Friday, July 14, 2017

Public Comments About Proposed Aegis Assisted Living Home At Five Corners Due By Monday




Public comment for proposed Aegis Living, an assisted living and memory care provider to be located at the former Baskin Robbins site at "Five Corners" is on Monday at 6:30pm at the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Avenue North) in Room 202.

The information states that written comments are being accepted through Monday, to assist in the preparation of the early design guidance. The public is invited to offer comments regarding important site planning and design issues that should be addressed in the design for this project.  

Comments and requests (to be made party of record) can be sent to PRC@seattle.gov or City of Seattle – SDCI – PRC, 700 5th Avenue, Suite 2000, PO Box 34019, Seattle, WA  98124-4019.

Aegis Living has submitted several permits (3025007, 3025056) and the demolition permit includes "two existing one level buildings" the building to the north of Baskin-Robbins up to Bakker Dry Cleaning. The addresses are 3200-3212 NE 45th Street and 3201-3209 NE 45th Place.  

The new facility would have 116 units and would be five levels over a parking garage with 2500 square feet of retail on the first floor which would house a salon and cafe, according to the design proposal submitted in July 2016.

Bryon Ziegler, Director of Development and Entitlements for Áegis Senior Communities,
told the Blog Staff in March, that "other possibilities include an ice cream bar, community room, outdoor plaza and salon."

Bryon said that they are anticipating permits in late 2019 and the construction period is likely 20-24 months with the first resident move-in’s the fall of 2021. Aegis anticipates approximately 80% of the residents will come from the local neighborhoods.

Bryon told the Laurelhurst Blog staff that the new site is somewhat confusing (see attached graphic above) saying: 

The assemblage of parcels includes 3200 and 3232 NE 45th Street and 3215 NE 45th Place. There are two buildings, but three parcels.  
There is also a billboard that will be eliminated. The historic clock will remain. 
The 30’ city right of way between the curb and the property line will be landscape and enhanced for public use, including the little pedestrian bulb at the intersections of 45th and 45th. This Aegis Senior Community will be designed to either the City’s Living Building Challenge or Mandatory Housing Affordability standards.

He said that the businesses currently in the buildings that will be demolished will have all their leases honored, until they end in 2019.   These businesses included  Diane’s Alterations, Lakeview Vision Clinic, Edward Jones, Farmers Insurance, Uncle Lee’s, University Tutoring, Felipa’s Consignment and Rules Salon.
 

The café at Aegis, would be open to the public and would be the
Queen Bee Café, a non profit business. Others are currently located at the Madison and Queen Anne Aegis facilities and specialize in traditional English crumpets.

Bryon said about the eatery:


Queen Bee will be an exciting one-of-kind addition to the Laurelhurst community that not only delivers world class crumpets and but it is a neighborhood ‘giving machine’ as a not-for-profit café.  
100 % of profits go to a neighborhood charity each trimester of the year. So neighbors will be supporting neighbors with each purchase.   
If you haven’t tasted the crumpwiches which are the focus of a global FoodNetwork Canada show, "You Gotta Eat Here," coming out this spring and summer on the show, then you have not lived yet!   
In addition, our development team is exploring ways to satisfy the neighborhood’s love affair with ice cream. (More on that to come.)
The City Department of Construction and Inspection reported in September 2016 that the buildings are zoned NC2P-40 zone and said:
Neighborhood Commercial 2 Pedestrian with a maximum height limit of 40 feet. The site is located in a pedestrian area and an abandoned landfill environmentally critical area.   According to our Permit No. BN 35149, issued May 1969, the legally recognized use of this property is for store. This is a permitted use under the current zoning.

And the City policy under SMC23.47A
states:
Residential (assisted living) and retail are allowed and required parking for assist end living facilities SMC23.54.015 says 1 space for each 4 assisted living units, 1 space for each 2 staff members on site at peak staffing time, plus 1 passenger loading/unloading space/.

Laurelhurst Community Club (LCC) said about the proposed project:
Aegis will be developing the complex to the Living Building Challenge performance standards for low impact on resources such as energy and water. This program allows a 10 feet addition to height (50 feet from 40 feet). The result is likely a 5 story over underground parking structure at the Five Corner intersection, and the building would resolve into a five story above grade structure as it tucks into to grade, which rises to the north and east. Members of the Aegis architectural team will brief LCC at its April 10 meeting.


