The Roosevelt neighborhood is adding another apartment building to its collection after a six-story building was approved in a Seattle design review board meeting on January 30th. Hui Tian, principal for Studio19 Architects, presented their plans before the board for a second time, gaining approval to move forward.
“G&K Investment LLC selected the site because its proximity to the light rail station and UW campus. They think the location and the type of development, mixed use multifamily, is a good fit for each other,” said Tian.
To differentiate their project from the surrounding ones in the Roosevelt neighborhood, Studio19 Architects incorporated parking, which, according to the current zoning, is not required. In the plan, the apartments will have 47 below-grade parking stalls on one and a half levels.
The apartments, located at 4218 Roosevelt Way NE, will have studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and will also include amenities such as a fitness room, 60 bike stalls and balconies on the 4th and 6th levels. During the first design guidance meeting, Tian said the board wanted to see some setbacks on the alley side of the building. “We provided some setbacks to reduce the mass and make it more playful,” she said.
The building will also include a roof deck equipped with seating, bbqs and a fireplace. The architects said they hope to be Green Factor compliant with the incorporation of a green roof.
“Everything in the landscape architecture counts towards points for the Green Factor,” said Jason Morse of AHBL, who is serving as the landscape architect for the project. “We’ve got an extensive green roof here that will provide visual interest,” he added.
The six-story 110-unit apartment building also offers 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The retail space is on either side of the entrance, which is located towards the center of the building along Roosevelt Way N.E. While the tenant for the retail space hasn’t been determined yet, Tian said G&K Investment LLC would like to see a restaurant in at least one of the spaces.
Since the building has neighbors directly to the north and south, they wanted to help maintain a consistent look on the street level. “Keeping continuation of the storefront look of the hotel next door and the hardware store with the glass front,” said Tian. The apartment building is between Watertown Hotel and Hardwick’s Hardware.
The dark brick building highlights bright accent colors in yellow and orange which are prominent throughout the exterior of the project. The incorporation of orange is lined in some of the windows and then peaks out at an angle in other window frames.
“The architectural design draws inspiration from the UW neighborhood and the Seattle youth culture,” said Tian. “The textured dark brick facade is offset by the playfulness brought by the irregular window patterns and bold accent colors in the canopy and facade to create an energetic, playful, eclectic yet elegant and timeless architecture piece,” she added.
During board deliberations, board member and architect Blake Williams said he’s concerned about the architectural consistency throughout the project in terms of the window designs. “In some ways it’s almost too much complexity,” he said. “I’d like to strengthen the play between the two window detail variances just a little bit,” he added.
Board member and architect Eric Blank, however, disagreed saying he likes the randomness of the window design. “It’s playful, it’s fun, it’s intentional, it’s wacky,” he said. After further explanation from architects on the intent of the design, Williams then had a small change of heart saying, “Maybe the way you experience it, maybe is not as chaotic as the renderings are showing,” he said.
Overall, the board approved their design and commended the architects for using very high quality materials and believe the building has a nice overall composition. Tian said their construction will begin as soon as the master use permit is approved and could start as early as this spring.
