Proposed apartment building in Winslow gets nod from Design Review Board

By Brian Kelly • May 9, 2018 8:30 am
A new apartment building is in the works for Madison Avenue in downtown Winslow. (Image courtesy of the city of Bainbridge Island)
A new apartment building is in the works for Madison Avenue in downtown Winslow. (Image courtesy of the city of Bainbridge Island)

The plan to expand Eagle Harbor Inn with a new building on the other side of Madison Avenue has now been modified into a 10-unit apartment and townhome project.

The latest plans for the vacant piece of land near the city’s downtown waterfront were presented to Bainbridge Island’s Design Review Board at the group’s last meeting.

What’s now proposed is a 10-unit building with eight one-bedroom apartments and two custom townhomes set around a private, open-air landscaped courtyard. The building will also include an underground parking garage for residents.

Cihan Anisoglu, a Bainbridge architect who owns the Eagle Harbor Inn with his wife, Bonnie McBryan, have been talking with city officials about their new development since late last year.

The apartments will be full-time rentals, Anisoglu told the review board last week. An earlier idea to have the building serve as an extension to the inn was not possible, given shoreline regulations that prohibit mixed-use developments.

The proposed apartments will be small, approximately 600 to 700 feet.

Members of the Design Review Board were generally supportive of the plans for the project, but wanted to see more details on landscaping for the project. There was also an extended discussion of where the handicap parking should be placed, as well as the color scheme for the building.

Anisoglu agreed to provide a landscaping site plan before the project gets permits, and added that he, too, wanted to explore adding more trees to the front of the property along Madison Avenue.

The board also questioned the placement of windows in some of the bedrooms on the building. That prompted a short back-and-forth between Anisoglu and DRB Chairman Alan Grainger, who is also an architect.

The clash of opinions boiled down to each one’s experience as an architect.

Anisoglu noted he’d been an architect since graduating from the University of Michigan in 1975.

Grainger countered that his degree came from the University of Washington, in 1972.

“You beat me. I guess you’re the master,” Anisoglu said.

“We’re not doing dueling degrees,” Grainger added with a laugh.

The board unanimously agreed to recommend approval of the plan for the project, subject to a positive review of the landscaping plan and its color and building materials.