hugeasscity

Town centers are a new catalyst for small cities (an updated, local version of this).

[ Rendering of the Packard Building renovation that stacks three new floors on top of the existing Foley Sign Building at 12th and Pine on Capitol Hill ] There sure isn’t a whole lot of the original Foley Sign building left on which to stack the three new floors of housing shown in the rendering […]

On Halloween I was out trick-or-treating in my neighborhood with my family when we heard the pop of five or six firecrackers in rapid succession. At least we hoped they were firecrackers. But the cruiser that tore down 24th Ave toward Garfield High School a few minutes later suggested otherwise. Next morning the CD News […]

Long Island, a.k.a., the Island of Lost Homes: “…efforts to build higher-density ‘smart growth’ developments have been vigorously, often rabidly, opposed by communities wedded to the single-family house behind the white picket fence.” The money word is “rabidly,” even though rabies probably doesn’t qualify as a “societal plague.”

Awards for architecture are often dominated by trophy homes and starchitecture, but this year AIA Seattle hopes to shift that focus with a new theme for the 2008 Honor Awards: Perform/Transform. The awards ceremony takes place this Monday, November 3 at 6pm at Benaroya Hall. “Perform” refers to the need for buildings to respond to […]

On the front page of today’s Seattle Times, along with a handy map (pdf). It’s an excellent summary, even though a lot of it is old news (many of these stalled projects were noted in previous posts here and here). The Seattle Times has set up an google map displaying project info supplied by readers, […]

. What may someday rise from the surface parking lot on the northeast corner of 1st and Stewart: 11 stories, 100 hotel rooms, 75 apartments, 5000 sf of street-level retail, 325 parking stalls on four underground levels; designed by OSKA, developed by Touchstone. It’s inspiring.  But can it be financed?  I have no clue, but […]

“He also wants to spend $15 billion to expand highways and reduce traffic congestion, which he says would reduce emissions.” That “he” would be Dino Rossi, and to back up this proposal his campaign cited a study about reductions in — oops! — carbon monoxide, not carbon dioxide. When the Seattle Times pressed them on […]

. [ Two Union Square ] . . [ Did they put the Space Needle on axis with 2nd Ave on purpose? ] . . [ Two ex-WaMus and a Sculpture Park ] . . [ One tall building hiding behind another ] . . [ Public benefit in exchange for development bonus: open space […]

[ 1933 Seattle streetcar system overlayed on current urban villages, by leesroberts, via STB ] One of the biggest benefits of expanding light rail in the Seattle area is the effect it will have on land use patterns. Because fixed guideway transit is a catalyst for focusing development in a bullseye around stations. In the […]

“The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.” So reports the BBC, citing the newly released “Teeb” report, that estimates the annual cost of forest loss is between $2 and $5 trillion, or about 7% of global GDP. Those are […]

Sterile rather than soulful, this is the all-business blue that fills your screen when you boot up windows; a blue that looks as if it was color-matched to the utilitarian blue of the generic blue tarp you can see in the bottom left of the photo. (Not that you asked…) At 19th and Yesler, this […]

[ The Madison Street corridor on Capitol Hill as seen from the Bank of America Tower ] In the last decade or so, a whole lotta building has sprouted around the Madison Street corridor on Capitol Hill. In this photo: Trace Lofts, The Braeburn, The Pearl, 1301 East Union, Madison Market, 1700 Madison (Trader Joe’s). […]

For which type of housing might we expect to see increased demand in the coming months and years? Trick question, cause if the economic inequality trends of the last two or three decades continue, the answer may well be both. But hey, no need to dwell on that. Walk two blocks north of here on […]

Dig this blindingly white new 3-pack at 24th and Grand in the central district. The photo was taken from the street, so one presumes there will soon be a big fence going in above the rockery. Please, let it be a white fence.

Hugeasscity’s Askimet comment spam filter is on the fritz, and has been blocking all comments. For now I have turned the filter off, so you should have no problem posting comments. I have tried to manually approve all the previously submitted legitimate comments, and I apologize to anyone who’s comment may have been inadvertently black-holed. […]

In the commentary below, Robert Steuteville, editor and publisher of New Urban News, makes the case that anti-density NIMBYs are a “societal plague.” As has been noted numerous times on this blog (e.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), Seattle is not immune. And we shall soon find out if upzones in […]

The recently completed $107 million renovation of Garfield High School was the most expensive ever undertaken by the Seattle School District. To put that in perspective, the price tag on the new downtown Four Seasons condo/hotel is $120 million. QWest Field cost $360 million, of which the public covered $300 million. The photo above shows […]

The August 25 issue of American Conservative randomly ended up in my hands the other day, and a perusal revealed two riffs worth a read. You have to subscribe to see the content online, but oddly, both articles are available for free at findarticles.com. In a piece entitled Future Perfect, Brian Kaller posits that yes, […]

Apropos the discussions of affordable housing here and here, on Tuesday October 7 at 5:30 p.m, the Seattle City Council will hold a public hearing on proposed incentive zoning legislation that would tie increases in allowed building heights to the provision of affordable housing. This PI piece provides a good overview. The two main points of contention […]