Assisted Living building planned for Hillwood neighborhood
Monday, January 1, 2024
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| Land where new building will be sited. Also adjacent parcel #600, but not the four parcels fronting Richmond Beach Road (L-R) Shell station, shell parking, office building, Wells Fargo bank. |
By Diane Hettrick
Three years ago, on December 2020 an entity called Richmond Beach Associates LLC, for $12.2 million became the legal owners of a large piece of property at the corner of Richmond Beach Road and 8th Ave NW in what is called 4 Corners, where four neighborhoods meet. The deal included a large adjoining parcel.
The land currently has parking, an abandoned bank building, and the so called "Shops at Richmond Beach." The busy and popular businesses on the site include the Santa Fe grill, Beach House Greetings, a nail salon, dry cleaners. QFC and the Swedish clinic are on the parcel.
It does not include the parcels fronting Richmond Beach Road with the Shell gas station, naturopathic and insurance offices, and Wells Fargo bank.
The property owner has entered into a deal with Urbal Architecture to construct a six story assisted living facility on the site, currently called Acoya Richmond Beach.
Urbal has deep experience with assisted living facilities both locally and nationally. They have constructed Merrill Gardens senior living sites in Ballard, Renton, Tacoma, Auburn, Burien, Holden at Southcenter and other senior living buildings all over the U.S.
Currently they plan to demolish the bank to begin construction. Their current plan shows that they plan to demolish the west wing of the shopping mall but they have not applied for permits for that from the City of Shoreline.
The property owner has entered into a deal with Urbal Architecture to construct a six story assisted living facility on the site, currently called Acoya Richmond Beach.
Urbal has deep experience with assisted living facilities both locally and nationally. They have constructed Merrill Gardens senior living sites in Ballard, Renton, Tacoma, Auburn, Burien, Holden at Southcenter and other senior living buildings all over the U.S.
Currently they plan to demolish the bank to begin construction. Their current plan shows that they plan to demolish the west wing of the shopping mall but they have not applied for permits for that from the City of Shoreline.
The building will be a six-story 230-unit assisted living facility with one level of below grade parking (130 parking stalls total). Assisted living facilities are not required to have ground-level commercial space.
They have submitted their SEPA application, which is the City's environmental checklist. The public is invited to comment on environmental impacts based on the information contained in the SEPA.
According to the Senior Planner on the project, "The developer and property owner have not applied for the permits to make alterations or demolitions to the shopping center at this time, although the developer shows that portions of it will be removed as a part of their plans for the assisted living facility.
"Based on the plans provided, it looks like the property owner and applicant intend for the dry cleaners to stay, but they wish to demolish or remove the commercial spaces west of there."
The public comment period ends January 2, 2024 at 5pm. Submit comments to ahalberg@shorelinewa.gov or deliver them to city hall Attn: Alicia Halberg, 17500 Midvale Ave N, Shoreline WA 98133
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19 comments:
Potentially eliminating the grocery store? If so, it seems short sighted.
Please note, if the project goes through, part of the retail mall space will be demolished, including Santa Fe, Grace's Nails and Beach House Greetings. We need to retain our local businesses. This information has not been that transparent!
Do not let this go though!!! We do not need morem living!!!! We need STORES!!!
Funny how capitalism works. Bit by bit, our local culture succumbs to economic 'progress' and we are fooled into thinking it's a good thing. Where is our voice in the matter? More often than not, our comments to the city are recorded but not acted upon. It's a bit of a ruse, isn't it?
If the retail complex by QFC is significantly affected by this assisted living building's footprint, our children at Einstein Middle School may be motivated to go down the 3rd Ave hill (north, toward Firdale Village) to access storefronts after school. It is a very steep hill that can be dangerous for pedestrians and may lead to injuries, accidents and death.
Some day all the complainers will need assisted living and will be very happy to have an assisted home in the neighborhood.
I'm all for new construction at this site, but am very sad to see what little small business we have in the area to be lessened further. Would've liked a more transparent process and the ability for additional small business. We need more community centers/gathering spaces. Kids frequent the area around QFC and Starbucks after school and there should be space for them to spend time that is safe and close to their homes.
This is a terrible idea, too much traffic already in this area. Please do not take away these businesses. My saying if it ain't broke don't fix it.
This is so sad for those of us who are loyal customers of Beach House and Grace Nails. Hopefully this plan can be amended and scaled down.
i’m totally against this. I use a lot of the businesses in the shopping center. It’s a third space for many people. I think this is a totally bad idea.
There are already limited businesses in shoreline. I grew up in shoreline and some of these businesses have been there since I was in high school! Don’t take them away! Pick another spot for an assisted living building. Taking these establishments away would decrease community connections! We need community and small businesses now more then ever!
Point Wells redux. Sigh
I have questions for the City regarding their processes with community notification and feedback. I just learned about this proposal after the Christmas holiday from social media. For one - how will public comment affect the decisions that are pending on this proposal?
I dont get how an LLC that was administratively dissolved (no Washington registration outside of that) in 2015 bought these land rights. Something doesn't seem right. https://opengovwa.com/corporation/602877576
Let’s propose building a similar structure near the LLC address.
This project is using the "deep green bonus initiative" to gain additional height. The area is zoned for 60' and will be pushed to 70' with the bonus which is debatable in terms of value tradeoff for the community. While the site is zoned for this use and new development will happen, the city is allowing this owner to maximize the development yield in a way that will create a new building out of scale for this area. This will in turn set a precedent for more, large out of scale projects for the 4-corners neighborhood.
Senior housing is important, but saving our neighborhood structure is vital to maintaining community!
We need our shops and restaurants.
There are better sites for this project.
If we allow this to happen we'll miss keeping our community special.
Scale the project down and save our restaurants and shops!
Just had lunch at the Santa Fe restaurant that is doomed because of this plan. They are the nicest people, and the place is excellent. So very sad to see another gathering place give way to more people storage silos.
I've lived here for the past 20 years and do not approve of the plans set forth. Traffic will be terrible too many people milling about too.
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