Why is tower spacing much worse in Denny Triangle than the rest of downtown?
Throughout the rest of downtown, towers must be spaced at least 60 feet apart from one another. This distance was set as a standard for ensuring a livable downtown for those who work and reside there. However, for reasons that still don’t seem clear in 2006 one specific area of downtown (The Denny Triangle) was exempted by the council and mayor from this 60 foot requirement. If you want to read how the whole process unfolded, I definitely recommend checking out the Cosmo Seattle blog.
The result of this spacing exemption can be seen below, where the 1918 8th Ave building is sited just 18 feet from the neighboring Cosmo condos. And if you’re a Cosmo resident on the 8th Ave-facing side, your personal result is that you’ve just been exempted from the livability standards that are granted to other downtown and condo dwellers.
4 comments
Just an FYI - The 34-story (DPD Project #3004017) replaced a 13-story (DPD Project #2401880) that had originally been approved for the site. Planning on the 13-story began almost 1 1/2 years before the Cosmo pre-sale, well before Cosmo broke ground. The application itself was filed Nov 2, 2004.
Given differences in office floor spacing and residential floor spacing, an estimated 24 floors of Cosmo were expected to be across the alley at the time of the pre-sale, and yet in spite of that the Cosmo sold 90% at the pre-sale in August 2005. In addition to being right up against the alley across from Cosmo, the 13-story was to have a cantilever extending 2 feet over the alley above 16 feet, as well as screening on top to block the views of rooftop-located building systems.
When the new downtown zoning changes were enacted in 2006, tower spacing for that area actually remained the same. Even if it hadn’t, approved plans (i.e., the 13-story) were grandfathered in. Much taller offices, however, were now allowed, the reason the developers cited for replacing the 13-story with a 34-story. In spite of providing public notice several times through regular channels, including installing a large sign on the property itself, only two people provided comments on the project – the Cosmo Seattle blogger and someone focused on the mitigation of construction noise impact.
Although the 13-story is sometimes briefly mentioned as the Cosmo spacing story makes its rounds on the various blogs, the fact that many Cosmo units were destined to be looking out across an alley at an office building long before the 2006 zoning changes were enacted is usually left out for some reason.
I don’t like the lack of spacing in Denny Triangle, but Cosmo’s spacing situation wasn’t caused by the 2006 zoning changes. It was well established publicly available information at the time of the Cosmo pre-sale the previous year.
Definitely two big issues here, one about communication and the other about the tower spacing. Thanks for your comments. I really think the Cosmo Seattle blog http://cosmoseattle.blogspot.com/ has done an excellent job of detailing issues with communication, and they have some additional points to add.
But I agree with you that the real problem here is why the city would reduce tower spacing in the first place? It’s simply not the right thing to do. I mean, the message this sends to others who might want to buy into the downtown lifestyle vision is that the city isn’t prepared to protect behind them.
mark w-
your argument is factually flawed, particularly the last paragraph. in nearly all of the cosmo seattle blog posts you criticize, i provide direct links to supporting documentation. in this post, you will find video-taped meeting minutes where in march 2006 city council made zone changes that caused the Cosmo (and Escala) spacing situation.
I would also urge you to reference the Washington Condominium Act when constructing other parts of you argument.
Thanks Cosmo, you’ve done an excellent job documenting the situation.
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