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November 5, 2013

Legacy making plans to redevelop two old buildings at 11th and Pine

By JON SILVER
Journal Staff Reporter

Image courtesy of Legacy Commercial [enlarge]
The buildings once housed the REI store and office space. This rendering is conceptual so the shape, materials and other details could change.

Legacy Companies is looking at redeveloping a pair of century-old buildings at 11th Avenue and Pine Street on Capitol Hill.

They are the 18,200-square-foot Pine Building at 1021 E. Pine St., and the 36,900-square-foot Value Village Building at 1525 11th Ave.

The Pine Building houses The Stranger newsweekly and a new bar is expected to open there later this year. The Value Village Building was REI's main store for many years.

The goal is to create “a true mixed-use project with office, ground-floor retail, as well as residential components,” according to Will Nelson, a broker and property manager for Legacy.

The site also includes a small parking lot on the south side of Value Village.

A proposal filed with the city mentions plans for underground parking.

Ankrom Moisan is the architect.

Nelson said the project is “still in its infancy,” and he didn't provide details about the size of the residential addition or how the new spaces would be configured.

As for the office space, he said, “In the current economic environment, speculative office projects require some certainty, and we are not far enough along to determine the make-up of our co-tenancy.”

The properties are in the city's Pike/Pine conservation overlay district, which is designed to preserve pre-1940 buildings and promote mixed-use development.

Legacy's project would incorporate the street-facing facades of the buildings in the new development.

The firm has been consulting with Mallet Construction on how to preserve some of the architectural details. Other consultants include Bush, Roed & Hitchings for civil engineering and the Riley Group for feasibility work.

A possible update to the Pike/Pine conservation district could affect Legacy's plans. New rules were proposed earlier this year by city councilmembers Tom Rasmussen and Sally Clark that would limit the size of structures that are more than 35 feet, or about three stories tall.

Nelson said Legacy is basing its proposal on the existing rules.

“The proposed code modifications were released after our planning process was under way, and we are unclear on what changes will actually be made,” he said.

The new rules are facing an appeal by AvalonBay Communities, which wants to build a seven-story building with 300 apartments and retail at 600 E. Pike St. The next appeal hearing is scheduled for Jan. 21.

Another issue for Legacy is that the existing tenants have long-term leases, and so it could be several years before work could proceed.

“We intend to operate the properties in their current form for the foreseeable future,” Nelson said. “There is not a predetermined start date for this development, or a firm determination if we will proceed.”


 


Jon Silver can be reached by email or by phone at (206) 622-8272.




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