Kirkland Weblog

Cross Kirkland Corridor- Lawsuit for Kirkland

Just saw this letter from the City Manager's office I thought you might be interested in...huh...

April 2, 2013

Important
message about the Cross Kirkland Corridor

Dear Community Member,

It is with great disappointment
that I share with you that the City of Kirkland was served on April 1, 2013
with a Federal lawsuit which seeks to stop the City from removing the rail
tracks and ties along the Cross Kirkland Corridor. The lawsuit was filed by
Ballard Terminal Railroad Company (“Ballard”) in Federal District Court in the
Western District of Washington.  In addition to the injunction, Ballard
has filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board (“STB”)
seeking to reactivate the Eastside Rail Corridor for freight service from
Woodinville to Bellevue, WA.  These actions make it necessary for the City
to carefully evaluate Ballard’s claims and to consider our legal options.

As you may be aware, the City has
hired a contractor to remove the rails to make way for an Interim Trail along
the Cross Kirkland Corridor.  The removal has been anticipated to begin
this month; with construction of the Interim Trail to begin this fall. We
intend to keep with the community’s desire to allow use of the trail as soon as
possible, even if it requires us to put our plans on hold as we take time to
better understand the impacts of the lawsuit and petition.

The Cross Kirkland Corridor is 5.75
miles of the 44+ mile Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC).  Apart from the
segments owned by the City of Kirkland and the City of Redmond, the ERC has
been recently acquired by King County. 

It is our initial understanding
that Ballard seeks to keep Kirkland from removing the rails on our Corridor so
that freight use can be re-established.  We are hopeful that the Federal
District Court will rule on the injunction case in the coming weeks and that
the STB decision regarding Ballard’s request to reactivate our Corridor as a
freight (not transit or excursion train) corridor will also be expedited.

We are confident that Kirkland will
ultimately be able to carry out our citizens’ vision for the Corridor. 
However, there are many complexities to this issue and your understanding and
patience is appreciated.  Updates will be released through the City’s
email notification subscriber lists and posted to the Cross Kirkland Corridor
webpage at www.kirklandwa.gov/crosskirklandcorridor.

If you have a specific question,
please send it to Pam Bissonnette, Director, Public Works Department, at
425-587-3802 or pbissonnette@kirklandwa.gov.

Sincerely,

 

Kurt Triplett

City Manager

City of Kirkland

Lake Street Place: What's in Store for Downtown Kirkland

It's time to get ready for some exciting new development in downtown Kirkland.  Finally!  The re-vitalization effort on Lake Street, spear-headed by Stuart McLeod, is a down-sized version of the approved plans from 2007.  The new spaces will add 185,000 sf total, which includes 70,000 sf of office space, retail and restaurants on the ground floor and 252 new parking spots in a concealed above ground parking garage (which will be public in the evening-yahoo!).  Stuart is a long-time Kirklander, and with the help of Chesmore/Buck Architecture, they have created a well thought out plan which includes a courtyard area and wide sidewalks to keep the look and feel of Kirkland and to encourage foot traffic and community gatherings. "If another developer was doing a project on thissite, they could just place the face of the building 13’ off of the Lake Streetcurb instead of the gracious 33’ width of the courtyard proposed by McLeod. The courtyard will be such a public amenity for year round activities"," said architect Rick Chesmore.   Building heights max at 55 feet, which is the current zoned code.  You can see from the rendition above how office space gets tiered on top of Milagro and behind Hector's with patios and landscaping.  And where there is office space, there are hungry employees to eat in our restaurants and patrons to shop in our stores. 

