Olympia must meld growth, history
Now that the wrapping has come off the new 123 4th building at Fourth and Columbia in downtown Olympia, it’s time to see what lessons we can learn from it. Is this building a good template for what we want more of downtown?
Equally important, are the 138 apartments in this building going to fill up quickly enough to encourage developers to create more market-rate housing downtown? Are they priced right for the market? Will the city be able to fulfill the goal of housing 5,000 more people downtown over the next 20 years?
On the plus side, most city-watchers are pleased to see this big infusion of market-rate housing, which has been the dream of city leaders for a long time.
They are also pleased to see brick and balconies, street-level retail and structured parking for the building’s residents and shoppers. These are all significant victories for a downtown that languished through the recession and is poised for recovery and renaissance.
Still, there are misgivings about the mass and scale of the boxy building, which seems to overwhelm its neighbors and inspire fear of gentrification and destruction of the city’s historic heart.
Those fears need to be translated into sustained civic engagement that helps downtown Olympia become a model of how to create urban density — and thereby avoid suburban sprawl — in a way that honors our heritage and the character of our community.
The 123 4th building provides us with a rich opportunity for learning about architecture, urban design and historic preservation. And, for those willing to dive deep into the arcane processes involved in city decision-making, it’s an opportunity to think creatively about how best to govern downtown’s development.
For instance, the city’s Heritage Commission is intended to protect historic buildings, but has little input on the new construction that may rise next to them. It is separate from the Design Review Board, and though representatives of the two groups meet to review projects, Heritage Commission members are always in the minority.
The design guidelines themselves may need a fresh look, with a view toward softening the impact of bigger, taller buildings by encouraging less boxy designs that are more gracious neighbors to the historic buildings we intend to preserve.
None of this is easy to do, and there is a great deal that the city simply cannot control. Buildings are privately owned. And new ones are built by developers who take enormous financial risks, and who need to ensure that what they build is economically sustainable and profitable.
There is no scenario in which everyone will love every new building.
But if we’re smart and engaged, there is no reason we can’t create urban density that truly reflects our values of historic preservation, inclusion and sustainable, high-quality urban design and architecture.
What we can learn from the 123 4th building is that guiding the development of the downtown we want is complicated, and that it can’t happen without sustained resident engagement and willingness to learn how all the puzzle pieces fit together.
Fortunately, the city’s year-long Downtown Strategy process offers plenty of opportunities for that. On April 28 at 6 p.m. at City Hall, developers, business owners and real estate professionals will hold a conversation about these issues, and the public is invited to listen. On May 23, there will be a public conversation about urban design at 6 p.m. at the Olympia Center. And, in the months to come, similar meetings will create a guide for downtown’s future.
It’s not enough to be an armchair architecture critic; only showing up and speaking up can create the downtown we wish for.
This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Olympia must meld growth, history."