Former Ballard Denny's deemed too expensive to preserve

The owners of a Ballard building that once housed a Manning's Cafeteria and then a Denny's restaurant should be allowed to knock it down, Seattle officials said in a report to the city Landmarks Preservation Board.

"Imposing controls on this building would prevent the owners from realizing a reasonable return," City Historic Preservation Officer Karen Gordon and board coordinator Elizabeth Chave wrote in the report for a Wednesday meeting where the board is scheduled to consider which elements of the building must be protected.

		Andy Rogers / P-I
	The former Denny's restaurant in Ballard.

The Landmarks Board voted in February to designate the sloping building at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest as a city landmark, blocking its demolition.

BCC Mikie Ballard LLC, which is a partnership led by the Benaroya Co., owns the building and has a deal to sell to developer Rhapsody Partners, which applied to replace it with an eight-story building containing retail space and more than 260 homes.

Gordon and Chave wrote that the only financial incentive available for the building's preservation would be the city's special tax valuation for historic properties, but the value of that would be "negligible" compared with the financial loss to the owners, who paid $12.5 million for the site.

They recommend that the board impose no controls on the building and allow its demolition.

The staff members recommended against designating the building as a landmark in the first place. BCC Mikie Ballard LLC sued last month to overturn the board's landmark designation.

During Wednesday's meeting, the Landmarks Board may either approve the staff's proposal, which includes no controls, or come up with its own recommendations for consideration by a city hearing examiner.

MORE INFO

Wednesday's Landmarks Preservation Board meeting starts at 3:30 p.m. in Room 4060 of Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Ave. The board is unlikely to get to the Manning's/Denny's building before 5:30 because of other items on the agenda. Details: go to seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/ and click on "Meeting Schedules, Agenda/Minutes" and then "Landmarks Preservation Board."