February 28, 2008
Benaroya Moons Over Their Denny’s
The old Ballard Denny’s (previously Manning’s) on 15th and Market was voted in as a landmark last week by the Seattle Landmark Preservation Board. The story even picked up national news coverage, presumably because the building is so ugly distinctive.
The Newsweek article, titled, “Is Googie Good?” examines the merits of the 1950s and ’60s architectural craze, as well as the impact on the would-be developers of the property.
The landmark status is particularly bad news for the property’s owners. The real estate company Benaroya purchased the property in 2006 for $12 million. Now, their plans to develop a condominium complex are on hold as they begin to appeal the decision, a process that could take weeks, months or even years. “Here we are, having gone through the better part of a year without making any gains on the property,” says Jack McCollough, the company’s land use attorney. “With the time value of money and market changes, it can have quite a serious impact on us.”
Volunteer activists have taken on the project. Says Newsweek, “They have even worked with a local architecture firm to draw up plans for how a new condominium complex could incorporate this building, allowing for both development and preservation.” The Benaroya company is opposed to this solution.
What do you think? Would a restored Googie diner adjacent to your condo be retro chic or retro-cious?
Rhapsody said:
It would be nice if the building owner and developer would at least talk to the architects and their proposed schematic, rather than concluding, without benefit of further explanation, that the proposal won’t work, or can’t work. It seems the stubbornness of the building owner is making them complicit with their future loss of value and money, rather than exploring the ideas that have been offered, and considering the options of a contract rezone, as well as tax incentives. Instead, they continue to ‘fight this’. Perhaps a posting of the proposed plans would help to see how the building can be incorporated.
March 1, 2008 3:59 PM