It has been raining housing reports and housing news over the last week. Challenge Seattle, an alliance of local CEOs, released a 124-page housing report last Thursday that makes the case for Washington State cities to overhaul their zoning, land use, and permitting policies. The same day, Urban Institute released
According to news reports, it is difficult to walk into Chinatown without seeing urban blight and homelessness. The cityâs pre-eminent ethnic neighborhood is difficult to navigate without stumbling over drug debris and tents. Videos of people sleeping unsheltered and photos of litter in the curbs are interspersed with concern
Now, more than ever before, itâs essential that we protect our irreplaceable agricultural lands and promote the growth of resilient and regenerative food systems. The global food system faces an immense set of pressures disrupting it at every level. War in Ukraine has devastated one of the worldâs
Some of my earliest memories of taking public transit were the times when my maternal grandparents would occasionally walk me and my brother to Northgate Transit Center and bus us down to Chinatown. They would treat the two of us to a meal at Mikeâs Noodle House or ćĽćĽ
Among the victims of 2020 is the Seattle Labor Temple, which the association of unions that manages the building put up for sale last summer. The 1942 Art Deco building on the corner of 1st Avenue and Clay Street in Belltown will be renovated and converted to a co-working space
On Tuesday, July 21st, Futurewise hosted Addie Candib, Pacific Northwest Regional Director of American Farmland Trust for a conversation about the threatened state of farmland in Washington. You can watch our entire conversation on the Futurewise Facebook page. Before we dig into our conversation with Candib, letâs start with
If youâve ever driven on US-101 through Downtown Los Angeles, youâve seen Geoff Palmerâs Renaissance-style apartments. Marketed under ostentatious names such as The Medici, The Orsini, and The Visconti, they are frequently noted for their facadesâ unnecessary gaudiness and scattered presence polluting Downtown Los Angeles. Appearances are
On Monday, the Seattle City Council accepted $6,632.52 in grant funding to plan right-of-way beautification and safety improvements as part of the RapidRide H Line project. The improvements would be targeted for four stretches of the corridor in the Delridge area. Last week, the city council also formally
On Monday, the Seattle City Council took a big step in approving a rezone and development plan for the Fort Lawton site. The legislation will pave the way for an affordable housing complex with more than 235 homes to move forward. The city council also extended what amounts to a
As Seattle City Council debates legislation that would require additional housing affordability contributions from developers, big questions have emerged about whether efforts to preserve affordable housing would hurt or help. âNaturally occurring affordable housingâ has become a buzz word in urban planning and policy circles in recent years. It refers
On Monday, the Seattle City Council officially designated a new landmark. Known as the Broad Street Substation, the property and building provide valuable electrical service to the burgeoning districts in Uptown, Belltown, and South Lake Union. The site was progressively developed between 1949 and 1951 in a style reminiscent of
In this video, Dave Amos from City Beautiful talks about air rights and transfer of development rights through the lens of Grand Central Terminal, which was preserved under the zoning and land use principles.
