To: Seattle Department of Planning and Development From: Patricia Gelenberg, residential owner, Madison Tower Re: Project #3021574. former Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) I have several concerns about the proposal submitted for development of the Federal Reserve historic landmark building. I. Downtown livability The massive nature of the proposed design severely impacts existing nearby residences in ways which I believe contradict Seattle's stated desire to foster urban livability. • With the structure currently sited to be built up to the alley line and run nearly the entire length of the alley between Madison and Spring streets, the negative impacts on privacy, light and air circulation are significant. Current residents on the east side of Madison Tower will have commercial tenants looking into their bedroom windows, a mere 15 or 16 feet away. Those residents will lose virtually all sunlight into their homes. And the massive wall of the proposed building will hamper air circulation as well. • Alley safety is compromised by the number of additional vehicles, not only those going in and out of parking garages, but added commercial delivery vehicles and service vehicles like trash trucks. A 15-foot alley means two-way traffic is extremely tight when the cars are small, but if a trash truck or delivery van is in the alley, all other vehicles are precluded. Such issues are not addressed in this proposal. Moreover, many pedestrians use that alley. Staff enter Hotel 1000 through the alley. And residents of Madison Tower, like me, take our bicycles out through the alley. Safety of both groups is an issue that is not addressed in this proposal. • The city's own Seattle 2035 draft plan calls for a downtown that “enhances the quality of life for all.” The structure proposed for the Federal Reserve Building actually detracts from the quality of life for those who are already living in downtown. II. Landmark Status and Transit Plans I believe the design review process is premature for several reasons relating to Landmark status, and one relating to Seattle's transit plans. • The proposed plan is scarce on details of how the high-rise tower can be built without violating several restrictions on the historic building. The construction that is proposed has not yet been deemed to meet the covenants imposed by the historic building designations of both Washington State and the Federal government, in particular, I believe, a covenant forbidding the new developer from cutting through the roof: ◦ "No construction, alteration, remodeling or any other work shall be undertaken . . .
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within . . Zone 1 . . . other than minor repairs and routing maintenance without the express prior written permission of the SHPO" (State Historic Preservation Officer). Zone 1 is identified to include "the exterior of the building (including main building roof). In the description of Zone I it states "The character and qualities of the Preservation Zone should receive special care and be maintained and preserved as the highest priority."
The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board has not yet weighed in on landmark status. Seattle Transit has plans for a City Center Connector running along 1 st Avenue; also the Madison Street Bus Rapid Transit route is currently in the study stage. Both of those could impact the best design for any development of the Federal Reserve Building.
III. Tower development Seattle imposes legitimate restrictions that require separation between towers. These restrictions appear
to be ignored in the current proposal. A more northern placement of the new tower on the existing FRB block could maintain sufficient space between the new construction and existing buildings to the west. I am not a professional, and this is the first time I have ever commented on development in downtown, so please forgive any amateur nomenclature. But it seems the current plans, even though they are preliminary, are not sufficiently thorough in showing the building, especially from a western perspective. Overall, I believe the three designs, all of them massive, differ only slightly in their impact on existing residents, historic status, and city restrictions created to protect the general feel of the area. Respectfully submitted, Patricia Gelenberg 1000 1st Ave. #1901 206-512-3826