Seattle councilmembers support shorter towers for SLU development
SEATTLE - Three Seattle city councilmembers believe shorter and slimmer is the right way to develop along the waterfront in South Lake Union.
Councilmembers Nick Licata, Tom Rasmussen, and Sally Bagshaw recently announced their support for reducing the maximum height Mayor Mike McGinn is proposing for future neighborhood development from 240 to 160 feet along the blocks bordered by Mercer and Valley Streets.
The three councilmembers also want to see slimmer versions of the towers being proposed by the developer, Vulcan.
"By limiting the towers to 160 feet in height and smaller floor plates, the towers will be more in scale with the rest of South Lake Union's buildings, and still provide a significant amount of housing and retail frontage," Councilmember Licata said in a statement released to the media.
But officials with Vulcan Real Estate have said in the past South Lake Union is ripe for more growth and building densely in the neighborhood would mean more housing and more jobs.
Under current SLU zoning regulations a maximum height of 40 feet is allowed, with buildings up to 65 feet if 20 percent of the site is set aside for ground level open space.
The three councilmembers will present their amendment to lower the proposed maximum height to 160 feet during the next South Lake Union Special Committee meeting on March 4.
Didn't stop Amazon from building tall towers bigger than many downtown. Thanks City, but we'll do what we want with our property.
"Under current SLU zoning regulations a maximum height of 40 feet is allowed, with buildings up to 65 feet if 20 percent of the site is set aside for ground level open space."...and they are proposing a reduction down to 160 feet? Am I missing something or is this sentence missing a few 2s?