June 11, 2020

Seattle apartment project could add height by saving ‘exceptional' tree

Rendering by Public47 Architects [enlarge]

Zoning allows 55 feet, but this six-story plan by Public47 Architects would reach 70 feet if the city accepts a trade-off to preserve a madrona tree on the property.

Photo from Public47 Architects [enlarge]

The “exceptional” 60-foot-tall madrona tree is on the site’s northeast corner.

Last fall, through an LLC, Shilshole Development paid $3.5 million for a vacant site at 4529 Sand Point Way N.E. in northeast Seattle.

The triangular property is just south of the Burke-Gilman Trail, and west of the eight-story Laurelhurst Condominium, which dates to 1968, before modern zoning.

Shilshole's triangle is zoned up to 55 feet. But, with Public47 Architects, it's proposing a six-story, 70-unit building that would rise 70 feet above Sand Point Way.

The proposal would gain the extra height in exchange for saving the “exceptional” madrona tree on the property's northeast corner (so designated by consultant Arborists NW). Since the property slopes up to the north, the 10 feet of bonus height is measured from the average grade, five feet above the sidewalk.

Public47 notes, “With the additional height, the proposed building is shorter than the eight-story neighbor,” i.e. the Laurelhurst Condominiums. If the city agrees to the trade-off, a large black locust next to the madrona would also be preserved. The mats of ivy would presumably be removed from both.

If the city doesn't agree, a five-story plan would also have about 70 units, with a larger building footprint and no madrona tree.

The building is currently labeled as Trestle Flats, a nod to the old Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway (today the Burke-Gilman Trail), and the Yesler lumber mill and trestle on Union Bay. (There's also another trestle nearby at Five Corners.)

The plan also includes about 5,500 square feet of medical offices and restaurant space, in two bays.

Units would range from one to three bedrooms. Public47's preferred design has a prominent rounded prow on the site's skinny west tip, along with a little plaza that might be used for outdoor cafe seating.

About 47 parking stalls, some stacked, would be at and below grade, with access from Sand Point Way. A roll-out bike room on the building's north side would have direct access to the trail, via a separately owned parking lot.

Project size above grade is estimated at 73,000 square feet, which apparently includes the small roof deck.

The team also includes Karen Kiest Landscape Architects and KPFF, civil engineer.

Public47 and Shilshole recently completed a somewhat similar project on another awkward site: the 42-unit Inspire at the Russell W. Young Building, at 3825 Bridge Way N. in Fremont

The Trestle Flats triangle was once home to the Bicycle Center shop and apartments, which suffered an arson attack in 2005. The building was razed in 2016, and the land has since been used for food trucks and Christmas tree sales.