Broadway revitalization plan goes before council

Near Broadway and East Mercer Street on Capitol Hill, in the heart of Seattle's most densely populated neighborhood, two big buildings — the old Safeway and QFC — sit empty.

The properties, along with a shut-down Bartell's, contribute to the perceptions of vacancy and vagrancy that taint Broadway's image.

"It used to be like the soul of the city to me. But now Broadway feels weary. It needs a kick in the butt," said Sheila Rosen, manager of Broadway Video and a longtime Capitol Hill resident.

Capitol Hill developers, business leaders and Mayor Greg Nickels believe they know where to start. All that stands in the way of a bustling Broadway, they argue, is 25 feet.

They say letting Broadway buildings rise from the current 40-foot limit to 65 feet — roughly from four stories to six — would give developers the profits and incentives to build hundreds of condos and apartments above street-level shops. A more-attractive mix of retail would follow and likely drive away panhandlers and drug addicts who linger on Broadway's sidewalks, they say.

Neighborhood-group leaders contend that what ails Broadway has more to do with a regional economic recession and competition from newly chic neighborhoods such as Ballard and Fremont than with the height of the buildings. Taller structures, they say, would create a canyonlike effect and transform the eclectic, bohemian character that has made Broadway distinctive.

"I think taller, newer buildings would in fact destroy the funky charm of Capitol Hill and drive away the excellent sort of tenants that I now have," apartment-building owner Katherine Smith recently told the City Council.

Further, adding condos, residents and shoppers, some worry, would displace older, lower-rent apartments and strain parks and open space — all without solving the underlying problems of the strip.

Last week, a key council committee unanimously approved a compromise that would allow taller buildings, but only as part of a broader strategy to encourage affordable housing, a marketing study, street and sidewalk improvements, and a greater focus on crime prevention and social services for Broadway. No funding, though, was recommended for those efforts.

Several council members said they liked the more comprehensive package, which the full council is expected to vote on today, because it wasn't clear how taller buildings would solve Broadway's complex problems.

"I don't think increased height alone would change anything," said Councilman Peter Steinbrueck.

No one can pinpoint when or why Broadway began to lose its luster.

But in recent years businesses started to lobby the city for change.

"There are a lot of homeless kids crapping up the neighborhood," said Rosen, the Broadway Video manager.

Capitol Hill resident Jennie Fox wrote the City Council to say that she and her friends — all in their mid-30s and with high incomes — rarely shop on Broadway. The shops, cafes and restaurants, it seems, aren't alluring.

"Broadway has no particular cachet or distinction today," said Steinbrueck.

Residents shop elsewhere

From a business perspective, Broadway's biggest problem is that Capitol Hill residents aren't spending their money on their neighborhood's main drag. A city-funded study estimated that Capitol Hill's 26,000 residents spend about $389 million a year on retail goods, but little of that goes to merchants in their neighborhood.

The study recommended adding housing on Broadway as a way to attract retailers and deter crime. "We believe drug dealers would be less inclined to deal if there was the possibility that more people would be watching them from their windows above the street," said SungYang, a Nickels adviser.

Council members such as Steinbrueck and Tom Rasmussen, who lead the development committee, acknowledge it's hard to know how to fix Broadway when there is conflicting information on the reasons for its decline.

And it's not as if new tenants aren't available for many of the vacant storefronts. The owners of the old QFC and Safeway sites said they have tenants eager to move in.

Robert Burkheimer, owner of the old QFC property, wrote council members that he had five parties "very interested in leasing the existing vacant building." He declined to discuss details with The Seattle Times.

Mike Nelson, a partner in the Bellevue-based firm that recently bought the old Safeway site, said he was "confident that we could easily re-lease the building, evidenced by phone calls from several large retailers expressing interest for the site," including a "high-end furniture store."

But Burkheimer and Nelson also said they prefer to top the buildings' street-level retail with five stories of condos or apartments. The mix would do more to revitalize Broadway, they argue. It likely would mean larger financial returns for them, as well.

There is some debate over the contention that redevelopment won't occur under the current 40-foot limit because it isn't profitable enough for developers.

The city-funded study by real-estate consulting firm Gardner Johnson said 65-foot limits would clearly make some redevelopment more viable. But the study also produced an economic model showing that a 40-foot building with 71 condos would offer "quite strong" financial returns.

Steinbrueck said developers like increased height limits because they boost property values.

He and other council members, though, have also bought into the idea that more housing can only help Broadway's retail and street-crime problems.

"The theory is you can increase the number of local shoppers by increasing density, and more eyes on the street is better for public safety," Steinbrueck said.

Ann Donovan, president of the Capitol Hill Community Council, doubts that adding residents to Broadway would chase away criminal activity.

"I find that to be a weak idea. It seems that they expect people to be part of a vigilante police force," she said. "Plus, police are already getting loads of calls from Broadway property owners."

Donovan and Rasmussen believe Broadway's problems are more complicated than perceived.

Donovan said that Broadway's retail was hurt by the region's recession and the loss of one of Capitol Hill's larger employers, Cornish College of the Arts, which moved to the Denny Triangle in 2003. She also noted that the city spent much money and energy reviving the downtown shopping district in the late 1990s, which probably siphoned some shoppers away from Broadway.

Rasmussen said other neighborhoods appear to have caught up with Broadway in hipness, creating competition.

"Hip, gay or young people don't have to go to Broadway or Capitol Hill. There's now plenty to do in Queen Anne, Wallingford, Greenwood, Fremont and Ballard," he said.

Promises sound familiar

Donovan said the community council as of Friday hadn't analyzed the compromise package the council is expected to vote on today.

Rich Lang, a former community-council president, said he worries that the improvements Steinbrueck is seeking — including a marketing strategy, wider sidewalks and more police — might amount to lip service.

"The city made similar promises years ago," he said. Meanwhile, Lang is concerned that in its quest to compete with other parts of the city, Broadway might end up a cookie-cutter mix of upscale stores and condos.

He said polling done by the council rejected the idea of taller buildings.

"The quality cited most about Broadway was 'diversity' and the fact it had a whole range of people and everybody was kind of accepted here," Lang said. "There could be a whole different feel with six-story buildings and a lot of condos."

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com