Columbia City Source

The Seattle Transit Blog’s KJ Hiramoto has a new piece on the new development going in at the former Zion Prep site and the developer’s want for more parking:

After completing most of the necessary steps with the City of Seattle, construction for a new apartment building in Columbia City is set to begin sometime in December.

“We’re finishing up our building permit application, the project is phased, and we’ve already got a permit for demolition,” said Chris Weber of BAR Architects, one of the firms in charge of this project. “It’s been a fairly typical building permit and application process.”

The new Columbia City development at 4730 32^nd Ave South will have six buildings consisting of 244 apartment units. The apartment building is also expected to have a roof terrace, lounge, and a fitness center. Weber said the target date for the completion of construction is set to summer 2015.

 

With 215 parking spaces, 126 on the surface and 89 underground, the amount of parking is a major issue for a neighborhood with ambitions of being transit-friendly.

“With Columbia City, we looked to see a balance between working for sustainability and conforming to the demands of rent,” Weber said. “We understood early on that there simply is a market to be in for parking spaces.”

Weber added that there are no expectations of empty parking spaces in the apartment buildings.

“Even though the project is next to a light rail station, people living that far from the city center have the expectation of using a car,” Weber said. “While we all like the idea of working toward an automobile-free society, the apartment simply won’t be rented out if there aren’t any parking spaces.”

Read the whole piece here (and be sure to dive into the comments for even more thoughts on the issue).