Progress in the Center of the Universe?

Ever wonder what people think of your fair city? The other night I learned what Philadelphia-native Amos Lee thinks of Seattleites as he crooned about our passion for books, crossword puzzles and recycling. I’m guilty as charged.

The recycling bit reminded me of a story about Steven Flynn, a musician trying to rescue a Fremont home from demolition so he could recycle it on his lot a mere ten blocks away (even closer to the Center of the Universe). As of last week, the movers were working on a few neighborhood roadblocks – trees, wires, trolls.

Flashback to 1957: Seattle is building the Seattle Freeway (now I-5), “Many houses were loaded onto barges at Lake Union and towed to locations throughout the Puget Sound, some even as far north as the Fraser River in British Columbia. The utility lines on 5th Avenue NE were raised for the duration of freeway construction in order to permit houses on flatbeds to pass down toward Lake Union.”

Steven’s story is intriguing because of the tear-down reason — not because the home is a former B&B with a still-intact S&M dungeon, or for yet another freeway, but because new zoning laws allow the owner to build townhouses.

This is a well-built, 1908, three-bed, two-bath house that someone is willing to buy for $250,000. Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-townhouse or burning bras against change, but at what point does a neighborhood loose what makes it a neighborhood?

If Steven was to buy a similar home today, he could get a 1906, three-bed, three-bath home for $599,950 — only five blocks west of his lot. If he was to build a brand new house it would be about the same price. So, kudos to Steven for being a Seattle greenie and having recycling pay off for him … but how does it benefit the neighborhood?

Another feel-good, I-love-this-city tidbit is that the buyer didn’t think he could secure a loan as a musician with no steady income. But Viking Bank said they “are local and can make their own rules,” and gave him a line of credit. (thanks for the quote, Mike Lewis at the Seattle PI.)

Any tales from your city? What do you think about razing perfectly good houses to make way for condos, apartments, townhouses?

Note: everything was moving along nicely last week, but the house is still listed on the movers site today. We’ll update this post when we learn more.