Our Wedgwood group is featured in this week's edition of the North Seattle Herald-Outlook

Check out this article in this week's North Seattle Herald-Outlook, it's a great article about our efforts to bring in a better building to our neighborhood.



Here's the first part of the article, click to read more!

Group forms to amend condo-development plans for 35th N.E. and N.E. 86th

In an on-line community ranking of Seattle's hippest neighborhoods, Wedgwood was ranked 76th of 99. That's tragically un-hip, according to the Amazon.com poll, though some residents are far more concerned with other neighborhood issues.

Neighbors living in nearby single-family homes are more worried about an 85-unit condominium unit set to break ground next spring on the corner of 35th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 86th Street.

The four-story building would stand nearly 40 feet tall and feature nearly 6,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

A group of developers from Murray Franklin began its plans in December 2006 and brought the designs to the Wedgwood Community Council in January. When community member Greg Raece - who lives just a few feet away from the property - saw the plans, he almost immediately spoke up.

"It just doesn't fit in with the scheme here," said Raece, who has lived in Wedgwood since the late 1990s. "There hasn't been much development in Wedgwood over the years, and a building like this will really set the tone for all development that's to come."

Since Raece and a number of other concerned residents saw the plans in January, they have formed the Wedgwood Action Group, a group that hopes to amend the current plans, if not halt them entirely.

"It is such a big complex, and with the downward slope of the land, it could [negatively] affect the natural landscape of the area," said Raece, who also noted that the building's proximity to existing single-family housing is a major point of concern. "It's going to be 8 feet away from our houses."

More

Are you on the same block as 35th Ave NE? Here's what your backyard view could look like.

Phinney Ridge is like Wedgwood, lots of single family homes that back up to higher-intensity zoning. Well, here's what the neighbors who live behind Murray Franklyn's new fini condos on Greenwood will get to see from their back windows.

It's not just Wedgwood, but Murray Franklyn's condos don't fit in on Capitol Hill either.

Way back in April I stopped by a POWhat (a Capitol Hill Commmunity Group) meeting after hearing that they were fighting a Murray Franklyn on Pine and Belmont. Their issue is that this building is taking away Capitol Hill cultural business icons (like the Manray and Bimbo's Bitchin' Burritos) and not replacing them with niteclubs and businesses that add to Capitol Hill's personality.

Here's one quote from the group:

However, (Wade) Metz (of Murray Franklyn) made clear that the new complex would not include bars, given that homeowners will inevitably complain about the noise. Metz expects his company to retain control of the retail spaces to reap rental income. While he vows that his preference is for retail other than Subway sandwich franchises, tanning salons, and dry cleaners, he also indicated that the considerably higher rents will make it unlikely that funky neighborhood businesses become tenants.

Not surprisingly, the current architectural renderings of the complex reflect the homogeneity of the developers’ aspirations. The building appears blocky and bereft of true design inspiration. Skimpy, unusable, Juliet balconies adorn the elevations. An ineffective attempt at relieving the monolithic Pine Street façade is sought through the incorporation of a series of tiered shallow setbacks, allowing the sidewalk to become wider at the downhill Summit Avenue corner.

Read more stories about the Pine and Belmont building on Urbnlivn.com

Drawing of Murray Franklyn's proposed Capitol Hill condo at Pine and Belmont

Phinney Ridge's Fini or Wedgwood's Fini?

Quick quiz, is this Murray Franklyn's building Fini in Phinney Ridge or Murray Franklyn's version of Fini for Wedgwood.

Click on the image for an answer.

What did you think about yesterday's DPD meeting?

I'm going to post my thoughts later today, but how do you think the meeting went.

What do you think of the design? Nice, ugly?
What did you think of the guy from Williams Marketing?
What do you think of this whole process, do you feel like your voice matters or is it a rubber stamp?

It's not just Wedgwood, two other Seattle neighborhoods have issues with Murray Franklyn developments

One of the questions we ask ourselves when challenging this project is whether we are just being a bunch of NIMBY-minded neighbors? What has helped convince us that we aren't is the fact that other neighborhoods in Seattle are having the exact same issues with the Murray Franklyn (the developer).

On Phinney Ridge a new condo building called 'Fini' is going up. You can read an article about the 'Fini' in the Seattle PI that includes this troubling quote,

Phinney Ridge Community Council President Irene Wall also is worried about such buildings creating a canyon around smaller ones.

"We are going to end up with a situation where you get neither the sunrise nor the sunset on the street," Wall said, adding that she is concerned about condo development spreading beyond the urban village in the neighborhood's plan."

(The article also gives a heads up about our project along with the fact that Williams Marketing will be handling the potential Wedgwood building's promotion).

The second neighborhood, Capitol Hill, is putting up a far more-organized and aggressive fight against Murray Franklyn's plans. In this case, the fight is on against a building that neighbors view as something that will help kill many of the things that make Capitol Hill what it is. This includes displacing diverse local businesses with boring alternatives, forgoing any individuality in the building's exterior design, and not using the wide range environmentally friendly building options currently available to builders.

You can read more about their efforts on urbnlivn.com.

The photo below shows how similar the proposed Capitol Hill property looks to the one proposed for Wedgwood.