The 5th hearing with the Design Review Board was this week, and they received approval to move forward with their plans.  Next  they will submit for a permit.  The project will likely spend a year in development (permit/bidding process/pre-leasing) and is estimated to take 18-24 months to build.  I'm looking forward to this endeavor breathing new life into our downtown.   ~j 

Toll Brothers Buys Kirkland's CamWest

Last week, national luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers, based out of Pennsylvania, purchased CamWest Development for an undisclosed cash amount. Our friend Eric Campbell (photo), who started CamWest in 1989 and has built over 2800 homes in the region, will remain on board as the President of Toll's Seattle operations for at least three years. What a funny feeling it must be to start your own company and then have a boss all of a sudden! :-)

CamWest has accrued an arsenal of accolades over the years, and Toll had been shopping the Seattle market for quite some time, so it makes sense that the two found each other. CamWest's clever land acquisitions of which there are approx 1500 undeveloped lots and 15 developments where houses are under construction/for are a great fit for Toll as they make their first entry into the PNW market . Doug C. Yearley Jr., CEO of Toll Brothers stated, "We are excited to enter the Seattle market with the acquisition of CamWest. It is one of the premier luxury homebuilders in the region with a long history of delivering exceptional quality and value to its homeowners. Seattle is a high barrier-to-entry home building market with a robust employment base and a concentration of affluence. Eric Campbell and the CamWest team provide a great management platform with a strong land position and well-established relationships with local land sellers and subcontractors."

CamWest projects will be delivering 180 homes in 2011 equating to close to $90M. Welcome to Kirkland, Toll! ~j

"The Big Hole" on 98th? Juanita Waterbrook Apartments

 
There's a whole lot of digging going on at the old Frosty's site at 11810 98th Ave NE (just across the street east of Juanita Village).  Everyone is asking what is going on.  Wellllll..that hole in the earth is the future underground parking that will sit underneath a four story 96 unit apartment complex with 9000 square feet of retail space. There will be a center courtyard too.  You can check out the details here or if you are feeling really adventurous you can always check out the plans down at the city and reference permit # BLD07-00996. Susan Lauinger is the planner assigned to the project 425-587-3252. ~j

 

 

CamWest Preserves the Nettleton Mansion

If you've been curious about that wide expanse of land on State Street, expect to see construction starting shortly on 24 new CamWest Development homes.  That is, 24 new condominium-style homes and one grand white-columned mansion with plenty of Kirkland history.  The Nettleton Mansion was built in 1914 as a southern-colonial revival style home for Seattle Post-Intelligencer publisher, Clark Nettleton and his wife Jennie (later sold to Green's Funeral Home). 

The 3000 sf house was moved about 3 months ago from its original spot on the property to the southwest corner of the lot where it is being restored.   CamWest will keep the historic home's charm and offer it for sale as a single-family home (the price is still undetermined) within the new development called appropriately enough, "Nettleton Commons."

Nettleton Commons is nestled on over 2 acres and will offer 12 new home plans that are 3-4 bedroom/2 car garage dwellings with architectural variety, open floor plans, gourmet kitchens and many amenities.  There is also a big common area and the tree groves will remain.  It's just a hop-skip to the new Google campus and downtown Kirkland.   You can check out the site plan and other info on the budding community here.  Letters of intent are being accepted now so you can customize you future home (or mansion!).  A model for the $800-900K new homes is planned to be open by March.  You can contact Brian Nienaber with questions nienaber@windermere.com  ~j

Tough Times but some are still Building

Looks like on 132nd across from the fire station they have cleared out some serious acreage.  I heard they are going to put a development of over 30 homes in there.  Anyone have any scoop?

Set of Kahunas needed: please respond to City Hall

The word is out that last week our City Council voted in favor of an appeal of the Bank of America/Merrill Gardens project on Lake Street.  Why does it seem like we're always chasing our tails on these downtown projects? I'm about to throw up a whole bunch of info and let you pick the chunks out.   

