‘Ballard West’ wins conditional design approval

Geeky Swedes Ballard

The proposed six-story apartment building complex known as “Ballard West” won conditional approval by the Design Review Board last night. The development is slated for the Old Ballard Library site, along 24th Ave. at 57th.

While the board liked the proposal (.pdf) for three sides of the building, the board asked that architects make some changes to the east elevation — which features ground-level retail space facing 24th Ave. Those changes will be approved by DPD without returning to the Design Review Board.

Our earlier story explains many of the architectural features, including the facility’s “green roof” and environmental-friendly design.

Geeky Swedes

The founders of My Ballard

101 thoughts to “‘Ballard West’ wins conditional design approval”

  1. Where are they supposed to park? I currently live on this block. There is NO parking. The city has had no foresight on parking in Ballard. We can’t all ride bikes like (clueless) McGinn.

  2. yep, that stretch of 24th really blows now as it is – its dangerous. the cars pulling out of sidestreets have no visablilty so they just lutch out into 24th, there are two crosswalks a block apart crossing 24th where people just wander into the road in their black cloths, ipod on, head down, deivery trucks of various sorts “parked” in the turn lane, etc etc .

    my point? this structure won’t help one bit!

  3. AGREED!!! there is no parking as-is, and adding a 5 story apartment building will make our streets a nightmare. I hope they don’t get the funding to go through with this project….

  4. The parking issue is going to be a nightmare. Even with underground parking, there is NO safe place for drivers to safely exit or enter. Fortunately, I can avoid 24th most of the time, so I’ll just have to step up my efforts.

  6. parking wouldn’t be an issue if many of the people I see in ballard (certainly all my neighbors) have 2 or 3 cars.

    many of my neighbors have 4 cars for 2 people.

    I could care less if this building doesn’t offer enough parking, because there’s never enough for most of you.

  8. Add parking? Hah, that’s laughable.

    Look, you are not paying attention. Put down the bong and open your eyes.

    The mayor’s goal is to make life as miserable as possible for anyone who dares to own a car. This is just part of the plan: shove in as much density as possible everywhere, remove parking at every opportunity, and reduce street capacity whenever possible.

    You WILL get around by bus or bicycle, whether you want to or not. Those are your only options. Get used to it.

    Why is anyone surprised? The mayor and his pals don’t hide the agenda.

  12. Oh good, another vacant lot for the next 5 years. How bout building that monstrosity where Sunset Bowl used to be? I can’t believe Ballard is selling out to all these developers.

  13. Does somebody know something we all don’t? Who’s going to live in these, with many of the others still well below full occupancy already? As people shack-up or stay single longer I guess there’s a need? Is it any wonder property rights are not what they used to be, what with people owning a box inside a building, what do they care about property rights when after all, they’ve got their place and no worries at all.

  14. It’s quite simple…

    If you institute minimum-parking requirements, you end up building Los Angeles.

    If you institute maximum-parking requirements, you get long-term results closer to San Francisco, Vancouver, or Boston.

    Which do you want, punks?

  15. Crap. I’m in a power wheelchair and it’s dangerous enough trying to cross the road on 24th even WITH the lights…let’s add another 88 cars to the area!

  18. 88 stalls of underground parking.

    I could re register with a bunch of different names to make it look like there’s a swelling mass of people opposed to this, but meh…

  19. Revolt against what? Revolt that your ” Ye Olde Ballarde” neighbors sold out once the property values went up? Revolt that there’s too many options for food and entertainment? Revolt that there’s too many stores now? Revolt that your clock only goes in one direction?

  20. I know!!! It’s like anyone who doesn’t own real property can vote now! Women too! Those were the good old days I tells ya! When a property owner could do as he pleased and damn what any of those little people said.
    I’m going to tear down my house and build a ten story tall pig farm and slaughter house, but noooooo the damn guvmint says I can’t do that. No respect for my property rights.

  22. Parking does suck in Boston and SF, but I get the point. A livable walkable city thrives more on density than it does on parking. The only catch is that Seattle’s transit isn’t quite up to the challenge yet.

  26. The people who move in won’t be “Olde Ballarde” so the 88 stalls of underground parking should be enough for 88 residents.

  31. There’s some links in the story, but I’m sure they have nothing to do with the building or parking, so I won’t click them. Darn, I really wanted to know too!

  36. No kidding. And Metro only seems to get worse with each incremental increase in demand.

    It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-egg: will overwhelming demand finally beget adequate transit, or will the transit have to improve fourfold before everyone stops bitching about their precious parking on neighborhood blogs?

