Valley residents pack PCC Market building presentation

The president of the architectural firm hired to design a multi-use building on the site of City People’s Garden Store says he wants to be “a better neighbor” to the residents and business owners of Madison Valley.

But at a packed meeting to unveil possible designs for the planned apartment complex and commercial center — and writing online afterward — development skeptics from the group Save Madison Valley said they were angry they weren’t given a neighborly chance to speak.

More than 120 Madison Valley residents showed up to the Bush School May 17 to see three possible architectural designs for the building presented by Charles Strazzara of Studio Meng Strazzara. The meet-and-greet was organized by Madison Valley Community Council President Lindy Wishard and the Central Area Land Use Review Committee, an independent group that works with developers and local government on land use issues.

Committee facilitator Jeff Floor said it was the mission of the group to build a bridge between the community and developers.

As a professional architect himself, Floor said he understood the obstacles faced by developers on the path to getting their projects approved by city officials. But as a community member he also sympathized with residents’ loss of City People’s, a popular institution.

“I have a very dear friend who was one of the first employees there,” Floor said. “She has a big life change ahead.”

In March, City People’s majority owner Steve Magley announced that the garden store would close at the end of the year, after the property owners struck a deal to sell to development firm The Velmeir Companies.

Velmeir has applied for a permit with the city Department of Construction and Inspections to build a three-story complex with underground parking garage. A commercial center anchored by the PCC grocery store would sit at the level of East Madison Street, with apartments above and garage parking extending into the hillside above Dewey Place East, in the valley about 30 feet below Madison.

The project has drawn a number of critics from the residential neighborhood in that valley, who have expressed concern over factors such as a loss of light due the building’s height and the risk of ground liquefaction on the steep hillside.

Others are worried about the traffic grocery store deliveries and apartment-dwellers will add to the busy Madison Street corridor, such as Madison Park Community Council President Maurice Cooper [see “Community Corner” on page B6].

On a recent walking tour around the back of City People’s, Save Madison Valley members Tony Hacker and Sarah Trethewey pointed out the peace and quiet of the single-family neighborhood along Dewey Place East. They said that only became the case eight years ago — it had been rougher up to eight years prior and that, during that period, it wasn’t unusual to find a “stripped” vehicle along the road.

“We haven’t had a stolen car in I don’t know how long,” Trethewey said.

They’re worried that peace will be disrupted if a grocery store brings more foot traffic to the area.

Longtime resident Jerry Fulks, of Arboretum Neighbors for Safer Streets, is another person opposed to the multi-story project. He recalled how, in 1990, Madison Valley residents banded together to stop another high-rise project on 3001 E. Madison St., immediately northeast of City People’s.

“My main concern is, how does this design differ from that one?” he said. “Who knows? Maybe with the new density, [the Seattle City Council] will approve it. But I say to hell with it.”

Studio Meng Strazzara will present its plans to the city of Seattle for early design guidance July 27. 

The firm presently has three possible designs. One contained a central courtyard in the style of the Sunset Electric building on East Pine Street in Capitol Hill. Another eschewed the courtyard in order to offset the front of the building from the Madison Street sidewalk. Both kept the building edges close to surrounding property lines.

“I think we can be a better neighbor than that,” Strazzara said. “I think there’s a lack of opportunity for buffering and I think there’s a lack of opportunity for landscaping [with these designs].”

Strazzara’s third and preferred design created a small landscaped buffer between the building and property lines. It also dropped the height of the building nearly 30 feet at the hillside slope to somewhat alleviate valley residents’ height concerns. 

“Height is a big concern and I get that,” he said. “… I purposely tried to push that massing toward Madison.”

Strazzara briefly fielded questions but, after it was announced that input would primarily be taken via a written group exercise, some Save Madison Valley members protested. Many left the meeting.

Group member Edward Alan Clark said attendees had expected a greater amount of spoken input and questioning.

“Save Madison Valley … has been completely shut down by the organization of this meeting,” Clark said.

The written exercise yielded suggestions such as affordable housing units, a traffic signal at the parking garage and a “green wall” of plant growth on the side of the parking garage facing Dewey.

Floor conceded some time to Save Madison Valley member Kevin Murphy to discuss the group and its mission. 

Since City People’s announced its impending closure, Save Madison Valley had incorporated as a nonprofit, retained a land use attorney and partnered with architect and politician Peter Steinbrueck to help shape the development project, Murphy said.

“Madison Street is backed up [as it is],” Murphy said. “Do we really have the capacity as a neighborhood for our roads, mass transit, our emergency services? That’s what we’re worried about.”