Comments

1

I live in Vancouver and Onni has a bad rep here for building sub-par condos (cutting corners on construction to maximize profits). It is cool to see the City stepping in in even a small way to f*ck up their plans. Y'all don't want what happened in Vancouver to happen in Seattle: the near complete erasure of local storefronts and community spaces by shitty, overpriced condo "investments" that all look the same. Onni is one of the companies responsible for this.

3

@2 Significance to a city extends beyond a building's aesthetics. The charge of the Landmarks Preservation Committee needs to be expanded to also consider the use of the building.

That said, the head tax / homeless crisis and saving the Showbox are completely separate subjects. It's preposterous to lump them all together.

4

From the preternaturally excellent blog SCC Insight: https://sccinsight.com/2018/08/08/save-the-showbox-ordinance-moves-out-of-committee-despite-big-questions/#more-8798

"Apart from the legislative, logistic and procedural mess that Sawant’s bill to save the Showbox represents, it’s also a bone-chilling precedent in that it attempts to restrict and mandate the use of the Showbox property as a music venue in perpetuity — and Gonzalez stated explicitly this afternoon that it was their legislative intent to do exactly that. It should frighten every business owner in Seattle, large and small, to witness the Council pass legislation whose sole intent is to single out a specific business and thwart its perfectly legal development plan because that plan is politically unpopular with the Council’s constituency. The City Council has already been fighting a persistent complaint that it is anti-business; today’s move cements that reputation, as it undermines any sense of security in a company’s ability to control its future without capricious. politically-motivated government interference."

5

BUT WHYYYYYYYYYY

Is there a single important reason to save the Showbox? I'm for more housing, in any segment of the market, over hipster nostalgia

6

Let's reopen the Lusty Lady. Just as classy as the Showbox.

7

So nice to know that the SCC has solved all the real problems in this city.... Oh Wait.....

Seriously people it's an unprofitable venue let it die.

8

A vibrant city is an effective mix of residual, dominant, and emergent cultural artifacts. Like the PIke Place Market, the Showbox is an important part of the city's residual culture. This isn't hipster nostalgia. This is a music venue with an 80 year history in a historic part of the city, that is a huge draw for tourists. Tourism generates around $7 billion a year in Seattle. Tourists spend $195 a day downtown when they're here. If you kill all the vibe in our downtown, who will want to visit? That's what the mix of cultural artifacts is about. Residual cultural artifacts play a critical role in establishing and maintaining that historic vibe.

LIke the proposed redevelopment of the Pike Place Market back in the day, building 40 story condo development on this block is just a terrible idea. This is our Pike Place Market moment. We need to rise to the occasion, and preserve the historic character of of 1st Ave between Union and Virginia.

Many music venues have come and gone in Seattle. The Spanish Castle. Parker's. The original Moe. Sit and Spin, the Rainbow. The Break Room. The list goes one. That's to be expected. These are generally smaller venues with a different sort of history. The Showbox has had its ups and downs too. But over 80 years, it has persisted mostly as a music venue. It keeps coming back. Like the Moore and the Paramount, it's the type of venue that most cities have tried to preserve over the last 40 years, because there aren't that many left.

When Sightline Institute urbanists want to upzone the entire city to 6 stories, they love to point to places like Paris (48,000 people per sq mile) to show how well the density works. But in situations like this one with Showbox, they conveniently ignore the degree to which places like Paris protect their residual culture. And it would be stupid for them not to, because, like Seattle, tourism generates huge dollars for cities like Paris. Clearly, they get it. We should get it too.

We have to find a balance here. An ideal scenario imho would be to build 6-10 stories of low income artist housing on top of the Showbox. Those kind of tenants likely wouldn't be bothered living above a music club, so it could be a win for a lot of different stakeholders, as it would support both residual and emergent culture, as well as the needs of low income Seattle residents, many of whom support their creative endeavors by working in the service industry. So it also puts much-needed affordable workforce housing in the downtown core.

9

Since the developer owns the building. What's to stop them from closing it down after the lease, if there is one? They don't have to keep it open. They don't have to re-lease it. If I owned it, and the city council did this to me. I'd shut it down. If the developer thought it was a good idea to save it. They would've included it their original plan in the first place.

10

“I don’t hear any dissent that we are trying to save the Showbox with the tools that we have available and maybe even the ones we don’t have available yet,” Bagshaw said.

This time, after they again simply ignore all dissent and pass it 9-0, they’ll append a clause reading, “No do-overs, no take-backs, no Referendum, neener neener NEENER!!1!”

11

@4 Thanks, I was previously unaware of that blog. Great resource!

12

@3 We already have a Downtown Historic Theater District. Why should the Landmarks Preservation Committee get into the theater business (other than the fact that the SCC is hoping to put restrictions in place before the developer's interest in the property vests)?

13

@8 You wrote "We need to rise to the occasion, and preserve the historic character of of 1st Ave between Union and Virginia."

So, we are granting the newly constructed Thompson Hotel high rise some sort of historic status? Or were you planning on turning back the clock to some perceived "golden ear" of 1st Ave.?

14

AEG’s lease is up in 2020, is it not? Which is fine because good riddance, look up who owns it and which causes he supports with his profits. But that aside, if the owner feels screwed by Seattle, why wouldn’t he just shut it down entirely? It’s better to play nice and come up with a plan that benefits all because otherwise, the Showbox is officially dead. Forever.

16

“Please pay attention to me,” CM Sawant implored imploringly. “I travel all over the world and get accolades for having been elected to this Council, and yet, on those rare occasions when I do actually bother to show up here, you just ignore me,” she added.

“Making The Showbox City-owned and operated wouldn’t just take one of the most potentially-valuable parcels of real estate in the city off our tax rolls; it wouldn’t just deny those f*cking union ironworkers another job site; it wouldn’t just be patronage jobs for my enormously-entitled, yet economically-worthless sycophants; it would also be a way for me to dream of re-election!”

At this, a spontaneous group of red-shirted spontaneous demonstrators spontaneously entered the Council chamber, each carrying an expensively-photocopied sign reading, “SHOVE THE SAVEBOX!!”

17

This is so absurd. When will we learn that futile efforts at cultural preservation don't justify long-term damage, often to the most vulnerable? See also fretting over neighborhood character and national demographics.

Is it an emergency or not?

18

Who's the most notable artist to have received some type of low income artists housing allotment as an adult?

19

Shocking, a bunch of unpopular politicians grasping at the latest cause celebre in order to drum up support so they don't get kicked out of office.
Pathetic.
The Showbox is an old two story building in the heart of downtown. Probably fire and earthquake danger. When the Key Arena, the killer of NBA teams, gets a landmark designation, preservation has truly lost all meaning.

20

Personally, I think the only way to save our beloved Showbox is for Botch fo play a reunion show there ASAP.

21

I'm from Seattle and I live in Vancouver, DO NOT LET ONNI GROUP GET A FOOTHOLD THERE! Vancouver is a poster child for what not to do in urban growth, and don't believe the hype: Canadians would sell their grandma for a Porsche. It will be a shock to these greedy assholes system to encounter a City Council that protects cultural venues: Vancouver sold all of ours to the Chinese.


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