Update for March 14
The design review for a 166-unit apartment complex at 3210 California Ave. S.W. scheduled for March 14 has been cancelled, according to the Department of Planning and Development website.

This post will be updated when a new date is set.

Original post on March 5
A public design review meeting is planned on March 14 for developers and architects to unveil their plans for a new apartment complex at 3210 California Ave. S.W., just south of West Seattle High School.

Here are the meeting specifics:
Review Meeting: March 14, 6:30 PM
West Seattle Senior Center
4217 S.W. Oregon St.
Hatten Hall
Review Phase: EDG--Early Design Guidance
Project Number: 3014176
Planner: Michael Dorcy

In its preliminary shape, developers are planning on five stories with 166 residential units, 1000 sq. feet of live-work space and parking for 166 vehicles below grade. It is named “Intracorp Admiral” and is being designed by Nicholson Kovalchick Architects for Intracorp, a Seattle developer.

Presenters will propose three design schemes during the Early Design Guidance phase to the Southwest Design Review Board for the project that will take up 447 feet of frontage along California Ave. That area is zoned as NC2-40 (Neighborhood Commercial 2 to a 40 foot max height) and is part of the West Seattle Admiral Residential Urban Village.

Intracorp describes their development objective: “To create a new community that integrates itself well into the immediate context and responds to broader development patterns in West Seattle. Even though the project site has more than 400 feet of continuous frontage along California Ave. S.W., the project should be well massed and proportioned as to create a structure that is visually interesting both for pedestrians at grade and for those passing by the site in a vehicle.”

Existing structures will be demolished with the exception of an exceptional Redwood tree at the east property line that developers plan to protect.

NK Architects will present three design different design schemes at the Early Design Guidance meeting on the 14th. The Southwest Design Review Board will take it all in and either recommend the project keep moving forward or ask that the design be reworked for another Early Design meeting. There will be opportunity for public comment as well.

NK’s preferred design is Option #3, which attempts to break up the perceived mass of the building by incorporating a gap between the upper levels along the 400-plus foot frontage (as seen in the artwork) and provides “rear yard setback (that) allows for more solar exposure to the adjacent single family homes …”, according to Seattle Department of Planning and Development documents.