On Monday, the Seattle City Council temporarily expanded the Pike Place Market Historic District, effectively saving the Showbox for now. The reprieve doesnât guarantee perpetual protection of the famed music venue, but it does set in motion a process to study a permanent expansion of the historic district to
On Monday, the Seattle City Council approved a slate of landmarks in Uptown and rezoned a property in Greenwood to facilitate a mixed-use development proposal. The city council also hotly debated the introduction of a new ordinance to temporarily the Pike Place Market landmark district to cover the Showbox site
Former Seattle city council member, Nick Licata is holding a salon on Design and Citizen Activism on August 8th with UW Professor Karen Cheng. Licata, who served five terms on the city council, has published a book called Becoming a Citizen Activist. I met up with him at CafĂŠ Racer
On Monday, the Seattle City Council decided the process to establish a business improvement area in the SoDo district and the fate of two landmarks. The city council approved the formal landmarking of a former Auto Row retail building in Capitol Hill and stark Modernist office building in Fremont. The
On Monday, the Seattle City Council met for a relatively light legislative session on policy substance. However, councilmembers approved a new Central District landmark in the form of a culturally-significant church and gave reauthorization for a longstanding homeless shelter lease in SoDo. Councilmembers will take up some hefty discussion in
Take a step back in time to the golden age of streetcars in this video. Campaigners to restore the historic Benson waterfront trolleys share the story of how these streetcars came to serve Seattle and inspire. Friends of the Benson Trolleys hope to bring them back to city streets once
On Monday, the Seattle City Council formally registered two new landmarks with preservation controls. In Eastlake, the old Pacific Architect and Builder Building represents a bygone era of early Modernism while in West Seattle the Crescent-Hamm Building is a finer specimen of craft masonry construction. Crescent-Hamm Building Located in the
On Monday, the Seattle City Council approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Oak View Group (OVG) paving the was for a $600 million redevelopment plan of KeyArena at Seattle Center and possibly the return of the Sonics. The MOU drew most of the attention during the meeting and
On Monday, the Seattle City Council received a policy briefing on recommendations to improve the safety of unreinforced masonry structures. The council also approved a site-specific rezone in the Madrona neighborhood, which could allow for more mixed-use development on the neighborhoodâs main north-south retail spine. Unreinforced Masonry Building Recommendations
The evolution of Pike Place Market continues with a physical expansion of the market. In late June, the market heralded the opening of its new MarketFront pavilion, plaza, and artisan retail spaces. Architecture critic Mark Hinshaw has described it as the marketâs âfront porch,â an apt description since it
Local preservationists were dealt a significant victory today in a Supreme Court ruling that partially settled the primacy of Seattleâs preservation ordinance. The unanimous decision reverses a lower courtâs decision on whether or not the City of Seattleâs preservation laws apply to property owned by the University
The area of Chinatown-International District is already zoned for tall buildings, but a new neighborhood zoning proposal could push building heights higher and allow wider buildings. The proposal pairs mandatory requirements for affordable housing with the zoning changes. Developers would generally be expected to set aside 5% to 7% of
Stephanie Meeks, President and CEO of the Nation Trust for Historic Preservation, leads an insightful half-hour discussion on the past and future of cities on wide-ranging issues pertinent to sustaining diverse, functional, and vibrant cities. Meeks puts a historic preservation lens on the discussion, considering how historic buildings and districts
Tacoma Untapped broke the news that Horizon Partners NW has proposed a 14-story tower in Tacomaâs Brewery District that incorporates cross-laminated timber (CLT). If built, it would be Washington stateâs first tower to use CLT, and be even taller Portlandâs 12-story Pearl District CLT tower, which just
The Seattle City Council responded to the concerted efforts of No New Youth Jail activists on Tuesday and passed a bill clearing up a procedural loophole and allowing opponents to appeal the new juvenile detention centerâs land use permit. King County Executive Dow Constantineâs support for the $225
Mike Rosenberg reported yesterday on the pending sale of the Talaris campusâ18 acres of prime real estate adjacent to Seattle Childrenâs Hospital in Laurelhurst. While Rosenberg calculates the land could be worth more than $60 million dollars if developed as 80 to 90 detached single-family homes, the land
Early Wednesday morning a detachment of about 15 Seattle Police Department officers dispersed a group of people camped inside Black Dot, which is located within the Midtown Center in the Central District. Focused on serving Black entrepreneurs, the community space had already faced intimidation tactics and been pressured with eviction.
