I recently had two people contact me within a twenty four hour window about a condo conversion on Capitol Hill. Apparently this place was hideous. Here’s what one friend had to say:
Have you walked by it lately? Prior to turning it into condos they 1) cut down the huge birch trees on the corner and 2) painted the building in bright and clashing blues, greens and pinks. It used to be a nice building. Now I weep whenever I walk to QFC. I Weep!
Can you please bring public shame to this eye-sore? (I know your disability [ed: I’m color blind] may prevent you from noticing how bad these colours look, but it’s truly awful.)
So I trekked up to Republican and Bolyston Saturday morning on the way to the grocery store, stopped, gawked, and took a few photos.
IMGP4607 Hosted on ZooomrWhile taking this photo someone came out and asked me if I was taking a photo because the place was hideous. And the answer was yes, yes I was. This place is just hideous. The photo doesn’t even convey how hideous it is, go walk by it. Its no surprise that their website, does not have any exterior photos! (And please, put your square footages on the floor plans.)
IMGP4609 Hosted on ZooomrNeedless to say, don’t buy here, even though they do have granite (we need to send a message to developers that granite countertops does not mean your project is desirabl!) You will be mocked. I also welcome submissions of condo projects that you feel are uglier.
Update: The Stranger discusses this ugly ass building here, Re: PI Credulous on Conversions and has some choice quotes in the comments:
Speaking of their tag line, my friends and I made up a new game where we remix up the words, add new ones but make sure it has the same “ag” and “ase” ending. Such as (a few favorites)
“The shroud of Turin is a burlap bag, this is Jesus’ Face.”
“This city is a burlap bag, this is your face”
“The city is a speedy fag, get in the race”
“This building is about to sag, grab the mace”
there are many, many more. I suggest you and your friends play it too!
Popularity: 24% [?]
31 responses so far ↓
1 jo // Oct 5, 2006 at 12:02 pm
That marketing is right up there with Onyx.
Under amenities: “Our onsite fitness center will keep you fashionably thin.”
So I guess they don’t want any fat people in there?
2 J-Dog // Oct 5, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Just looking at it gives me Vertigo!
3 Seattle Condos and Lofts » Vertigo Condos - Capitol Hill // Oct 6, 2006 at 1:41 pm
[…] Matt at Urbnlivn.com wrote an entry about this new conversion in the heart of Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, for Vertigo, the readers of Urbnlivn.com aren’t so impressed. […]
4 Lisa // Oct 15, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Not only the colors are bad, the actual paint job is terrible. There is smeared teal on the white areas, paint sploches on the railings and it looks like water drips on the tacky paint.
I can’t believe someone is going to pay $400,000 to live there (and someone will!).
And I miss that great tree.
5 Celeste Tanner // Oct 19, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Hi:
I’m a former tenant in that building, and my partner was the person who asked why you were taking the photos. We completely agree with your assessment. The inside of the place was a little wacky looking, but the exterior is now a complete eyesore.
I’d ask what the developer - The Gintz Group, of Tacoma - was thinking, but I already know the answer has dollar signs in it. Clearly, they have a really different idea of the “Seattle sensibility” than most of the people I’ve met here.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be even uglier for the buyer when they start having problems with the very slapdash “quickie” conversion. The day I finished moving out, they’d just spray painted silver over the brass doorknobs - they’re not even buying new locks. They need to look carefully for the mould and water leakage problems that have been painted over and perhaps look for the cracks in the back units of the building from earthquake damage that is being covered up, but not really repaired.
6 Tammy // Oct 19, 2006 at 4:52 pm
I looked at an apartment on the 3rd floor there once. Unless they plan to do some major remodeling the floor plans are misleading - see the actual unit before buying if you’re silly enough to consider it. The one I looked at you’d have to be a size 0 to be comfortable in the “kitchen” area in the unit I looked at. It was about two and a half feet wide - I kid you not!
Honest to goodness though - given how poorly they’ve treated the tennants there I can’t imagine wanting to do business with these people…
7 Red // Oct 19, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Just an extra piece of information or two:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/287796_tenant06.html
And their open houses start this weekend (from 11-3). Should anyone wish to offer feedback in person.
