Where Did This Nice Little Urban Pocket Come From?

Urban design cult. Subsidies in the form of upzoning, funded by cheap unstatainable credit policies of large banks, to sell overpriced and quite frankly, unattractive spaces, to ???. How long will it be before these are torn down? 50 years?

"Pontedera Condominiums offer for-sale housing with a range of subsidies for low-income buyers."
"The subsidies for Pontedera Condominiums is also available to moderate income first time homebuyers "

The Homesight project is a scam.

The city virtually gave away the land to them, they received marked open space departures, and who knows how much in state, federal and private grant money.

What was supposed to be 51% of the units sold to lower income first time home buyers with 20 units to remain affordable for people at 60% or lower of the Adjusted Mean Income level, has turned into 80% of median income FHA financing and units going for as high as $550K.

Of course our city, state and county officials wrap themselves up in the banner of helping the less fortunate.

Will someone look at the relationship between the Pettigrews and HomeSight and how they keep this scam alive (he gets them funding, she sell the units)? ECB, will ya?

yes, here are reasons why all those mixed use buildings have empty space in the commercial spots:

1. lack of signage. the businesses are not allowed to put up the large signs commercial businesses need.
2. dark and sometimes smoky glass.
3. the doorways are normal sized doors, not double doors or better yet a completely "open-able" front....shit even if it's corrugated metal that comes down at night the completely open and permeable store front is a mark of successful small businesses all over the world including fruit, groceries, cafes, etc.
4. the doors are often way over on the corner. not in the middle. it's hard to see it and decide to check it out in a nanosecond.
5. usually all the commercial spaces look the same in the development, they just might have a small neon sign...behind the glass....inside....

A really good example of this is the building where the Albertsons' used to be. Most of the storefronts in this prime retail location are vacant. Good god, it's across the street from Green LAke andthe Green Lake Starbucks which has thousands of customers a day. And inside facing the prime park grounds, we have a pizze restaurant, Turnpike Pizza....with: no special signs outside, it's hard to see it; there is a little teeny door about 50 feet over on the side; this would be prime-o area for outdoor tables yet there is no doorway or opening to the sidewalk, just that little door on the side. As a result, this business is empty every night and likely will fail.

The businesses we get seem to chiropractic, tanning salons, hair salons, etc. IOW, appointment based businesses. NOT street life businesses. But that's because if you make the store look like a generic condo, if it doesn't look like a lively storefront or a lively restaurant, it won't succeed. Think about all those Parisian cafes. They ahve huge four feet tall signs hung just outside the second story. They have huge awnings and the whole front is removable in spring and summer. They are lit up like blazes. Same for the fruit stands and Korean groceries in NYC. Same for the 1000 little falafel restaurants, clothes boutiques and othe little shops in NYC. I assume the generic smoky glass hostile-to-walks ins configuration is mandated by code, the develoeprs can't be this clueless about retail, but maybe they are.

SEED built some crappy 4 or 5 story subsidized Senior Housing further south on Rainier a couple of years ago. It has retail at street level (not fully occupied), the windows are clear glass, most have double doors and they have large signs above their places of business, a credit union, H & R Block and an Ethiopian restaurant. So perhaps what you describe was the developers choice, though it does sound self-defeating the way you describe it.

Missing part of this formula: No businesses can survive in the store fronts. People forget the other parts of Jane Jacobs' works that you need vibrant commercial zones in addition to the residential density. Unfortunately, there is not enough density, foot traffic, or even car traffic to support these types of mixed-used buildings, as theorized. It isn't just this development, but almost any other mixed-used projects across the city. The commercial/business component needs to be integrated in these projects, rather than as an afterthought.

I assume the concrete chasm you're referring to is I-90.

Dan, great post. I too have been blown away by the feeling of this block, it is unlike anywhere else in Seattle, and really represents what a range of density can be like next to a hostile arterial. It is also a testament to our community that it was achieved by affordable housing developers (from co-housing to affordable ownership). This is what we can achieve around transit stations if we are able to coordinate our plans for development to include affordable housing. Density does not equal affordability unless Seattle and Sound Transit are willing to plan for it - inclusionary zoning in TOD is the way to go...

Great post Dan - I love the stuff you put up here. It's inspired me to read more about urban planning. I just finished "Suburban Nation", "Crabgrass Frontier" and "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". Though a year ago I probably would have agreed with jabailo above, a few months of biking through the city looking through the lens of these authors has convinced me otherwise. Are there other books you recommend?

the east link station will have access to both Route 48 on 23rd Avenue South and Route 7 on Rainier Avenue South.

I grew up near there, and it's an infinite improvement. The street should be narrower, then it would almost be Paris, the 19th say.

The subsidies for Pontedera Condominiums is also available to moderate income first time homebuyers (also available for anyone who hasn't owned a home in 3 years and displaced by divorce).

www.pontederacondos.com

Thanks for additional info.

If concrete-block Soviet style chasm living is your ideal, then so be it.

whoopdeedo... Where are the Russian women in gunny sack dresses waving hammer n' sicle flags. Where are the billboards praising Lenin and Down with America?

I'm thinking about that restaurant in "Eurotrip" where they bought a 9 course meal for 38 cents and then went to a 'rave disco' in a big castle with their remaining change!

One could argue "chasm living" development is more Liberal Swedish than Centralized Soviet. One need only be honest.

Well, I'd swear that first one's in Kent, but the second that DOES remind me of I-90.

Welcome to Bulgaria:

http://www.stockphotopro.com/photo-thumbs-2/AF5...

http://www.realussr.com/wp-content/uploads/2009...

One aspect of the existing freeway stop at I90/Rainier that I've really disliked is its poor connectivity with the 48 on 23rd. The 48 is a really high ridership line with frequent service. Despite this one has to walk over 2000 feet to cover a straight line distance of 1200 feet between the nearest 48 stop and the freeway station. There should be a bus only connection for the 48 to swing closer to the freeway stop, or at the very least an improvement upon the connectivity of the path between Rainier and 23rd.

adding on to Harry's post script... many of these projects were funded through the Seattle Housing Levy.

Thanks for the correction, Harry. I updated the post accordingly.

LIHI should take it as a compliment that I assumed they were market rate.

Question on East Link: Walkshed-wise, would it be better to move the Rainier stop further east, to I-90/23rd or 1-90/MLK?

bgtothen has a good point about putting a pedestrian walkway directly from the freeway station to 23rd. This is not the same as "moving the Rainier stop further East" as Chad N suggested. By the way, my measurements say the distance is more like 800 feet. I would think this kind of improvement would be combined with reconfiguring the 48 bus stops so that it stops right by the entrance to this walkway. The 48 bus needs an overhaul anyway so this could perhaps be rolled into that.

I90 actually passes under those 23rd and MLK. I suspect that cutting down through the center of the I90 tunnel and somehow fitting a station platform in there would be complicated and expensive at best.

I actually think this will work out better than you suspect. Stations usually need to be completely straight so this will mean that the western end of the platform will be right over MLK. Station platforms are long at 380 ft. This means that a walkway of about 500 ft would be needed to connect the east end of the platform to lid. Nothing too extraordinarily and it provides a very important transfer point for people in the CD.

I believe those "new market rate townhouses" on the north side of Dearborn are the Nova Townhomes built by LIHI and part of the Homestead Community Land Trust.

See http://www.lihi.org/Nova%20grand%20opening%20pr...

PS Almost all of the projects dan touts here are built by members of the Housing Development Consortium - your friendly neighborhood affordable housing folks!!!