Here's how I see it- the developers are always going to ask for the world.  Whether it's B of A, ParkPlace, McLeod, whatever.  That's their job- they want to build big things and have them be successful/well liked and of course, profitable.   If they know they can have 2 stories, they'll ask for 5 realizing they might just get 3.  They gear up with drawings, research, plans, motivation, some gusto and typically a willingness to hold hands with the city so that a workable middle ground can be discovered.    Then, entering stage left, marches in the ever-present quickly assembled group of activists that want to save our great city from being thrown into the perils of the modern ages of re-development.   

My opinion doesn't matter here- but since you asked and it's my blog, I'll give it b/c it's simple. I think the B of A site needs to be re-developed, it's a crusty old eye sore (but nothing tops that antique shop, for the record).  I DON't think that the bank and some elderly housing is the best fit for prime-time downtown real estate.  I also don't think that something needs to be just two levels - I've got to imagine that makes it difficult for the numbers to jive for the developers.  Kirkland doesn't need to be the next Bellevue, but we want to at least be interesting and sustainable while maintaining our little lake town allure.  We need to give people a reason to come to our downtown and spend some money so there aren't tumbleweeds rolling past our businesses. Kirkland will evolve- newsflash- we're not the old lumber town we used to be.  But we can't seem to stop spinning our wheels despite ourselves.

Did you see the Kirkland Reporter this week?  After city council supported the appeal, three members of the Design Review Board resigned.  I can't blame them- they volunteer hours of their time and make a recommendation, only to have city council rebuff their decision.  It begs one to ask why were they there in the first place?    Kirkland needs to get a set of kahunas!  Maybe we could hire another expensive consultant to help us find some?  Or we could call Chief Olsen and have him throw on the blue lights/sirens and speed us over to the kahuna store.  We're so worried about pissing people off or doing the wrong thing-but-we're going to make some mistakes along the way, and there will never be a time when everybody will agree.  Please, SOMEBODY draw a line in the sand and let's pick a direction.  Argh.  Ok. Will go calm down now.  Comment away!   ~j    PS- special thanks to Steve for posing for this photo :-)

128 on State

A new set of luxury residential condos is being built on State Street and is slated for completion late summer of 2007.  Love the name- "128 on State".  Very hip.  Although, I noticed the actual address on the city records is 320 2nd Ave South, in case you're looking for more info on the city permit site.  320 on 2nd doesn't sound quite as cool.

Trammell Crow Residential (TCR) is the developer of the 5 story (2 are parking) 124 unit building.  The structure will appear as a 3 story building since 2 of the levels are below grade due to the land slope.  So, basically, this project will be the same height as their "Boulevard" project next door.   Seems the condo trend keeps going strong as all the baby-boomers are aging and hustling to downsize.

Units range from 630sf- 1400sf each, but generally most are under 800sf.  Pricing will be in the high  $200's and up.  I was trying to remember what occupied this space before.  Turns out it was "The Cypress Tree" (cute little old furniture/refinishing place) and the old Kirkland Post Office that had definitely seen its day (photo right).   If you want to learn more about 128 on State or preview finishes, their sales center just opened August 1st at 598 Central Way (corner of Central/6th) from 11-6 daily.  827-2090.    ~Janis

Real Estate has gone crazy in Kirkland!

Before you all start commenting on this post, let me start by saying that I am no real estate expert and don't claim to be either.  That being said, I think real estate has gone crazy (that pic on the left is a home in Kirkland priced at $8 million), especially at the high end of the market, in Kirkland.   I just ran some searches on Windermere and here is what I found out from looking at the 447 properties currently for sale in Kirkland:

• Number of properties (homes/condos/land) over $1 million = 152 listings
• Number of properties (homes/condos) over $2 million = 44 listings

In our West of Market neighborhood alone we are seeing homes with little or no view, set way back from Lake Washington on average sized lots (7200 sq. ft.), asking over $2 million.   One real estate agent I interviewed said that although "everyone is asking for these prices, hardly anyone is getting them."  They are just sitting.  A non-waterfront home just got listed last week for about $3.5 million--no one I know can figure out how they came up with the price tag.  It's a nice house, but $3.5?   Click here to see what I am talking about.

