Those Who Opposed Landmark Status For The Ballard Denny’s, Accept Your Punishment
And you can include me among those whose deserve the punishment rendered above. Thank you sir, can I have another!
Sweet Jesus, this is what Rhapsody Partners and Freiheit and Ho Architects have in mind to mark the gateway to Ballard on the northwest corner of 15th and Market (65mb design review pdf here). A generic monstrosity, a poster child for soulless multifamily design, but to be expected from the developer and architect — check their websites.
The design review board is not yet satisfied, but it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be able to force a significant redesign. This is what tends to happen when buildings are put up by people with little connection to the local culture.
Filling the site formally occupied by the “Googie” Denny’s building, the project will provide 287 condo units, 33k SF of retail, and 446 underground parking stalls. Bartell’s is the anchor tenant, which is why there’s a stealth drive-thru located inside the building’s first level. But hiding the drive-thru doesn’t make it any more appropriate for a transit hub in a densifying urban neighborhood. And as I said before, 15th and Market is already a grim intersection for pedestrians.
Now I’m not known for being a density-phobe, but man, the more I look at that rendering the closer I get to jumping off the density bandwagon and calling Knute Berger to see if Crosscut needs another slow growther author.