8 Matt // Oct 20, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Here’s a Live journal entry from someone who used to live in the building: http://montykins.livejournal.com/234251.html
9 gb // Oct 21, 2006 at 2:46 pm
I just went through the open house. I think it is too bad that they didn’t spend more time and money because really tht building has tons of potential and — if don’t correctly –could be a very cool mid-century modern condo. Some of the units are really nice, too, in terms of floorplans, views, etc. Clearly the developer tried to get that mid-century chic thing going, but they just didn’t have the aesthetic down correctly (hence the crazy paint on the exterior!). They put down new wood, bamboo and tile flooring, and the kitchens have the standard wood cabinets and granite counters…but they did not replace any windows, doors, etc. and some of that stuff looks really old. That would be ok, but it should be priced accordingly. What the person who commented said about the developing hiding leak problems and earthquake damage is scary, though!
10 Randy // Oct 25, 2006 at 9:17 am
When I saw the Vertigo I could not believe how ugly and cheap the building looked. I was shocked. So shocked I decided to do some research to figure out what the deal was. A quick search of David Gintz (CEO) of the Gintz Group explains why this building is so ugly. Based on my search it looks like he is not a developer and is not from Seattle. Several articles have been printed regarding foreclosure mortgage scams and his involvement. Here’s the articles I found http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/285940_mortgagescam21.html
Lori Matsukawa of King 5 News did a special story as well that mentioned David Gintz and his involvement in these mortgage scams.
In my opinion, you’d be crazy to buy a condo in that building, especially from that group led by that guy.
11 DzinR // Oct 25, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I haven’t seen the condo in person, but the marketing — print materials and website kick ass.
12 artsypoopsy // Oct 25, 2006 at 4:45 pm
The condo takes risks stylistically and definitely won’t blend in. I wish the style of the interiors would have been better translated to the exterior, but whatever.
13 Felix // Oct 25, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Randy, just because a person’s name is mentioned in an article doesn’t mean they are guilty. Whether or not Gintz is a scam artist can not be deduced from your linked article.
14 Felix // Oct 25, 2006 at 5:08 pm
and no, I’m not a Gintz-head.
15 Matt // Oct 25, 2006 at 5:12 pm
FYI, those last four comments are all from the same IP address and have fishy e-mail addresses so I’m skeptical that Dinzr/artsypoopsy/Felix isn’t a ‘Gintz-head’ or associated with their marketing/sales department :).
16 carl // Oct 25, 2006 at 10:30 pm
From the pictures I’ve seen the colors are atrocious and I can certainly understand why current tennants are upset. I’ll probably head over there this weekend to take a look at what all the hubbub is about — maybe snap a few shots myself. I think the marketing is pretty sharp though.
17 Ethan John // Oct 26, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Matt, just wanted to say thanks for this. Great stuff for potential buyers. Truly, much appreciated.
18 wrp // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Ugh. I gag every time I leave for work and pass that place.
And how lame is it that the condo developers’ minions would try to spam a blog?
19 not_too_bad // Nov 15, 2006 at 12:28 am
It could be worse, look at the proliferation of “craftsman style townhomes” throughout Fremont, Wallingford etc. I get to walk past half a dozen or more on my mile walk to work. I would much rather have some diversity, maybe a mid-century modern (not a pathetic attempt at copying one) and maybe some other interesting design attempts in their place. Just my 2c
20 Dustin // Nov 15, 2006 at 1:11 am
I admit that the building is ugly. You dont have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. But that Lori Matsukawa article was an opinion filled witchhunt. What was left out of that article were most of the facts.
Such as the homeowners would have lost thier home months sooner if it wasn’t for Mr Gintz. It also didnt mention that they neglected to pay on thier lease for many months before they were evicted. And they were evicted according to the law. What kind of landlord would let a tenant stay in a home where they dont make thier payments. Thats just proposterous.
Mr Gintz has done a lot of good, for a lot of people. My own parents were going to be forced out of thier home if it werent for him. With his assistance they were able to get out of the home with money in thier pockets. Instead of getting kicked out by the bank.
If it wasnt for him, many other people would have been in the same boat, or actually living on the street with thier credit and in some cases thier lives ruined. So before you make up your mind, know that there are two sides to the story.
