The 157-foot crane named Calvin does the heavy lifting at the 21Boston construction site in Upper Queen Anne. When complete the site will feature a new 50,000-square-foot Safeway store and more than 300 apartments and condos built above. The construction project beginning was one of the top stories for the local neighborhood in 2022.
While 2022 was an eventful year for everyone, with much of the world continuing to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot continuing, Russia invading Ukraine and inflation dominating headlines nationally, The Queen Anne, Magnolia and Interbay neighborhoods each had their own excitement, however, with the top three stories coming from the 21Boston site construction beginning in Queen Anne, the fallout for Magnolia in the City Council redistricting process; and continuation of the Seattle Storm practice facility in Interbay.
21Boston/Queen Anne Safeway
After fits and starts over many years, a significant construction project began on Queen Anne. The long-anticipated 21Boston project, which will feature a new 50,000-square-foot Safeway store and more than 300 apartments and condos built above when finished, began this past spring with utility upgrades followed by the demolition of the former Safeway building.
Replacing the Safeway and creating additional housing units in Queen Anne has actually been in the works for some time, with changes in plans and developers first delaying the project that was initially slated to begin in 2019 – the first time. Construction was then pushed off until June 2021 but a combination of factors affected the project, including gaining clearance to file the permits, COVID-19 changing the city’s permitting operations, as well as delaying them, breaks in the supply chain and inflation driving up the cost of materials.
Then a union strike that lasted more than four months delayed things further, as the 21Boston and construction projects throughout the state could not receive deliveries of concrete. Another consequence of the strike was Seattle Light was short staffed and they had to put work orders on hold for the duration of the strike.
Courtesy of ZGF Architects and Shive Hattery Architects
Project principle Maria Barrientos, barrientosRYAN LLC, has been involved for about three years and said earlier this year she was relieved to start the project.
The old Safeway closed for good in late spring, and demolition of the building began in June.
Residents have regularly paused along the fence next to the former Safeway site in upper Queen Anne to watch the progress of construction but even more so when a 157-foot crane with a 267-foot jib was brought to the site to do the heavy lifting. In November, the Queen Anne & Magnolia News, Queen Anne Farmers Market and developer BarrientosRyan partnered together and invited the community to vote for a name to bestow upon the crane. After all the votes were counted, residents had ultimately chosen to name the crane Calvin, after a beloved mailman who retired at the end of the December. The crane will stay up through 2023, with the project slated to be finished in 2024.
People who want to follow the progress of the construction, as well as updates, can go to www.21boston.com or read local resident Mark Spitzer’s blog, https://markspitzerdesigns.wordpress.com/2022/12/27/21-boston-09-winter/.
Magnolia redistricting
A major story this past year was the City Council redistricting process and what it meant for Magnolia. Charged with redrawing City Council district boundaries based on updated census data, a redistricting committee made significant changes to District 7, which up until now included Queen Anne, Magnolia and Interbay and is represented by Councilman Andrew Lewis. Because District 7, and especially the Uptown district, grew the most, boundary adjustments had to be made to reflect that growth and redistribute populations in council districts more equitably.
Early on, the redistricting committee members seemed to support map boundaries that would have split Magnolia into two, putting one chunk into District 6, which includes Ballard, and keeping the rest in District 7, with Queen Anne. Local opponents disagreed with those boundary changes because they would have divided Magnolia’s business district in the village, as well as separated a chunk of Magnolia from Queen Anne, a pairing that has existed for years and has allowed for joint advocacy work reflecting the similarities between the two communities. Those arguments appeared to sway committee members – at first.
After further map proposals indicated keeping Magnolia and Queen Anne together would create significant divisions in other neighborhoods, the committee changed course and ended up approving a plan that kept Magnolia whole but placed the entire neighborhood and a small piece of Interbay in District 6.
With the redistricting of the council districts, voters in Queen Anne, Interbay and Magnolia, as well as the rest of Seattle, will vote for council representatives to reflect the new council districts, which means that all but the at-large council seats will be up for grabs.
Seattle Storm practice facility
The Seattle Storm WNBA basketball team continued with plans for construction of a state-of-the-art practice facility in Interbay this year, with the project in good shape to begin this spring. The Storm first announced the project in October of 2021, and this past March, Force 10 Facilities, LLC (F10F), submitted a Master Use Permit application for the facility.
Currently, the four-time WNBA champions do not have their own practice facility; instead the team practices at Seattle Pacific University and can only use the gymnasium at certain times.
When finished, the approximately 50,000-square-foot parcel at 1616 W. Bertona St., in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood will include two side-by-side basketball courts, the “Storm Team Center” with locker rooms, a lounge and a nutrition center for the players, strength and conditioning training spaces. The facility will include room for diagnostics and physical therapy, as well as the franchise’s business offices.
“All the things a professional player would need, we’re going to build those into these courts so that our players will be able to measure pretty much anything they want and need to understand how to make them better,” Lisa Brummel, one of the Storm’s co-owners told the Magnolia Chamber of Commerce in July.
When not in use by the Storm players and staff, the facility will be used to host camps and clinics. As well, the parking lot, which will primarily serve players and staff, will also include room for three-on-three basketball.
Construction is expected to begin this spring and finish by April 2024, before the Storm season begins.
Currently, 85 percent of all project team members across all disciplines are women. The women-led project team includes owner’s representative barrientosRYAN LLC, a design team led by ZGF Architects and Shive-Hattery Architects, general contractor Sellen Construction and landscape architect Walker Macy. Additional project partners include Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Holmes, Prime Electric, PAE, Apollo Mechanical, Counterbalance Consulting, PanGeo, Counsilman-Hunsaker, Bargreen Ellingson, Heffron Transportation, RDH, Studio Pacifica and BRC Acoustics.
Maria Barrientos, owner’s representative, and team owners have met with local community organizations multiple times through the year, with an idea to have the Storm facility have a bigger role in Interbay by declaring the neighborhood Storm country.
For more information on the project, visit https://www.sellen.com/storm and https://www.sellen.com