Keeping up

Tacos are in our future (and sushi?)

The rumor we picked up and reported a few weeks ago that a taco stand could be moving into the space once occupied by Best Buds flower shop at 41st and E. Blaine has proven  true. A company called Taco Bar LLC has applied for a liquor license for that site, though no construction activity is currently underway there.

Meanwhile, there's a new rumor, though unsubstantiated (that's the thing about rumors), that the replacement for the departed Mad Pizza on Madison St. might be "something Japanese."  As with the old Best Buds shop, however, the former pizza parlor is not undergoing rehabilitation at this point.

Finally on the food scene, Madison Park Conservatory served its last meal on Saturday, chef/proprietor Cormac Mahoney and some of his great crew posing for a final shot in the kitchen:

Those so choosing can leave their best wishes on the restaurant's Facebook page.

As an aside, Madison Parkers might be interested in reading a postmortem of MPC at one of the KOMO News websites, Seattle Refined, wherein blogger Frank Guanco muses, "maybe the neighborhood didn't deserve Madison Park Conservatory."

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Fourth Quarter Real Estate Report

2315 38th Avenue E.: sold at list price in five days

Who moved our inventory?

As the new year began, Madison Park exhibited all the aspects of a "hot" real estate market except for one. It's hard to sustain a vibrant market when there are virtually no houses for sale; and at the end of January there were just nine Madison Park listings. That  represents one and a half months of inventory, based on fourth quarter 2013 sales levels.  Those who have been waiting for the right moment to put their house on the market, however, will be heartened to learn that houses are now selling in record time and they're selling, in many cases, at the initial asking list price---or even higher.  Those are both significant changes from what was true when last year began.

Here's a rundown of the market's sales activity in the fourth quarter:

Houses

Sales:  18
Median Sale Price:  $1,590,000
Average Sq. Ft.:  3,651
Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $432
Average Days on Market:  63
Average Discount from List Price:  6.8%

Condos

Sales: 3
Median Sale Price:  $435,000
Average Sq. Ft.:  1,515
Average Price per Sq. Ft.:  $585
Average Days on Market:  218
Average Discount from List Price: 7.7%

For the most part, the six houses that on average sold per month during the fourth quarter moved quickly from "listed" to "sold."  Excluding the two houses that changed hands above $2 million, the remaining 16 lower-priced houses sold in an average of just 39 days. Five of these properties were closed in fewer than ten days.

Moreover, five of the 18 house sellers had the pleasant experience of quickly receiving offers at or above the list price. One house sold in seven days at a 12% premium to list.  The average discount from original list price of 6.8% reflects the fact that some sellers were not as fortunate.  One house originally listed at $3,350,000 sold during the quarter at $2,400,000 (a 28% discount from the initial list price) after 280 days on the market.  Another house, originally listed at $1,689,000, sold for $1,400,000 (a 17% discount) after only 49 days on the market.

The condo market was not as frothy during the fourth quarter, but the average days on market showed a decline in spite of the fact that one of the three condos sold 476 days from listing.

2053 42nd Avenue E.: pending sale seven days from list

It appears to be an excellent time to sell a house in Madison Park, with potential buyers having a rather limited set of options to choose from.  This was the state of the market at the end of January, based on NW Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) data provided through Redfin:

Houses

Listings:  9
Median List Price:  $1,795,000
Median Sq. Ft.:  3,540
Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $507
Average Days on Market:  192
Percentage with Price Reductions:  66%
New Listings:  1
Pending Sales:  3

Condos/Townhouses

Listings:  4
Median List Price:  $435,000
Median Sq. Ft.:  950
Median Price per Sq. Ft.:  $459
Average Days on Market:  137
Percentage with Price Reductions:  50%
New Listings:  1
Pending Sales:  1

The number of new listings in January was anemic, and that situation seems to be holding for February as well, with just a couple of new houses coming onto the market. With pending sales now exceeding new listings, there's an obvious imbalance.  The three pending houses on the market, by the way, were each listed below $1 million and received offers in under ten days.  The houses that have not sold, for the most part, are much pricier, with four of the nine listed at $2,500,000 or more.

