the oldest counter-culture book distributor in the world
Posts tagged condos
Now Archie McPhee leaves Ballard to make room for even more condos
Dec 22nd
The world’s most unique toy store Archie McPhee’s has lost its lease after ten years in Ballard. They will be moving to 45th and Stoneway in Wallingford, only a few blocks from where they started.
So let’s get this correct. Once more a greedy landlord has sold his land to some condo developers. But of course there won’t be any condos built anytime soon because the market is already flooded. They have already torn down our Denny’s and our Sunset Bowl to make room for condos that may or may not ever be built. Logic doesn’t figure in here anymore in Ballard.
Meantime, here are some pictures taken Sunday, December 21st, during the heaviest snowstorm I can remember hitting this area. You can see things were pretty dead in Sunset Hill and Ballard. On the busiest shopping day of the year not much was happening. This is a heavy blow for retailers already hit hard by the recession.
24th St. & Market
The locks were completely deserted
Sunset Hill’s Business District
Neighbors on 34th St. took over the street
My new home
Ballard’s new projects: empty lots galore.
Nov 12th
Developers in Ballard were so anxious to tear down our historic Denny’s, that as soon as the effort to save it was over they immediately demolished the building. Months later, the empty lot remains and now the developer has belated realized that nobody in Ballard wants more condos.
Read the entire story here: Ballard News Tribune
Hell, they haven’t even been able to sell the hundreds of condos they have already built.
And now the same thing has happened to the Sunset Bowl, which sits there forlornly after so many years of entertaining Ballardites.
Now Ballard has no Denny’s, no Sunset Bowl, no QFC, and no monorail either.
Thank you, developers, for once again screwing with this beautiful neighborhood.
Save Ballard
Feb 23rd
A funny thing has been happening to me lately when I meet new people and tell them I live in Ballard (a neighborhood in Seattle for you non-Seattlites). They tell me how cool it is to live in Ballard and how much they love my neighborhood. It’s occurred to me that many people in GenX and later don’t even remember how uncool Ballard used to be; all the jokes about Snoose Junction and cars driving along with the seat belt dangling out the door. Instead they know Ballard as the place with all the nightclubs and bars and galleries, etc.
I was as shocked as anybody when The Stranger chose Ballard as the hippest neighborhood in Seattle. More than Capital Hill…and Fremont….and even Queen Anne where I met some new friends last night. To me that’s amazing.
So then why are people trying to ruin my cool neighborhood with all these new condos and townhouses going up, replacing many of the bungalows that so defined Ballard? Not to even mention the old Denny’s and the Sunset Bowl, and the Yankee Diner, and even my neighborhood QFC, all to replaced with condos and more condos.
I agree that maybe this attempt to save the old Denny’s by calling it a landmark building sounds crazy to people in other neighborhoods, but I see it as an attempt by our neighborhood to save itself. Enough is enough. If people like Ballard so much why are they trying to change it?
Now Will over at HorsesAss.Org likes to claim that this is NIMBYism run amok. He claims to be a poor schlub who couldn’t afford to buy a house in the city if it wasn’t for all these new developments going up.
I have to admit he gave me pause here, but Will, honestly have you priced these new condos lately? They are not much cheaper than houses, frankly, and they certainly don’t qualify as low-income housing.
Frankly, I don’t know who is buying all these new condos, and I suspect that they really aren’t selling that well. It appears to be speculators upon speculators, and the situation is getting worse all the time. I predict a crash in the condo market in Seattle. You read it here. Why would people buy a condo in Ballard, a residential neighborhood? They would be much better off buying one downtown, where there are amenities and you don’t need to have a car to get around.
