The evolution of the look and use of Stone Way will continue when some buildings from N. 44th to N. 43rd streets are razed, and a four-story, 93-unit apartment building rises in their place.

Property owner RD Merrill Company plans to build market-rate apartments, with underground parking for all tenants, the company’s VP of Investments Billy Pettit told us.

At the street level will be commercial space, which Pettit said they’ll try to fill with small local businesses. Pettit used the example of Merrill’s recent development The Corydon in the University District as the type of building that would go on Stone Way.

This is the proposed design for a new 4-story mixed-use development on Stone Way between N. 44th and N. 43rd streets. Many more views of the design are available in this document.

“Our goal here is to do smaller neighborhood projects in neighborhoods we like,” said Pettit.

Two structures on Stone Way will be demolished for this project: the commercial space that houses the Oom Yung Doe martial arts school and a nine-unit apartment building that was built in the 1950s.

N. 44th Street and Stone Way

N. 43rd Street and Stone Way

Oom Yung Doe students may be concerned that it will leave the area. Greg Martin at Oom Yung Doe wants to put those fears to rest and commented by email:

The School of Oom Yung Doe loves the Wallingford neighborhood, especially our location on Stone Way. We feel that we have been embraced by the Wallingford community and look forward to staying in the Wallingford area. Over the past two years we have developed strong ties to our neighbors providing free after school classes for Hamilton Middle School, earning the YMCA Volunteer of the Year award there, and working closely with Meridian Elementary School and the Wallingford Senior Center just to name a few. Also, Oom Yung Doe Instructor Greg Martin was recently nominated for Vice President of the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce after serving on the Board of Directors for one year. We have done so much in Wallingford in the past two years that we wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.

We have known for some time that the building will eventually be torn down and replaced. What we would really like to do is to occupy a space in the new building when it is built. In order to remain open during the construction time and continue teaching classes, we are currently looking for other locations in Wallingford. The space for lease on Stone Way and 45th across from The Boys and Girls Club is one possible location but nothing is final at this time.

The public is welcome to the Design Review Board meeting about this project next Monday in the U District. Here are details:

Date: Monday, October 18, 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: University Heights Center
5031 University Way NE, Room 209

The documents that were submitted to the Design Review Board are on this lengthy .pdf on the Seattle Department of Planning and Development’s site and include details of the proposed design and an extensive list of concerns that were raised at the Early Design Guidance Board meeting regarding the project last June.

Project manager Tom Fanning of PB Architects told us that, in a nutshell, neighbors urged the designers to be respectful because the new development will be next to a single-family zone; to mimic a lot of surrounding buildings and not to design something gaudy or outlandish; and to provide ample parking, especially since Tutta Bella is across the street and its patrons park in the area already. This new development will include 93 underground parking spaces.

Fanning anticipates that demolition will begin in about 18 months, and the project will take 18 months to complete.

The Center for Wooden Boats, which has a thriving facility on South Lake Union, is in the planning stages to create a maritime community center next to Gas Works Park on the north end of the lake.

The new facility, called Northlake Wharf, would be located on this property (aerial view), just west of the Harbor Patrol and Gas Works Park. The land was once used as a fuel dock, and it has 220 feet of waterfront as well as a short stretch of the Burke-Gilman trail. “The site has lain dormant for too long,” said Norma Jones, president of the Fremont Neighborhood Council, which supports the project. “The Center for Wooden Boats’ plan to improve and revitalize the site is a long overdue effort to better utilize our public waterfront.”

Over the weekend, the center held a public brainstorming session to gather ideas for the proposed project. Some of the suggestions included a public launch for small boats, a “floating fish and farmers market,” a community shop, a water taxi, boating classes, a place for kayakers to tie up, a sustainable shipyard and “boat in concerts.” Among the prevailing themes were making the facility neighborhood-friendly and inviting, as well as educational.

This is a very early “conceptual design” of the facility, which combines a community center and a maintenance facility for historic vessels with a behind-the-scenes look at the maritime industry. Jones imagines a day when “residents could buy lunch in Fremont then take a small boat for a picnic on the lake, or row to Lake Union Park and hop onto the streetcar for a day downtown.”

Just to the north of the property, the city closed this parking lot earlier this month with plans to convert it into a green space. Combined with the new Center for Wooden Boats facility, the hope is the redeveloped land will serve as a public extension of Gas Works Park. For more information on the project and how you can provide feedback, visit the Friends of Northlake Wharf website.

The city’s planning department has given the preliminary go-ahead for Prescott Development to build a five-story apartment building at “The Pit,” the ugly empty lot that used to be home to Safeway at Stone Way and 39th.

Prescott is finalizing the purchase of the land from QFC, which backed out it its plans to develop the lot over rising costs. The new development calls for 150-units of apartments, underground parking and street-level retail.

Here’s an earlier sketch of the project.

A keyboardist for the Seattle band Jr. Cadillac, Steven Flynn is working against the clock to save a house in Fremont from the wrecking ball.

Developers are slated to demolish the home as early as Wednesday, and Flynn is trying to secure enough financing to move it ten blocks away, reports the PI. The house is 100 years old and has an interesting history: it was recently Gypsy Arms, a bed-and-breakfast complete with an S&M dungeon in the basement.

The plot of land along Palatine just up from 36th is sandwiched between townhouses, and that’s exactly what developers are planning to build there. In fact, there are new townhouses springing up all over this part of Fremont. We’ll update you on what happens in Flynn’s quest to save the home.

Related: Ballard woman’s efforts to recycle a house