Bryon said that Aegis has engaged Transpo traffic engineers to conduct a traffic study of the very busy Five Corners area where the facility will be located.

He added:

We are an assisted living and memory care provider, which is a very low traffic generator especially at peak hours. It is very rare that we have a resident who drives. We do have staff and visitor parking, as well as deliveries which we will provide for in an underground parking garage and loading area.
Bryon also told the Laurelhurst Blog Staff about the facility:

As for the community itself, we can tell you that Aegis Living designs each community individually and they are one-of-a-kind in design. They are crafted exclusively as part of the neighborhood.  
Our team has a lot of UW fans, Seattle residents and UW alumna, so this development is particularly exciting for Aegis internally.  Just as we have done on Capitol Hill and Queen Anne, we dig deep into the history of the neighborhood and look for opportunities to integrate distinctive neighborhood characteristics and iconic landmarks or people.  
Example: We just opened Aegis of Queen Anne at Rodgers Park this year and there, you will find a number of sentimental historic components blended into our design. In fact today, the Queen Anne and Magnolia News is doing a story about the 3-story high stunning hand painted mural of one of Queen Anne’s most famous sons, baseball Edo Vanni, a beloved baseball player. The mural is the backdrop to for our resident’s in our outdoor patio area in memory care.
Aegis residents will receive top of the line services as well.  We are not only offering upscale and innovative purpose-built design, but we serve seniors with assisted living needs as well as higher acuity needs and manage transitions in care with the goal of seamlessness. That allows the resident to age in place from the first day that they make their apartment home.
When  Aegis of Laurelhurst opens, we will be bringing jobs as the only senior living company ever to make  Glassdoor's Top 50 Best Places to Work amid 600,000  companies listed nationally. We’ve been featured in national publications which is exciting for anyone in the neighborhood exploring a career in our industry.    

In addition, Laurelhurst is getting a family owned company led by Dwayne Clark, a CEO, who looks for ways to lift people up inside and outside the company. See this Inc. Magazine article:
 Many leaders want to make the world a better place. This CEO starts with his staff

For more information about the project, go to the City permits website and reference permits 3025007, 3025056, 6520824, 6537047, 3025007, 6552104, 3025056, 6557274, 6082637.

Another retirement home is also under review for 4020 NE 55th Street, where the Hawthorne Hills Veterinary Hospital is currently located, across the street from Metropolitan Market.


The proposal, Permit #3025827, includes 3 stories of approximately 74 units with 3,100 square feet of commercial space and parking for approximately 28 vehicles located below grade. The existing structure would be demolished.

The architect has proposed 3 different alternatives which can be seen
here.


The Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections website states about the project:

PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The proposal is to allow a 6-story assisted living building with street level retail. Parking for 65 vehicles to be provided below grade. Existing buildings to be demolished.

PROCESS

An application for Design Review related to future development of this site has been submitted to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI). The first phase of Design Review includes the Early Design Guidance (EDG) meeting. At the Early Design Guidance meeting, the following occurs:
  1. The applicants will present information about the site and vicinity as well as early massing design concepts. 
  2. The public may offer comments regarding the design of a development on the subject site.*
  3. The Design Review Board will provide guidance and identify those Design Guidelines of highest priority for the design as it moves forward towards Master Use Permit (MUP) application. 
  4. Following the meeting, SDCI will issue a written Early Design Guidance report summarizing the meeting. This report will be sent to those who signed in at the meeting or otherwise requested a copy.

*Please note that public comment at the EDG meeting is limited to design considerations. If environmental review is triggered, comments related to environmental impacts (such as traffic, parking, noise, etc.) may be sent to SDCI following notice of that review.

MORE INFORMATION

This proposal may be viewed at our Design Review Program website.  For more information regarding this application or the Design Review process, you may contact the Land Use Planner listed above, go to the Design Review Program website or visit our office at the address above. (We are open from 8 am to 4 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday and from 10:30 am to 4 pm Tuesday and Thursday.)   

Map:
The top of this image is North.
This map is for illustrative purposes only.
In the event of omissions, errors or differences, the documents in SDCI's files will control.

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