PROJECT: Ballard Hub | North and South

STATUS:

  • MUP approval  and building permit currently under review

CONTEXT: When completed, Ballard Hub North and South will be the two tallest buildings in the commercial heart of Ballard, a once-sleepy Scandinavian fishing community that has become one of Seattle’s fast-growing neighborhoods, with some of the city’s best restaurants, a thriving arts scene and wildly popular farmers market. The project will also bring sorely needed affordable housing to the area, along with office space, ground-level shops and a semi-public plaza.

WHAT MAKES IT A BUMGARDNER PROJECT:

  • Design that matters: Downtown Ballard’s rapid growth over the last decade led to a “canyon” of similarly massed mixed-use buildings along Market Street, the area’s main commercial corridor. Ballard Hub will be different. Its two buildings — which sit back-to-back and face two parallel streets — will both incorporate a vertical sawtooth form that will soften their massing while still responding to the module of 25’ facades on 50’ parcels common on both Market and 56th streets. A two-story lobby will run through the two buildings and the alley in between, connecting first-floor retail with second-floor office space and access to the six floors of housing above. On the Market Street side, the lobby will open onto a large south-facing “outdoor dining room” under a prominent free-standing canopy that will help bridge the gap between public and semi-public spaces, adding visual porosity to the building beyond.
  • Housing where it’s needed: Ballard Hub will help ease Seattle’s ongoing housing shortage by bringing on line more than 200 Small Efficiency Dwelling Units (SEDUs) within walking distance of transit, public services and shopping, including a library, hospital and three grocery stores.
  • Vitality that doesn’t quit: To help fuel the 24/7 life of Ballard Hub, particularly for the ground-floor retail, this project includes a layer of 11,800 square feet of office space in between the retail and the housing above.

CLIENT

  • Wang Brothers Investments

NEIGHBORHOOD & LOCATION

  • Ballard – Seattle, WA

SITE, BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TYPE

  • Urban Infill
  • (2) 8-Story Buildings with Mixed-Use Market-Rate Housing, Retail, and Office
  • Type IIIA over IA

METRICS

  • Site Area: .43 ac’s
  • Number of Units: 221 SEDU’s
  • Avg Unit Size: 256 sf
  • Residential Square Footage: 83,239 sf
  • Retail: 6,300 sf
  • Office: 11,800 sf
  • Parking: (33) Stacked Mechanical, (218) Private Enclosed, (10) Public Exposed