Woah. The Ballard Dennys, on the corner of 15th and Market Street, has been designated a landmark. I ate there on a number of occasions and felt that the wait staff were obnoxious. Here’s a quote from a Seattle Times

article:

“A city board stunned developers, preservationists and Ballard residents Wednesday by voting 6-3 to designate the boarded-up Denny’s Restaurant at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest a landmark — based largely on the visual punch the structure’s Googie-esque roofline delivers to passing motorists.”

I can’t tell if this is a good idea or a bad one. Besides the building having a hint of ‘Googie’ architectural style, there’s very little left to recommend it. The gentleman who renovated the Majestic Bay Theater just down the street thinks the owners don’t have the interest in making the building live a new life. My question is: Why would you designate a building a landmark and leave it’s future to a disgruntled corporation, in this case, the venerable Benaroya Companies? They wanted to to sell the property for condominium development.

I’ll keep you updated if there’s any kind of news…