Ballardites got their first look at the six-story, 107-unit apartment building planned to replace the former Ballard Library on 24th Avenue Northwest during an Aug. 9 early design guidance meeting.

Architectural firm Weber Thompson presented three schemes for the development, which will include apartments, commercial space, live/work space and underground parking.

All three schemes split the 200-foot-long building, located between Northwest 57th Street and Northwest 58th Street, into three distinct segments in order to avoid a monolithic presence along the street. They also focus the mass of the building onto 24th Avenue and away from the low-rise residential neighborhood to the west.

Weber Thompson's preferred scheme has commercial space along 24th Avenue with an eight-foot setback from the sidewalk in the middle to create more pedestrian space and allow for spill-out from future commercial tenants.

Live/work apartments would be on the ground level along 58th Street.

On the west side, town houses with landscaping would abut neighbors' property and would be set 10 feet back from the property line at the closest point and 21 feet back at the furthest point.

The preferred scheme's parking entry is on 57th Street across from an existing parking garage entry at the Metropole Condos.

Neighbors were generally encouraging of concentrating the mass of the building onto 24th Avenue but remained worried about the development blocking their light.

One resident who owns a piece of property behind the planned development said he already hears complaints from renters about the lack of light, and one potential tenant was scared off by the future development.

The Northwest Design Review Board asked Weber Thompson to keep the building's relationship with the neighborhood to the west in mind but to also focus on the pedestrian experience along 24th Avenue.

Neighbors expressed frustration with the amount of construction they have endured in recent years. The new development is bordered by the Metropole Condos on the south, the recently completed Ballard on the Park/QFC development on the east and the nearly completed Danielle Condos on the north.

Scott Thompson of Weber Thompson said the site's owners, Pryde + Johnson, are dedicated to resource-efficient projects. For the development on the former Ballard Library site, the owners are targeting LEED Gold, Built Green 5-Star and other environmental goals.

In addition, 20 percent of the units will be priced for people earning 80 percent of the median income, Thompson said.

He said Pryde + Johnson, developers of the Hjarta Condominiums on Market Street, are hoping to get local businesses into the commercial spaces and are looking at the live/work units for artists and small businesses.

The developers want to keep as many of the current trees on site as possible, create a rooftop P-Patch for residents and encourage biking, walking and transit over vehicle ownership, said Mindy Black of Weber Thompson.

Thompson said they will be designing the building with simple and clean detailing and want to reflect modern Scandinavian-style architecture.

A more detailed design for the project will be presented to the Design Review Board and the public in the coming months.

The site underwent a portion of the design review process in 2006 but was shelved by Pryde + Johnson because the amount of concurrent developments in the area and the recession. The old library has sat empty since Abraxus Books moved out in June 2009.

For more information on the development, download Weber Thompson's Aug. 9 presentation with the link at the beginning of this article.