Planned for completion next fall, the project consists of 61 apartments and 5,000 square feet of retail on the ground level. Because of the Pine Street grade, the retail spaces are at different levels on East Pine Street and 12th Avenue, with two spaces fronting each street.
"We don't expect any difficulty finding people who will want a retail space there," said Laura Bachman, a project manager for Barrientos L.L.C., the project developer. She said that Barrientos has fielded a few inquiries about the spaces, but no negotiations have begun.
A variety of retail businesses - car dealers, car mechanics, furniture dealers - have occupied the 12th Avenue side of the building since it was built as a car dealership in 1920. The Pine Street office area of the building was occupied by the Foley Sign Co. for the last 28 years. The company has since relocated to new facilities at 572 Mercer St. in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
The residential units will include open-plan one-bedroom and studio apartments. The entire interior of the building is being rebuilt because of the structure needed to support an additional three stories. But the original building façade on the lower stories will be preserved and restored.
"We expect to have a community roof-deck area for residents," Bachman said, though she could not provide details. Given its location on the hillside, the roof of the five-story building should provide excellent views of Cal Anderson Park, First Hill and Belltown and Queen Anne hill.
Resident parking for 36 vehicles will be provided below the building.
The immediate area around the development has been a magnet for new housing, both old building conversions and new construction, for the last few years. That, in turn, has helped revitalize the Pike-Pine corridor.
"We are very bullish on the neighborhood," Bachman said. "We think Capitol Hill will continue to be a strong and appealing neighborhood for people who want to work downtown."
She added that Capitol Hill is one of the first neighborhoods investigated by new residents moving from another city.
Barrientos is also the developer for The Pearl Apartments in the same neighborhood at 1500 E. Madison St. That project has 80 apartments and 9,000 square feet of retail space. Part of the property was formerly occupied by the popular Thumper's restaurant.
Change has been no stranger to the area. The neighborhood was known as Auto Row almost from Seattle's first automobile sale in 1905. The label fit through both the World Wars, though many businesses fell prey to the Great Depression. At its peak, Auto Row stretched from Boren Avenue to 14th Avenue East between Pine and Union streets. It was home to paint and upholstery shops, service garages, parts stores and fuel stations.
"We're calling it the Packard Building because it was designed as the Packard showroom," said Maria Barrientos, owner of the eponymous Barrientos Development company. "But it was never used as a Packard showroom."
It was definitely home to the Stutz Motor Car Co. and Willys-Overland Pacific Co. It may have started out as a Packard dealership, but evidence is inconclusive.
Some connections to the neighborhood's automotive past still exist, though perhaps appealing to a less proletarian clientele. Still in the area are the Ferrari-Maserati dealership at 12th Avenue and East Union Street; Mercedes Benz of Seattle, at Belmont Avenue and East Pike Street, which is next to the BMW Seattle dealership; and just a few blocks uphill from Bob Byers Seattle Volvo at Boren Avenue and East Pike Street.
Central Pontiac occupied the northeast corner of East Pine Street and Broadway, now occupied by Everyday Music, next to the Jimi Hendrix statue, within recent memory.
Barrientos has been involved in several iconic Seattle projects including Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, the Union Station refurbishment, Paramount Theater restoration, St. Mark's Cathedral seismic upgrade and building the Bailey-Boushay House on East Madison Street.
For more information about Barrientos L.L.C., go to to www.mbarrientos.com.
Freelance writer Korte Brueckmann can be reached at editor@capitolhilltimes.com
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