The Chinatown-International District area is next up for rezoning under the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda program, which seeks to pair rezones with Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements for new residential and non-residential development. Situated at the south end of Downtown, the neighborhood is renowned for is economic and cultural
What is the International Special Review District (ISRD)? The International Special Review District (ISRD) is where the future of the âlookâ of the Chinatown-International District of Seattle is determined. The most exciting part of sitting in any design review meeting is catching a glimpse into a rip in the fabric
In 2011, the Seattle City Council reached what was, at the time, perceived as a compromise on height limits in Pioneer Square. Councilmember Tim Burgess, who on Monday announced his retirement from the city council after becoming its elder statesman, at the time talked about a Solomonian compromise between the
Boosters of the International District have put a lot of work into branding the districtâs distinct Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese cultural identities. Over the years, the neighborhood have used various strategies to add cultural character such as wall murals, artistic wraps on utility boxes, stylized light poles, ornamental statues
Seattle is poised to get three new city landmarks. At a meeting of the Seattle City Council yesterday, councilmembers approved the landmarks as part of their post-budget back-to-regular business agenda. Only five councilmembers were present at the session. The Council also signaled approval of funding policies that will guide the
Central District residents filed into Washington Hall auditorium on Monday to hear about four mixed-use projects and focus on maximizing the communityâs benefit from each. The event was named Imagine Africatown Update after the grassroots Africatown campaign that has emerged around Black empowerment in Seattle. Thinking long-term, host K.
Today, Councilmember Debora Juarez will likely introduce a bill to the City Council, cosponsored by Councilmembers Harrell, Burgess, and OâBrien, that will request that the Washington State Department of Transportation transfer the ownership of a segment of property that it owns near the soon-to-be-decommissioned old SR-520 bridge to the
Perhaps due to upcoming budget deliberations, the Seattle City Council took up a crowded legislative agenda on Monday with 35 pieces of legislation (many which were appointments). The Council approved important policy changes on plastic bags and the Living Building Program, and also weighed in on preservation of a new
Two buildings in Capitol Hill have officially been designated as city landmarks. The Seattle City Council approved the historic preservation controls for the Gaslight Inn and J.W. Bullock House yesterday. Both structures represent very different aspects of Seattleâs past. Gaslight Inn The Gaslight Inn (1727 15th Ave) was
It was a packed agenda for the Seattle City Council yesterday with a range of land use and housing topics passing across the dais. These included six items on the agenda: 1. AÂ rezone in Lake City focused on urban design; 2. A suite of new renter protections; 3. An
At the BOOM: Changing Seattle exhibition Seattleites interested in shaping Seattleâs future began by looking backward. Rapid change is nothing new to our city. The Urbanist checked in with three Seattleites involved in the must-see exhibit. Together, they have made connections that will appeal to a broad swath of
Itâs been a long haul since the November kick-off, but wait until you see what over a hundred volunteers mapped over 1,000+ hours and what it reveals. Thereâs an extraordinary amount of historic buildings in Greater Ballard. The maps created from all the data (7,300+ structures,
The Seattle City Council weighed in on three land use items yesterday, which included votes for a site-specific rezone and the landmark designation of two separate structures. The first two votes dealt with establishing historic preservation controls to protect a City-owned structure on the Seattle waterfront and a privately-owned building
As our city continues to discuss how we grow, one phrase that we hear often is âNeighborhood Character.â Often the issue of Neighborhood Character is dismissed by urbanists as a tool to slow development. At the same time, we also see renters dismissed as being âtransientâ and somehow not real
The Ballard Historical Society (BHS) is ramping up on a great program to document the more than 100-years past of the former independent city turned North Seattle neighborhood. Beginning in December, BHS will embark on a 6-month journey to develop a historic resource inventory and dynamic interactive map. Laying the
A lot of drama has been brewing over the past few months in Pioneer Square. Thatâs because one developer has proposed a new 11-story building on the edge of the historic district. Wedged between the Alaskan Way Viaduct and S Jackson Street, the current structure falls within the boundary
A pretty sizable crowd turned out at City Hall on Wednesday evening to listen to historical minutiae and discussions of structural integrity with a clear goal in mind: putting up a roadblock to the development of one of Belltownâs most dense commercial strips. We covered the building under review