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| For design review and more legible maps, click here and scroll down |
"Project One" (Charles) is the first new building in the Nelson Master Plan. The Master Plan is 22 contiguous acres in the northwest corner of the downtown in the City of Redmond. This property has been the quintessential center for goods and services to the city for the last 30 years. Looking towards the future, the goal is the redevelopment of the 22 acres around a cohesive master plan that significantly increases density and adds a mix of residential, office and retail uses, that offer a dense work, live and play environment. This new Northwest district developed over time seeks to include northwest architecture that expresses natural materials, structures, indoor/outdoor spaces, transparency, respect and support of the environment, and great people spaces and facilitate a broad inclusionary community."
--- Design Review Board memo, including legible maps, 12/03/2020 (According to the legible map, the urban village vision includes development of the Redmond Center. Perhaps a linear park along the Sammamish River is in the plan.)
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"The master plan is a vision rather than a specific, detailed plan. The 22 acres encompass the properties owned by the Nelson Legacy Group businesses stretching from the Aqua Quip Building on the corner of 161st to the open field behind Ben Franklin which touches the Sammamish River Trail. The timing of the redevelopment will be gradual and evolutionary. You will not see sudden, rapid, dramatic changes. Our vision is to gradually create an urban village and the central place in the downtown where the community can shop and gather, and also a place where people can live and work. The timing of each project in the redevelopment will be determined by many factors, including the leases of our current tenants and the needs and opportunities presented by the marketplace. Since retail is an important component of the vision, we will strive to retain our current tenants. As for the timing of the connection of 158th to Redmond Way, this is a city street and the city has discretion over the planning, timing and priority of street projects."
Regards,
Tom
Thomas L. Markl
CEO
09/03/2021
16508 NE 79th Street
Redmond, WA 98052
Wow! Thanks for bringing this to our attention Bob, this is a huge planned development. Personally I am incredibly disappointed with the initial design plan of the building, it looks similar to the large block buildings we already have downtown. I think the design review committee needs to start creating expectations for setbacks at higher elevations to allow sunlight in the roads, more public facing engagement opportunities along the street level, and less dark colors but not all white like triangle is. Some of the recent projects completely block the sunlight at street level. I think, especially in the northwest, sunlight is an important feature to maintain. Other than that, it seems to be an improvement over what’s there, but the larger plan could change DT Redmond in a HUGE way…If done right, with important architectural design protocols it could be a good thing. If allowed to maximize the property for every square inch, it could just be huge blocks of boring apartment communities that do little to attract people to our downtown. Given the way the city has been managing new development downtown, this one hugely concerns me. There are two open positions for community members on the Design Review Board…Let’s get involved and make some changes! Thanks again Bob!
ReplyDelete"WOONERF" ON ROBERT PANTLEY'S 162-TEN APARTMENT BUILDING
ReplyDeleteThis Living Street abuts Mr. Pantley's painted Apartment Building "162-TEN." The street runs south on 162 Ave NE towards the Downtown park from 81st Street.
A Living Street is a street designed primarily with the interests of pedestrians and cyclists in mind. Robert Pantley, an Eastside developer, has built Redmond's only living street. These roads are still available for use by motor vehicles, however their design aims to reduce both the speed and dominance of motorized transport. Vehicles drive at the same speed as pedestrians walk. This is often achieved using the shared space approach, with greatly reduced demarcations between vehicle traffic and pedestrians. These street design principles first became popularized in the Netherlands during the 1970’s, and the Dutch word “woonerf” (Living Street) is often used as a synonym for living street.
Living streets protect water quality in rivers and streams by removing up to 90% of pollutants. They replenish groundwater supplies, absorb carbon, improve air quality and neighborhood aesthetics, and provide green connections between parks and open space. An abundance of rain gardens and trees on this street remove pollutants. Vegetated curb extensions improve pedestrian and bicycle safety, and calm traffic.
Read More for Mr. Pantley's BIO and his fight against the COVID challenges to businesses and the neighborhoods. 425-828-4663, info@naturalbuilt.com
Robert Pantley is a Pacific Northwest native and deeply focused on making the region a better place for all people to live. He is a strong supporter of neighborhoods and has a focus in expanding the affordable housing options on the Eastside.
He served as a Kirkland City Council Member, Kirkland Park Board Chair, on the Redmond Code Rewrite Commission, is the past president of OneRedmond and currently focused on how to help small business recovery from Covid-19 challenges while helping current residents with the “We Care Team” that has them working on site to help cover rent and buy food while they make each property shine more from new flowers to painting doors and helping to deep clean each community. The benefits are more together communities with residents able to get to the other side of this pandemic ‘debt free’ with pride in their hearts and more smiling faces than one could imagine.
Robert’s companies, Natural and Built Environments LLC, and Muse Management have grown into a front runner in green building, becoming the Eastside’s key sustainable building company with expertise in transit use and parking realities as integral parts of successful Ten Minute Communities-TM. His companies built the Eastside’s first residential suite communities in Redmond – Tudor Manor and Vision 5, which brought very needed affordable housing to the city. Arete community that was honored to be the LEED Multifamily Project of The Year (Worldwide) in 2017, has been a two time winner of the Washington Governor’s Smart Communities Award, and an ARCH Award recipient.
He has been married to his wife Elizabeth for over 30 years and they raised their four children in Kirkland along with “Grandma.” He is a member of the Audubon Society and enjoys bird watching in his neighborhood parks, reading, and fishing with his family.
Sources: Robert Pantley's website
Wikipedia, 12/31/2020
Thank you for commenting; you sound like a well educated planner and I'm happy you're in our community. I'll email your comment to the Mayor and Council offices. I'm sure they'll appreciate what you have to say.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about having fewer "all white" buildings. For me, white cubed Garden Hilton is an eyesoar.
As for Project One, Mr. Nelson is building a "woonerf" (small, slow moving alley shared for pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters, and some cars.) [Pantley's apartment building "162 Ten" has one - that's the building with colorful art on the west wall. Robert Pantley is the owner.] Project One will also have a dog washing station.
Thanks again for your comments. I hope others will have something to say. Stay safe.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete