Having grown up in the Central District and experienced first-hand the radical change in its demographic profile over the years, we're usually the one to tsk-tsk conversions of old buildings whose businesses used to form a part of a living -- and disappearing -- community, into high-end developments locals wouldn't dream of being able to afford. But this remodel of a 1922 grocery store managed to bust our reserve wide open.
What the pictures don't show is that this building is right in the middle of a very nice residential area, without another commercial building nearby. It's been quietly in use as a home for some time, but it lay shuttered and empty before then. An interesting note: the Space sign in this post about hip salvage store Great Stuff used to hang above it's storefront (the letters are rearranged from a Payless sign).
The standout features of this home are the kitchen and the dining room/office space behind the former storefront window. The sole bedroom on the top floor opens to a balcony facing the front -- and, we think, the Seattle city skyline -- on top of the dining room.
And now, the price tag: $499,950. At 1150 square feet and with the market the way it is, maybe it'll come down. Then again, maybe we'd prefer a neighborhood grocery store.
Images: Vintage Seattle.
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
Kinda neat, but def. feels like a converted store with some of the smallish windows, lower ceilings, and somewhat akward layout. I wouldn't want to live there.
view madchaka's profile
It looks cold. Now I am sitting in Chicago surrounded by 9" of snow, so everything feels cold.
But the rooms just don't look inviting enough to spend that kind of money.
Too industrial for my tastes.
view Janella13's profile
It looks like a store that's been converted into a home. I think it's just the architecture. It wasn't built for living in.
view orangejuce's profile
Definitely not a fan of this house. It looks like a store remodeled on a tight budget. Placing modern furniture in a space does not automatically make it great. And you can definitely get more square footage for your money in Seattle at that price.
view twenty twenty-one's profile
My favourite industrial conversion is by Montreal's YH2 Architects. They bought a car shop in a residential neighbourhood, and converted it to 2 homes. Love it.
http://www.yh2architecture.com/projets/closes/pro-clos.html
view monika1's profile
Checking out the larger images of the exterior, it seems like attention to detail wasn't a major concern.
Although I don't mind the layout and I LOVE the green tile in the kitchen, it just doesn't seem finished...
view april_d's profile
at near $500,000 that is hardly affordable! at least not for me - ever. but i live in seattle and know how expensive housing is...and know how crappy new places are, and look (cheap). so this is cute- but i know true that a nice fix up of a store front rental in many communities (ok, maybe not in seattle) would be way cheaper. check out craigslist- chicago ...places like this go for about $1200 per month.
view lynnea's profile
Tough crowd. I think the decor is contributing to the reaction.
But I'd move in.
And lynnea, Chicago is covered in several feet of snow right now. Real estate, and geography, are the trade-offs.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
Move it to Los Angeles and the price will be $1,000,000.
view spinsLPs's profile
I think it is pretty cool. And way to re-use rather than re-build.
view CSalt's profile
Half a million dollars for a one bedroom house? For that money I want it to be located on top of the Space Needle!
view Blandwagon's profile
Too bad the writer didn't do some research.... This place is one block from my house and sits right next door to an entire commercial strip that is about a block long. It's right across the street from some of Seattle's ugliest public housing and a convenience store. Oh, did I fail to mention the vacant lot and the gravel pit that a local archetectural firm is using while constructing it's new condos ( $280,000- $500,00- 700sq/ft-1100 sq/ft. This place is proof that it pays to shop around!!
view chartreuse's profile
p.s. it's not in the Central District but the Squire Park neighborhood.
view chartreuse's profile
It is rather close to Yesler, isn't it? It's so interesting how the feel of neighborhoods in Seattle can change pretty drastically from block to block -- some of the best are within visual contact of the shadiest. And it's all steps from downtown; what's shady now likely won't be shady for long. In the meantime we're seeing a lot of noisy transition and sad loss of the old character.
I didn't learn that the neighborhood I had grown up in (on 19th and Alder -- maybe we're neighbors, chartreuse!) was called Squire Park (and not the Central District) until college, when my mom joined the neighborhood counsel. A lot of people still don't know that Squire Park even exists, and call that whole stretch between MLK and Boren, Rainier and Madison, the "Central District."
Thanks for keeping it specific, chartreuse!
view Dani's profile
It probably wasn't called "Squire Park" prior to Seattle's "Weed and Seed" efforts during the 1980s. This is when many of the green-colored neighborhood signs appeared around the city, creating smaller neighborhoods from the cloth of larger districts. This was a top-down effort and probably was not the best way to go about community building and organizing. Many long-time residents remain ambivalent about the arbitrary names and boundaries. Some residents even view the "Weed and Seed" program and its outcomes as city mandated gentrification.
a little off topic. sorry. anyway, i'd live in that store house.
view menoselgato's profile