In further (very unscientific) research only about one home per month sells in Kirkland over $2 million dollars and a few end up selling over $1 million.   Couple this fact, with the fact that more and more homes keep getting listed in these price ranges and it would take years to sell all the high end inventory currently listed.   Sellers, I hope you can sit tight for the long haul because that is what it might take for you to get your price!  Buyers, if you are in the high end of the market you have the leverage right now--use it wisely!  BTW, I got these stats by looking at the Kirkland Courier and their past real estate sales from the previous month. I know, I know, very unscientific, but it's just me doing some back of the napkin type analysis.  You got to admit it's interesting, no?

I think the hotter part of the market is for homes selling under or close to $1 million.  By having all the $2 million dollar homes on the market buyers are feeling good about getting into Kirkland's high rent district in this price range or buying fixer-uppers/tear downs.  With all the high-end stuff it gives buyers comfort that their investment will go nowhere but up.  Unfortunately if you are trying to buy in this range and looking for a deal you are also competing with builders, like Lux,  or very motivated buyers.   Look out for competing offers with no contingencies (do a pre-inspection if you want the property but are not going to tear it down), escalation clauses, and quick closes--not to mention all cash offers.    

I also found a bunch of very cool real estate sites that can help you in your quest for buying or selling real estate. Check these out:

• Instant Valuation and history of properties www.zillow.com
• Buying and selling on the web www.redfin.com (cool satellite imagery)
• Mortgage calculator www.mortgage-calc.com
• FSBO www.forsalebyowner.com
• Building plans www.homeplans.com
• Mortgages www.bankrate.com
• School information www.schoolmatters.com
• Neighborhood information www.homepages.com
• Real estate www.windermere.com
• Real estate www.realtor.com
• Free home valuation www.homevalues.com

Janis and I have thought about buying a new (and larger) home in the past few months.  We also want to stay in the West of Market area, but as we have seen the prices continue to rise to the crazy levels we are now seeing it caused us to reconsider.   We have decided to stay put for the next several years and possibly remodel to accommodate our needs (and make room for the small tribe of kids we have).   Who knows maybe there is a bubble...or maybe these multi-million dollar homes will start selling like hot cakes?  We will watch from the sidelines either way...

I feel bad for our real estate agent, Laura Brodniak from Windermere, who has been awesome in trying to find us our next home.   Who knows, maybe she will find us an incredible home that is priced right and we will change our minds. 

Steve

Curious minds want to Know: Houghton Construction Project

Seems there are lots of rumors flying around about what might be going on at the big lot on 6th Street in Houghton, so I figured I'd try to get to the bottom of it.  The address is 733 and 815 6th St S., where the old Sauder Door Warehouse used to be, which is currently being demolished.  I drove back there to get a photo and it's HUGE.  I'm talking the Sonics could have put their new stadium back there huge. 

The property is a little over 720,000 square feet and is currently zoned for light industrial.  Apparently, the original plan was to build multi-family housing but the city council denied this request.  So, they switched to plan B and hope to build three new office buildings.  The building permit has not yet been submitted to the city.  First, we're waiting on the environmental review since there is some soil cleanup on a portion of the property.  Part of this review also includes a traffic impact analysis.   There's about 180,000 square feet of potential office space (for all 3 buildings) and the height restriction is 35 feet (2 stories).

Steve Dougan is the developer on the project (SRMK LLC).  He'll be submitting plans in the next month for three 60,000 sf office buildings that he hopes to get started on around October 2006 and complete 12-14 months later.  If you are interested in leasing office space or have questions for Steve, you can email him at dougandev@att.net . You can also always find lots of good info on www.kirklandpermits.net or you can reach the City of Kirkland  Associate Planner assigned to this project:  Jon Regala, jregala@ci.kirkland.wa.us 425-587-3255 and just mention the "Sauder Door site".      ~Janis