21 Jeno // Nov 22, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Dustin, you’re an idiot. If Mr. Gintz were really trying to help your parents, he would have convinced them to sell their homes much earlier before they even reached foreclosure, so they could profit from the sell of their home.
“Mr Gintz has done a lot of good, for a lot of people. My own parents were going to be forced out of thier home if it werent for him. With his assistance they were able to get out of the home with money in thier pockets. Instead of getting kicked out by the bank.”
Umm, if you seriously take a look, your parents were forced out of their home by Mr. Gintz while he took a serious profit from your parents unfortunate situation. He probably just gave your parents a cut from the profit he made so that your parents would have the illusion that they actually came out of the situation with something good.
Truthfully, if your parents had decided to sell their home before having to turn to Mr. Gintz for help, they would have walked away from the deal with a hell of a lot more money.
22 Ted // Dec 11, 2006 at 5:04 pm
AWESOME! I think condo flipping just jumped the shark err couch! Sign me up!
23 Celeste Tanner // Dec 13, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Coming soon, to a condo near you, new paint!
I walked past there last night. They’ve added blothches of paint to the side of the building… it looks like they’re planning to repaint the exterior of their (mostly) empty building. Perhaps they think it’s all about paint chips? There appears to be some dark forest green in the vertiginous future.
24 Eric R. Bitten // Jan 5, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Vertigo?
Here’s a taste of Tacoma’s Hitchcock pic…
Gintz Group negotiated shared ownership of the Fawcett House in Tacoma with Fawcett House, LLC. Another rescue operation?
City Officials performed an inspection on this 100 year old building in July 2006, found code violations, and immediately kicked out all residents.
One local press release suggested that the Fawcett House would be razed to make way for student housing and parking for the expanding UW Tacoma. Another press release implied that new ownership intended to remodel the structure.
Click this link to get a feel for what really happened in T-Town:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/6299309p-5493489c.html
Incidentally, the Gintz Group is setting up an office across the street from City Hall in our fair city.
Opinions from our fair(er) city to the north?
Curious in Tacoma.
-Eric
25 urbnlivn - A Seattle condo new construction real estate blog » Vertigo to get less ugly? // Jan 16, 2007 at 2:59 am
[…] One of the most popular articles on Urbnlivn has been, Ugliest condo building in Seattle? Today I was walking by Vertigo and noticed some test patches on the walls: Vertigo Getting Painted? Hosted on Zooomr […]
26 brad // Jan 21, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Someone on the original post mentioned something about how this used to be a nice building until they painted it… Had they ever seen it? Before it was really ugly and beige, with some weird King Arthur’s court faux stained glass window next to the front door. (Seattle buildings also seem to hate any color besides brown and beige, but that’s another story.) Now it’s atrocious but at least it is interesting. There’s a bunch of those ugly 60s buildings in gray and beige, and the architecture is so boring and ugly, all you can really do to spruce it up is color. personally, I think the new paint job is an improvement over the old building. (Admittedly, I might have made the colors a bit more subtle, and maybe only used two or three colors.)
Just my two cents.
27 Doug // Jan 30, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Paint is happening again, this time with early 70’s earth tones. Better color combo, wrong decade. Agree that the windows are the weak point in this renovation.
28 Jonathan // Feb 1, 2007 at 3:30 pm
OH RIGHT, re-paint the building SHIT_BROWN… Who are these people?
29 lola // May 11, 2007 at 3:58 pm
WOW! What a bunch of winers. Has anyone ever thought of making a suggestion directly to the Gintz Group? Has anyone ever thought about the fact that there WERE heroin addicts living in the stairway. That they loved the history of the building so much they tried to salvage as much as they could. I agree that the first round of colors were a little abrasive. To that end you talked they listended, the colors changed. They are people.
30 Andy // Jan 1, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Given Mr. Gintz’s checkered personal past (first-hand experience/knowledge), I would strongly advise you not to deal with this con man.
31 Janis // Aug 12, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I to have dealt with David Gintz personally as well, and he is a total con man. He runs his business with his brothers who are ALL con men and idiots to boot. I would not trust him at all even if my life depended on it. He was with Metropolitan Development Group , and they broke off without him because he was a scammer. Not that MDG is any better, Gwen and Casey are a bunch of low lives as well. Crappy employers and even crappier parents. I don’t trust any of them .
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