Originally published May 22, 2008 at 12:00 AM | Page modified May 22, 2008 at 7:32 AM
Landmarks Preservation Board gives owner OK to tear down Ballard Denny's
Three months after declaring the defunct Ballard Denny's building a landmark — which, for some, put into question the very meaning of...
Seattle Times staff reporter
Three months after declaring the defunct Ballard Denny's building a landmark -- which, for some, put into question the very meaning of the word -- Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board unanimously said the owner may tear it down.
The change of tune Wednesday night came after the Benaroya Companies, which purchased the property in 2006 intending for condominiums to be built, convinced the board that it could not achieve a reasonable rate of return on its $12.5 million investment if the Denny's were left standing.
The landmark designation for the Denny's, which Benaroya shut down last year, sparked passions because it touched on property rights, historic preservation, growth and the continued evolution of once-quaint Seattle neighborhoods. Hundreds of Ballard residents banded together to try to save it.
Their efforts worked at first, but Wednesday the board was required to consider its decision's economic impact on Benaroya -- a factor that by law it could not take into account three months ago.
"I just don't see how I can not only hold their feet to the fire, but put them into the fire," said board member Thomas Veith, an architectural historian who voted for the landmark designation in February.
John McCullough, Benaroya's attorney, said the company looked at a dozen redevelopment alternatives that would have preserved the building, but no plan was feasible.
Even the rosiest option -- turning the Denny's into a high-end restaurant and building condos on the rest of the site -- posted a near 25 percent loss for Benaroya, he said. That's because the number of units built would have to have been reduced from the original redevelopment plan.
Board member Alyce Conti, a real-estate finance expert, agreed with McCullough's assessment.
"No lender is going to lend on this project, especially in today's environment," she said. "It's impossible."
Supporters who pushed to turn the Denny's into a landmark pleaded with the board to consider that the building could be preserved if the property were rezoned, thus giving the developer an opportunity to build higher and build enough condo units to financially satisfy the owner.
But Veith said a rezoning might not fly with Ballard residents: "If they are against having the condos, why would they support extra height?"
Benaroya officials had characterized building supporters as more interested in using the landmarks process to stop the proliferation of condos in Ballard than in the building's historic or architectural virtues. Alan Michelson told the board that was not the case, and said city officials were open to a rezoning.
Eugenia Woo, another Ballard resident, said all the money Benaroya has spent to fight the landmark designation could have gone toward restoring the restaurant and that by now "we all could be drinking martinis at a swank bar."
Benaroya purchased the property as part of a surplus auction of the failed Seattle Monorail Project. The building was to be demolished to make way for a monorail station but had not been vetted through the landmarks process.
The board's decision in February to designate the Denny's a landmark was criticized by those who believed the building had lost much of its original Googie-inspired architectural integrity. In the end, the board designated it a landmark not on the basis of architecture, but rather on its visual prominence at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest and its distinctive quality in Ballard.
The building was constructed in 1964 as a Manning's Cafeteria. It morphed into a Denny's but today stands boarded up behind a chain-link fence.
While the landmark ruling three months ago led some to poke fun at Seattle's sense of aesthetic, others used it to debate whether midcentury buildings merit landmark status. It also has shone light on the often-misunderstood city landmarks process.
Board chairman Stephen Lee, an architect who voted for the landmark status three months ago, said members having to vote to tear down a landmark was "a very sad situation for us to be in," but he and other design professionals on the board needed to defer to colleagues who are number-crunchers.
Board member Ronald Martinson, a structural engineer, said the process requiring the board to consider Benaroya's financial hardship had to be followed. "I think it's worth noting," he said, "that we're a board of rules."
Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Seattle Times Fund For The Needy offers opportunity to give
Tugboat sinks on Seattle's waterfront
Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
Danny Westneat: Bonus for supe with a B minus?
Nicole Brodeur: You have more to spare than you think you do

Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Real Salt Lake is handed the 2009 MLS Cup trophy at Qwest Field, November 22, 2009.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- Italian lead prosecutor argues Knox motive was hatred
- Tugboat sinks on Seattle's waterfront
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Italian prosecutors request life sentence for UW student
- Man shot in chest on E. Union Street in Capitol Hill
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Mariners Blog | A Mariners-Tigers swap makes a whole lot of sense for both teams
- Senate vote clears hurdle
239 - Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
121 - Vikings easily beat the Seahawks
121 - Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle
119 - Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities
119 - Cutting through breast-cancer confusion
90 - Prosecutor requests life in prison for Amanda Knox
89 - Game thread
70 - New York terror trials will restore faith in rule of law
54 - Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
48
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Nonprofits get creative using Twitter and Facebook to make donation easier
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Lynnwood is reinventing itself — again
- Great places to cross-country ski for free (or almost) in the Methow
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helens and Astoria, Ore.
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Recipes: Sesame Pork Roast, Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce and more
- Banff: powder, peaks & purity
- 175 foster kids in Washington get 'forever families'








