Three Townhomes Going Up At Nearby Windermere Circle

A Blog reader who lives at Windermere Circle, on the edge of North Laurelhurst at 50th Avenue NE and Sand Point Way,  reported that three different developers are now in the process of building 16 three story town homes, each with a 4th story rooftop deck, "in quaint little historic Windermere Circle, the charming loop of duplexes and triplexes near Children's Hospital," where most buildings are two and three story, he said.

The three projects are:

#6430745:

5048 Sand Point Way NE - 6 town homes built on one lot where 1950's triplex was demolished. Three town homes to face Sand Point Way NE and tthree town homes to face Sand Point Place NE

#6477308

5027 44th Avenue NE - 4 town homes built on one lot where 1 story 1950's triplex demolished. 

#6552793

5001 44th Avenue NE - 6 town homes built (each to be only 12' wide) on one lot where 2 story 1950's triplex currently exists. Plans under review with City.   

#3024924
Land Use Application to subdivide one development site into four unit lots. The construction of residential units is under Project #6477308. This subdivision of property is only for the purpose of allowing sale or lease of the unit lots. Development standards will be applied to the original parcel and not to each of the new unit lots.
Appeals of this decision must be received by the Hearing Examiner no later than 1/17/2017.

The resident added that he believes that "the transformation is going to be dramatic."

He said:

The impact to Windermere Circle and the larger Laurelhurst community will be significant including. When developers see other developers have success with a project, they follow suit. Row houses are becoming developers' new way of milking the most money out of a piece of property.

It makes for reduced home values. Towering 3-story homes (with 4th floor rooftop decks) reduce the value of the one- and two-story homes surrounding them. The smaller houses lose privacy, views and sunlight.

Parking and traffic problems always follow. Each of these projects has off-street parking. But the parking arrangements (for the first and third projects listed in the document) are ridiculous. Like many row house projects, these garages will be very difficult to get a normal size car in and out. The owners will most likely use their garages for storage and park their cars on the street. The streets around Windermere Circle are already extremely cramped and crowded. 

There are construction irritations for surrounding neighbors. With all three of these projects going at once in Windermere Circle, there's going to be noise, dust, and traffic issues for the folks living in the Circle, as well as the larger community.

Appeals of this decision on two of the projects must be received by the Hearing Examiner no later than end of day today.