Written by I’ve been seeing many single-family homes razed in my neighborhood, as property owners either subdivide or simply rebuild with an all-new start. Below is a recent one on NE 23rd ST and Edmonds Ave NE.
The houses are typically not derelict. They are usually occupied right up until about a month before they come down. This is a strong indication of robust underlying land values, even while the nation over-all is experiencing a soft real estate market.
There was a house right across Edmonds from this one that was torn down in the same month, and it looks like the two builders are in a horse-race to see which one has their property redeveloped first. (They both look like they are doing very professional jobs.)
This home’s address was 2216 Edmonds, and I live at 2216 Harrington. After the house came down, I had a piece of mail delivered to me that was addressed to 2216 Edmonds…perhaps a fill-in mail carrier was confused! (We sent it back…no longer at this address!)
The house below is two doors down from me, and their property abuts my own in the back yard. They are replacing one home with six homes.
It’s not the first time our family has weathered development of an adjacent property, so we think we are prepared for the temporary inconveniences. The hardest part will be watching many 70 year old fir trees come down, as the majesty of our Northwest forests still make us smile. We understand the developer will be trying to keep some of the big trees, so that should help.
I could have used that screen door! It still had curtains up! where? when? why? but cool pictures!
The above comment was posted before I completed the where and the why part of the text 🙂
(Thanks for the comment!)
Decent Architectural Standards
Randy,
Could you get the city to enact some decent architectural standards? We getting a lot of tear-downs that are being replaced with Quadrant-style box houses that have a huge tacky garages upfront.
Ugly!
Re: Decent Architectural Standards
Amen to that. Some fresh approaches to developing these large lots is way overdue. The city should not pretend to be a helpless onlooker. When it comes to what they are allowing these developers to do to our neighborhoods, they have a tremendous amount of power. Decisions made now will set the standard for generations; we have got to be more thoughtful and pro-active if Renton is to remain the beautiful home it has been in the past. Not every sqare foot of buildable land has to be built out at the maximum height and footprint when the neighborhood is inappropriate for mega-mansions. Bellevue, Seattle, and other major cities in the Puget Sound area have already begun debating some of these issues, but the building lobby is a very powerful defender of the status quo.
Design guideline…
This is where the lawsuit starts and the City’s design guidelines ended, remember? Is Council going to want to EVER talk about design guidelines again???? Marcie asked for an additional week so the builders could give some much-needed input and Dan, Terri & Kathy bullied her to the point 3 other Council Members voted against them. Now, what??? If the builders could have been listened to, we’d have great design guidelines in place TODAY.
Re: Design guideline…
Yep, the commenter above is right on target. The city was proposing creating five basic ways to dress up a new house, and the Master Builders Association was counter offering with a proposal that would give about sixteen different ways. When Marcie suggested we take a week to see if we could reach a cooperative agreement, all heck broke loose!
I would have liked to see us circle back and achieve some sort of mutually-acceptable standards, but the lawsuit has chilled conversations between various city council members, and between the city and the Master Builders right now.
I’ll bet that we can pick this up again after the new year, with our new mayor and new council. And I think there is room to get agreement that serves the home buyers, builders, and existing residents. The Master Builders Association does not want their member-builders to build stuff that upsets the community. The builders need the support of the city and our residents, and we need the support of the builders if we are going to revitalize the highlands and other parts of town.