Thai Kitchen site slated for redevelopment
Shilshole Development, Ironstone Real Estate planning 40-unit mixeduse apartment building
By Hugh Garbrick
QA&Mag News summer intern
Developers are planning to replace the site where The Thai Kitchen sits in Queen Anne with a five-story 40-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail.
Following a new early community engagement requirement mandated by the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, the development team shared its plans with residents outside 2220 Queen Anne Ave. N. on Tuesday, July 2.
The developers will work through the administrative review process with the West Design Review Board, and they expect to begin construction in fall 2020, finishing the following year.
apartment development at 2220
The new building will have 1,400 square feet of ground-floor retail space and four floors for studio apartments, each around 400 square feet. The building will be 55 feet tall, which is the maximum height allowed
following recent upzoning.
Ironstone Real Estate founder and partner Mike Shields said he lives three blocks from the development site and has a vested interest in building something that his son will be
Seattle City Council eases accessory dwelling unit regulations
Legislation expected to increase ADU construction, provide more affordable rental options in city
By Hugh Garbrick
QA&Mag News summer intern
The Seattle City Council unanimously approved legislation that eases citywide regulations on the construction of accessory dwelling units on Monday, July 1.
The legislation gets rid of the off-street parking requirement for ADUs, allows attached and detached accessory dwelling units (AADUs and DADUs) to exist on single-family lots, introduces a floor-area-ratio (FAR) limit to single-family zones, eliminates the owner-occupancy requirement to build an ADU, increases the maximum size of DADUs from 800 to 1,000 square feet, allows design flexibility to preserve existing trees, and also requires a future demographic survey on ADU owners and occupants.
Councilmember Mike O’Brien, who had been pushing the legislation’s passage for more than four years,
made a few clarifying remarks before the council went to a vote.
“The intent here is to make it easier for folks to build accessory dwelling units, whether those are attached or detached,” O’Brien said. “The legislation is based on well
proud of. He said it will not look like a “hermetically sealed Kleenex box.” He cited Seattle’s growth in the tech sector as the need for more housing.
“There is this growth that the city has had, especially in the technology sector,” Shields said. “And Queen Anne Hill is a wonderful place for people to live that haven’t been able to up until now. And I don’t mean to say that in the way of an obstacle relative to equity or anything. I mean studio apartments for people that work at those companies.”
Parking was a concern for some residents at the community outreach session. The development lot sits on Queen Anne Avenue North, which has no long-term parking spaces, and there is an alley behind the site.
Scot Carr with Public47Architects said they are not required to provide parking, and building it would be expensive.
“There is an interest in providing some [parking] off the alley, but the tight site makes a subterranean garage
over four years of feedback on what people in our communities would like to see and what kind of flexibility they would like to have or what kind of barriers that they have today.”
Photo by Hugh Garbrick
Owners of The Thai Kitchen plan to retire next summer, making way for a 40-unit
Queen Anne Ave. N.
Photos by Hugh Garbrick
The Seattle City Council cleared legislation to make it easier and more attractive to construct accessory dwelling units in single-family neighborhoods on Monday, July 1.
Home & Real Estate
KITCHEN, from Page 13
pretty challenging,” Carr said.
Queen Anne Community Council member Sharon LeVine was at the sidewalk meeting voicing her personal opinions. She told the developers they should make sure they maintain Queen Anne’s character.
“We had what was called a village before. It’s supposed to be an urban village, but it’s turning into more of an urban center with the new development,” LeVine said.
The Queen Anne Community Council has not formally taken a position on the development, but its land use review committee wants to hold a meeting with the developers in the future.
Queen Anne resident Carol Jackson entrusted the developers to create a quality building that will set a significant precedent.
“I trust you guys,” Jackson said. “From what I see here, I trust you to really make it an impactful look on the Ave. To really make the first apartment building look good and be a standard to many others,” Jackson said.
There are other apartment buildings on Queen Anne Avenue North, such as Sweetbrier apartment building on Crockett Street and The Queen Anne Collection above Trader Joe’s. The apartment building planned for 2220 Queen Anne Ave. N. will be the furthest north on the avenue to date.
Shields tells Queen Anne News the owners of The Thai Kitchen have plans to retire next summer.
Queen Anne Boy Scout Troop 70 holding blood drive on July 20
Queen Anne Boy Scout Troop 70 is sponsoring another community blood drive from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 20, at the Queen Anne United Methodist Church, 1606 Fifth Ave. W.
People can sign up to donate whole blood or platelets, for which there will six appointment slots available. Walk-in blood donors are welcome, but organizers encourage folks to register by selecting the “BSA Troop 70 – Queen Anne Community” option at bloodworksnw.org.
For questions or help registering, contact Jim Grane at (206)282-6861.
Photo by Hugh Garbrick
The development team, from left, Scot Car, an architect with Public 47 Architects, Nate Hickey, project manager with Shilshole Development, Mike Yukevich, principal with Shilshole Development and Mike Shields, founder and partner of Ironstone Real Estate.