Madison Park's market mirrors the state of the market for Puget Sound as a whole, with a lack of inventory being the number one problem for buyers and real estate professionals alike.  But for the region as a whole, new listings are actually up this year, according to the NWMLS, while in Madison Park listings are significantly lower than at this point last year. There were ten new listings in January 2013 and just two new listings this year. There were 28 houses on the market at this time last year, and there are just nine this month.  For the overall Puget Sound region there is a 4.5 month supply of inventory on hand (and for King County, inventory of 2.5 months), while in Madison Park we're down to 1.5 months of inventory.

Got a house you want to sell?

4100 E. Highland: a new February listing at $2,795,000

[Thanks to Laura Halliday of Windermere Real Estate for her help in compiling the sales data.  Listing data courtesy of Redfin, using information from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Photos provided through Redfin, courtesy of Windermere Real Estate and Coldwell Banker (middle photo).]

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Madison Park Conservatory to close

In an email to its regular patrons yesterday afternoon, Madison Park Conservatory's maestro/chef, Cormac Mahoney, announced that the end is near:

"It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know MPC will be closing its doors after service on February 15th. Restaurants are a crazy thing and many stars have to align to create a successful and enduring place. Although, we would have the liked our run to be much longer we are very proud of the past three years and have many fond memories to look back on. Most importantly, I want to thank our staff, both current and past, for accompanying us on this journey. Also I want to thank all our customers who have enjoyed MPC. So to all those MPC regulars, first dates, birthdays, anniversaries, company parties, wine clubs, family reunions, friendly gatherings, happy hour fans and sunset cocktail sippers - much love for allowing us to spend time with you. The everyday relationships made at MPC is what we'll miss the most. Lastly, thank you to all our vendors. We have been proud of our food because it is always started with great ingredients and it's the tireless work of our many vendors that makes our food possible.
"

The restaurant, which was the recipient of many favorable editorial reviews since its inception in November 2010, had been seeing a decline in patronage for some time. As Mahoney learned to his chagrin, restaurants are a tough business.

The loss of Madison Park Conservatory leaves another void in the neighborhood's business district at a time when some claim to detect a downward trajectory for Madison Park as a "destination neighborhood."  In that respect, this closing is not only a sad experience for the staff and patrons of the MPC but may also foreshadow the neighborhood's longterm retail vitality (or lack thereof).

Time will tell.

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Waterfront buildings to be sold

More retail space is one possible outcome

The Villa Marina building, located at 1928 43rd Avenue E., and its neighbor directly to the north were both listed for sale last week. Villa Marina is an almost-unique Madison Park property, with its mix of retail, office and residential units. In addition to the five or six apartment residents, the 1921 building is home to Park Bench Gifts, Tazo Salon and an architectural firm, Shoesmith-Cox Architects. There is also one open retail space, recently vacated by the Aegis Living sales office. The two-level, 9,300 sq. ft. wood-frame structure is listed for $4.5 million.

The property is managed by Lakeside Capital Management, whose principal, Dennis Daugs, had this explanation for selling the building at this time: "The Villa Marina property has been thoroughly and carefully upgraded over the past decade.  The property is jointly owned by a number of investors who are all getting older and have different financial goals.  My role is simply as manager of the fund and co-investor. Selling to a long-term owner who wishes to acquire this trophy asset at appraised value would be a win for all."  Daugs also notes that his building contrasts with others in Madison Park, some of which are "poorly cared for" and have "absentee owners."

Also now for sale is the building in which Lakeside has its offices (1938 43rd Avenue E.) and whose lower floor is home to IndieFlix.

This 1941 wood-frame structure contains 5,700 sq. ft. and boasts a mightly fine view from its upper-level deck:

Daugs reports that it's his intention to have Lakeside lease back the space from the new building owner. The listing agent, Kidder Matthews, notes in the listing information for the property, however, that it is "suitable for street-front retail use" and that Lakeside would be willing to vacate the space for the new owner. That raises the intriguing possibility of having another retail shop or two, or even a restaurant, in this location. The building is listed at $3 million.

The property is zoned for multi-family residential, so a new owner could choose to replace the building and go that direction.

Interestingly, Villa Marina was not the only Madison Park apartment building to go on the market last week.  A five-unit building at 633 33rd Avenue E. was also listed, with an offering price of $1,700,000.

[Middle photos courtesy of Kidder Matthews.]

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Whither our empty storefronts?

