to
land-use violations.
“His logic has always been, ‘Why invest in maintenance if you’re
just going to tear them down and replace them with something better?'”
says Jim O’Halloran, land-use chair of the Roosevelt Neighborhood
Association.
Sisley, who didn’t respond to requests for an interview, has always
been forthright about his plans to redevelop his chunk of the
neighborhood. His website—until it was recently taken
down—advertised his holdings as “a unique opportunity to the
right developer.” And he’s told O’Halloran that he thinks his
properties would be appropriate for high-rises.
Sisley’s first break came last year, when the Roosevelt Development
Group (RDG) agreed to a 99-year lease to develop a full block owned by
Sisley at Northeast 65th Street and 15th Avenue Northeast. An even
bigger break came a couple of months ago: According to O’Halloran,
developers with RDG and Sisley made a handshake agreement to let the
company develop all of his remaining properties. (RDG representatives
did not return calls for comment.) That would pave the road to
Sisleyville.
But there is one hitch.
“He wants 20 stories, which is what he’s told me in conversation
over the years,” says 77-year-old Tad Bigelow, a neighbor who helped
draft proposals for an updated version of the Roosevelt neighborhood
plan. “Our objective was to concentrate higher density around the
commercial core and step down as we get farther away.”
The neighborhood’s current zoning allows only single-family or
low-rise housing on most of Sisley’s properties. And multistory towers
in the single-family neighborhood don’t fit with the neighborhood’s
vision for increased density.
“We’re quite okay with substantial destiny, but six stories is the
maximum we can live with,” says O’Halloran. “We’re not so desperate
that we’ll take anything—it really does have to be thoughtful
development.”
The city will probably rezone part of the neighborhood to allow
taller buildings near a light-rail station planned on 12th Avenue
Northeast and Northeast 66th Street, according to Department of
Planning and Development spokesman Alan Justad. But many of Sisley’s
properties are three or four blocks away from the Roosevelt light-rail
stop, and if they are rezoned, the most likely scenario would only
allow buildings four stories tall.
That raises a question: Will the developers seal the deal if the
city won’t allow them to build six stories or higher? Although the
neighbors in Roosevelt don’t want towers, they really don’t
want the existing houses to continue to crumble.
“Something new may be better than what is,” says a woman living
adjacent to one of Sisley’s properties, pointing to an inhabited house
with boarded-up windows. “I would love to see these two homes be
redeveloped,” she adds.
Tenants in Sisley’s properties, many of whom praise the landlord for
charging rents far below market rate, were not aware of any plans when
interviewed last weekend. Given that the light-rail station won’t be
completed for at least 10 years, “thoughtful redevelopment” may still
be a long way off. A man named Rick waiting for the bus last weekend
said he used to work for Sisley, who is now in his early 80s, and had
heard of plans for Sisleyville. But, Rick added, Sisley is “so fuckin’
old, he’ll never see it.” 