Architecture

How to Crush a Housing Project The Seattle Way

One saga demonstrates the difficulties developers face in getting infill projects permitted, even after reforms meant to encourage them. The City of Seattle permitting process...
A photo of a low-rise grocery store with a surface level parking lot in front of it.

734 Homes Proposed in University Village Safeway Redevelopment Plans

Details are emerging on plans to replace the suburban-style Safeway grocery story adjacent to University Village Mall with an eight-story mixed-use development. The plans...
Looking down a circular staircase

One Stairway is Enough to Reach Housing Heaven

A bill allowing single-stairway "point access block" buildings would enhance housing and neighborhoods. On February 2nd the Washington State Senate held its first hearing on...

Want to Revitalize Downtown? Here’s Eight Ways How

In the spring of 2020, downtown Seattle sat empty. A once bustling and growing core of tower cranes, thriving businesses, and active neighborhoods was...
A photo of West Seattle near the bridge and Harbor Island with a rendering of an apartment building superimposed on top.

Housing Notes: 16-Story Tower Proposed in Kirkland and 114 Middle-Income Homes in West Seattle

The Puget Sound Regional Council adopted a Regional Housing Strategy which could have a big impact on housing growth -- if cities and counties...

Ballard’s Historic District Board Looks to Blow the Roof Off Street Cafes

The future of wildly popular streateries now rests in a narrow view of the street's past. It’s 9am on a Thursday morning in the multipurpose...
A six story apartment rendered with white siding on the corners and brick in the middle.

Two Seattle QFC Redevelopments Run Into Concerns Around Height and Parking

Two housing projects -- one in Wedgwood and one in Capitol Hill -- are running into similar issues around tree retention, parking, and scale.
A bike whizzes by on Greenwood Avenue with a brick building in the background

Phinney Ridge Apartment Complex Pioneers Unique Communal Model

Delivering 35 new family-sized homes, Shared Roof features a unique financing model catering to a range of incomes, built-in community, and hip cafes spilling into a public courtyard. Is the model replicable? The developer thinks so.