Neighborhood's retail vibrancy takes some hits

Those who care about the longterm health of Madison Park's business district no doubt shudder when contemplating the possibility that any more retail spaces might go the sad way of our community's notorious Black Hole---that tumble-down, two-out-of-three-shops-empty building at the very heart of what old-timers here term "The Village:"

The departure of Tully's, Best Buds, and Mad Pizza have each resulted in unfilled spaces that are definite detractors to neighborhood ambiance. Meanwhile, the recent exit of the Aegis sales office in the Villa Marina building on 43rd creates another retail space that could (but we understand won't) go begging.

As previously reported, a HomeStreet Bank branch will ultimately be replacing Tully's; and however one might feel about Madison Park as a banking hub, having another bank inserted into our midst at least gives us the advantage of swapping a boarded-up, hangdog building  for a newly refurbished one.

But the former Mad Pizza location (shown at the top) and original Best Buds site (above) are certainly looking a bit forlorn these days (or even perhaps vandalized, in the case of the latter).  The Mad Pizza space is in the building that also houses Marshall's Cleaners, whose owners, we understand, are also the landlords.  If the newly empty space is being marketed, however, it is not evidenced by any "for lease" signs; and the former fast-food store's interior is something less than market ready.  Our attempts to get a comment from the building's owners was not met with immediate success.

Down the street, Best Buds moved out of its one-time-travel-office location on E. Blaine and into the basement of Cafe Parco last summer. Though several parties have apparently expressed interest in the old space, no deal has apparently been struck. The most recent rumor we heard involved a taco stand.  (Cafe Parco, incidentally, reclaimed its downstairs space for use as a dining room when Best Buds closed shop last month.)

That leaves us with the former Aegis office space, where we can report some good news. We've learned that coming soon to this location will be an infrared sauna and deep massage therapy center (or something along those lines).  More on this later.

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Ice-melt deluge to inundate Madison Park

Only parts of Washington Park expected to remain

Madison Park will definitely be underwater, for the most part, if global warming takes the ultimate toll on this fragile earth, causing all of the world's ice sheets to melt. That, at least, is one of the interesting conclusions of UW Planner Jeffrey Linn, who has created an intriguing map of Seattle showing the effects of a 240-foot rise in the level of the world's oceans. By expert consensus, apparently, the additional volume of liquid H20 created by the ultimate ice melt would have that mega-impact. We are indebted to our friends at the neighboring Capitol Hill Seattle blog for pointing us to this eye-opening conclusion. They, of course, presented their story in more of a celebratory manner than we can muster, since Capitol Hill will survive the flood while most of us in Madison Park will be like the polar bears, swimming about futilely.

The denizens of the upper portions of Washington Park, some of whom may already feel themselves among the elect, will simply be reinforced in this opinion by Linn's conclusion that much of Washington Park is simply too exalted to be wiped out by the grand deluge.  More than 240-feet above the current sea level and you become an island.  Below that, you are simply part of a great new inland waterway (Lake Washington itself having been subsumed).

Linn, who disclaims on his website that his efforts have anything to do with his role as a planner at the University, reports that he got the idea of looking at what the ice melt would do to Seattle by reading the blog of someone in San Francisco who had performed the same exercise for that city.  Most of the folks down there, we suspect, have something more immediate to brood about than what might happen to them when the waters rise.

Anyway, in case you are wondering about whether to sell up and move to Capitol Hill in anticipation of The Ultimate Flood (or are perhaps just worried about the impact on your house's value due to unwarranted public disclosure of its future underwater prospects), rest easy. Linn says that his on-line research suggests that we've still got about 5,000 years. Plenty of time for us to damn up the Ship Canal.

[Check out the complete Seattle deluge map here.]

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Waterfront project riles some neighbors

Shoreline permit application under review 

The owners of the only Madison Park house that actually sits in Lake Washington have filed an application to build a three-story, six-unit apartment building on the dry-land portion of their property at 2346 43rd Avenue E., north of Swing Set Park. Their 2,600 sq. ft. single-family home, built in 1947, sits over water on pilings near the shoreline and is connected to land by a narrow wood walkway.

The lot covers 16,053 sq. ft., only about a quarter of which is dry land, and is 38 feet wide.  Owners Amanda and Matt Rosauer propose keeping the house as is and demolishing their carport, which fronts the sidewalk on 43rd, to accommodate the new multi-family structure.  Below-grade parking is planned for the six new residential units.