    Still, the WORST thing you can do is built lots of density yet keep it auto-centric. Forget about parking: those roads stay the same size, and those light cycles stay the same length, and now you’ve poured hundreds or thousands more cars into the funnel!

  39. I wonder if those people will leave their cars in their 88 underground parking spaces and take Metro or walk around the neighborhood, or will they drive their cars around leaving 88 empty underground parking spots.

  44. The folks who built Hjarta, and have now sold 50% of it!, also own this property. Y’all are probably right about not getting the funding to build this one. They were probably depending on the revenues from Hjarta. Seeing as how they had to slash the prices to even get 50% sold I suspect they hain’t even made their costs yet. Have the Benroya’s, who own the eyesore next door to Hjarta, moved any further in the design process?? Other than putting in a permanent fence around the empty lot that is??

    Oh! And SPG you’ve given me cramps from laughing. So what is it?? How many Olds 88’s gonna fit down there??!!

  45. Do the people who build these monstrosities even reside remotely close to Seattle and/or Ballard? Do these fucktards not realize these things don’t sell for shit? Look at 17th and Market. Or the old Denny’s. Yes, different locations, but same concept.

    Seems like Ballard is turning into a “who’s condo developer’s dick is the biggest” race.

  49. If it were Olde Ballarde than 66 Oldsmobile 88’s would fit at most in the 88 underground parking spots as Olde Ballard isn’t as good at parking between the lines.

  52. You should take your potty mouth down into the parking garage once this is built to see how your curse words echo off the 88 underground parking spaces.

  55. These are apartments, not condos, so I don’t think there will be too much of an issue filling the units. With 1-, 2-, and 3-BR units, there will easily be well over 100 cars to accomodate, which means 20-30 cars will be on the street. As residents down there can attest, parking is already impossible down there. Good luck.

  56. How many parking stalls are in this planned structure? Because if there just happens to be 88, well, I know for a fact that will be enough.

  57. Wait a second, I just figured something out. If the residents are REQUIRED to own Smart cars, then, guess what? Yup, your looking at 176 parking stalls. I did the math.

  58. Anybody remember the old Ballard? I even miss the old Eagles, the old QFC, the Ford dealership. They can take their 88 parking places and put ’em where the sun don’t shine. That’s probably where they’ll be too.

  61. SPG is my hero.

    The best news about this is the suggestion that the financing for projects like this might be loosening up a little, which means not just this thing, but maybe some of the giant holes around town will get filled.

    I’m going to go out on a limb, though, and guess that the “retail spaces” are all six feet deep and thus suitable only for nail salons and check cashing places.

  62. My wife was telling me just the other day that I should think about getting my nails done once in awhile. So, if there’s a nail salon in there somewhere that’ll work out good for me.

  64. Thats because all the parking on streets like 59th was taken away by “old ballard” and their crappy azz apartment buildings built in the 70s and 80s (now remodeled into condos).

  65. I know where there’s going to be some vacancy for a little bit… underground. parking spaces. 88 of them. At least until the first tenants move in.

  66. Ahhh… I miss living in Ballard. Thanks to the “housing bubble” bursting and Seattle allowing landlords free reign (no rent control) to jack up rents by absurd amounts (so they could drive tenants out and “go condo”), my son and I had to leave Seattle. I miss Molly McGuire’s, The Tractor Tavern, Conor Byrne, the movie theater, the May Day parade, Ballard HS (where my son went), the Zoo, and oh so many other things. It was a great 10 years we lived there and if I could afford it and if there were any decent paying jobs, I’d move back there in a second. Of course it’s not the same any more, but I still miss the old neighborhood.

  67. 88 stalls for 108 units – sounds like a song. Sounds like someone is assuming 20 units are for bicyclists or those who can teleport…

  70. Wow! Another condo cliff for the neighborhood. It’s starting to look like Belltown.
    Glad I sold my house a block a way on NW57th and moved to Columbia City…Where you can park you car anytime and actually get seated in a restaurant without reservations or a long wait.

  71. Aren’t there enough apartment and condo high rises in Ballard on 24th?? The traffic at this intersection on 24th is already a nightmare, so why on earth would the city approve yet another multi-unit building. That one corner will have high rises on every corner. The charm of Ballard is disappearing with each condo/apartment building that goes up. Might be time to sell and get out.

  72. I would revolt against the disappearance of Ballard as we know it. The charm of Ballard is fading quickly and some of us are not excited to get yet another mulit-unit building on 24th.