The new building, designed by E. Cobb Architects, Inc., will be a LEED-certified, modernistic, concrete/stained- wood/coated-metal structure rising as high as 40 feet above the street level on one side, including the roof enclosure with its stair/elevator access and rooftop planters. The proposed apartments will range in size from 615 to 1050 sq. ft. The final design of the building will ultimately depend on which of three proposed footprints the City approves for the project, ranging from 1,753 sq. ft. to 2,247 sq. ft., depending on the size of required setbacks. Setbacks are the spaces between the property lines and the structure. Two of the three design alternatives require setback “adjustments” (meaning exceptions to City code) on either the south side, or on both sides of the property.

The Rosauers’ application for a Shoreline Substantial Development permit was submitted in early December, prompting several neighboring property owners to register objections. The height of the building, the potential impact on neighborhood parking patterns, and the size and density of the project relative to views are the neighbors’ principal objections.

“This street/area is already overcrowded with multiple dwellings [and] finding a parking spot is difficult,” says one neighboring homeowner in a letter to the City. “This proposed project will block and destroy the view and ruin the ambience in the neighborhood. The house currently on the property…is a non-conforming use. This proposal is an outrageous insult to the neighborhood.”

Another neighboring homeowner echoed concerns about the view, writing, “The applicant’s proposed three-storey apartment building will negatively impact our unit by blocking the afternoon sun which we so enjoy.”

Lawyers for the homeowners of Lakeshore West condominiums (which sits just north of the subject property) commented that the proposed development is on a property that is nonconforming, meaning that it violates current rules for shoreline development. They argue that the City “should require removal of the nonconforming, overwater residence as a condition to the consideration of any new development of the property.”  On behalf of the condo owners, they further objected to requested setback changes and the fact that there are only six on-site parking spaces being provided for the seven residential units (including the existing house).

The lot is zoned for a multi-family structure. In fact, the property is unusual for buildings along 43rd Avenue E. in that it is the only one with a single-family residence on it. The two lots immediately to the south contain a duplex and two single-family residences respectively.  The Lakeshore West building to the north is an overwater complex consisting of over 50 units.  Almost all of the waterside multi-family structures on this stretch of 43rd Avenue E. are nonconforming overwater developments. Due to shoreline management rules currently in play, none of them could be built today. The new apartment project, however, is being proposed for a property where the new structure could conform to current standards. One of the ironies of this story is that some homeowners in non-conforming buildings are opposed to the creation of a new conforming building on the street.

In their filings with the City’s Department of Planning & Development (DPD), the architects for the project state, “The proposed building incorporates and utilizes the positive architectural characteristics of the neighborhood while also mitigating between the drastic and inconsistent difference in scale and character of the two immediate adjacent neighboring buildings.”  One of the objectives they list for this project is: “Develop the site to increase density and provide residential opportunities that reinforce the positive aspects of the current neighborhood, street, and shoreline.”

Of the three alternative schematics provided by the architects to the DPD, the building that requires no "adjustments" is the one that almost certainly would be the least attractive from the street side.

Based on comments from DPD in the public record, it appears that the City is less likely to approve a setback "adjustment" that negatively impacts the residential property to the south, but DPD may be more open to granting a variance on the north side of the property, which borders the Lakeshore West parking lot.  If this "adjustment" were approved, the structure would be similar to the “preferred alternative,” with living spaces in the building opening onto 43rd Avenue E.

While there is a fair amount of negative commentary on the record from immediate or nearby neighbors, the developer himself has been circumspect to this point, adding little to what was submitted to DPD.  When we asked for some input for this article, owner Matt Rosauer responded this way in an email: “The property is zoned to allow additional development and while we respect the right of neighbors to comment, the proposal meets zoning and shoreline requirements and represents a quality design.”

Rosauer is certainly familiar with the City’s process for approving developments, as least as they apply to commercial properties.  He is a principal at a downtown development company which was the developer of several high-profile Seattle projects. Rosauer and his wife purchased their Madison Park in-lake property in 2009.

As part of the review process for shoreline development permits of this kind, DPD may decide to hold a public hearing; but according to Tami Garret, DPD’s planner for this project, the process will just have to take its course.  For a timeline, she referred us to the DPD website, which indicates that a design review period of five to six months is typical for shoreline permits, with six to ten months being the norm for “complex/controversial” permits, though this application may not fall into that category.

Public comments on this project are being accepted by the City until February 7.

[Architectural renderings courtesy of E. Cobb Architects, Inc. Aerial photo from the public record relative to the permit application process.  Lower photo from King County Assessor Records.]

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