  73. Wow, I come in here to check out what’s going on with the space next door to me and find a bunch of irrational complaining about all the new people moving into the area. Way to welcome all of us new folks excited to enjoy Ballard along with the rest of you “Old Ballardites.”

  74. 6 stories is a high-rise? On what planet? You do realize Seattle is a city, don’t you? A city is not a good place to live if your are scared of buildings.

  75. I would revolt against the disappearance of 88 spaces of underground parking. Beyond that, every neighborhood goes through changes and not being the exact same place as when you grew up and idealized it isn’t reason enough to call those changes bad or revolt against something nebulous and intangible.

  78. I’ve been to a few hot-spots in Ballard recently (Bal-Mar, anyone?) and yes, there are plenty of giant holes around their trying to get filled.

  79. Not sure if you are aware of this, but the housing bubble burst and there is plenty of affordable rentals available in the neighborhood.

    Also I am pretty sure there are thousands of good paying jobs right in downtown Seattle, a short jaunt from Ballard.

  84. Well, I can totally see how demanding MORE off-street parking for new construction, as most here are doing, will solve this problem!

    New construction + expectation of continued auto usage + crappy transit that Seattleites will strangely defend but not use + road capacity remains constant = stymied city.

  85. Hey Art Fern, My grandfather was born in Ballard and helped build the Locks. My father was born in Ballard and worked as a Welder for 40 years by Salmon Bay Cafe. I was born here in 1970. Who welcomed you?

  86. Hey Ric, well MY ancestor was an indian that your jingoistic pig of a grandfather pushed out in order to build a log and split cedar shingles. His family was just quietly fishing when you came and pillaged the land. His ancestors go back into the 1500’s, so who welcomed you here?

  87. Few questions for you Dave:

    -There were Indians living and “quietly fishing” in Ballard in 1912?
    -What’s a “log and split cedar shingles”?
    -Who “pillaged” the land? Me or my Grandpa?
    -Wouldn’t “His ancestors” also be yours, since you did reference “MY ancestors”?

    Take your time providing me the answers. I can see intellect aint your strong suit.

  88. Hey SPG…catch a clue!
    The apartment building should have 107 plus spaces of underground parking. There are 107 apartment units, plus commercial space which will have employees and customers. Your banter of “88” spaces will not handle the capacity of the building by a long shot!

  89. “I can see intellect aint your strong suit.” Nice demonstration of your intellect. I was sitting around with friends drinking beers when I cam across your typical Seattle BS line of “Who welcomed you?”, implying that you’re inferior to others because your grandfather was here.

  90. Dave, you’re pretty dumb. We all get that. No need to constantly illustrate it.

    “cam”?

    Did you, umm, perhaps mean “came”? Use that E on your keyboard. It’s there for a reason. It’s in the top left side of your keyboard, right between the R and the W.

    “you’re inferior”?

    Really? You think I was proclaiming my own inferiority? I think, just maybe, that you were trying to state that I believe OTHERS with less neighborhood-bound lineage are inferior to me. Is that what you meant? If so, here are a couple options you could’ve used to communicate that properly:

    “I was sitting around with friends drinking beers when I cam [sic] across your typical Seattle BS line of “Who welcomed you?”, implying that you’re superior to others because your grandfather was [born]here. ”

    Or even this:

    “I was sitting around with friends drinking beers when I cam [sic] across that typical Seattle BS line ( “Who welcomed you?”) that implies one is inferior to those whose grandafthers were born here. ”

    Try those puppies on for size and let me know how they feel. I know it’s hard Dave, but keep at it! You’ll eventually get it!

  93. The banter about the Ballad of Ballard should include a verse about 88 underground parking spaces.
    Kidding aside, there are still places to walk to and there is still a few bus routes that run through Ballard, so maybe not everyone will or even should have a car. And for the record one may catch a bus, a cold, a ball, a bird, a rabbit by the toe, but one gets a clue and since I’m the rubber and you’re the glue, I say get a clue too!

  98. But you don’t have 88 underground parking spaces, GOOD restaurants, or a neighborhood worth visiting, so who cares? You don’t see all of us clamoring to comment all over your neighborhood blog, if you even have one?

  99. runonlongassname + use of math signs + occasional ALLCAPS + exclamation point + no mention of 88 underground parking spaces = lousy comment + no likes.

  101. How many underground parking spaces is too many underground parking spaces when your non-underground transit is still shit?

    88 underground parking spaces!

    [sigh]

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