The West Seattle Design Review Board told architects of Fauntleroy Place they should rework the design to make the building's focal point more prominent because the new development will stand at one of West Seattle's busiest, most conspicuous intersections.

The new development will be built on the northwest corner of the intersection of Alaska Street, 39th Avenue and Fauntleroy Way Southwest. The building that currently houses Schuck's Auto Supply and Hancock Fabrics is to be demolished.

The anchor retail tenant of Fauntleroy Place will be a Whole Foods grocery store. The Hancock Fabrics store now at the site will have a new home in the development. Two six-story apartment buildings with 178 units will be set back from the intersection. There also will be three levels of underground parking for 487 vehicles.

Architects from the Seattle firm Stricker Cato Murphy proposed building a circular tower with three plaza levels as the focal point of Fauntleroy Place. The plazas were to be about 25 feet wide and 35 feet long, and serve as the main entrance at the edge of the intersection.

All three levels would connect to the street, said architect James Blissett. Two of the plaza levels would provide entrances to Whole Foods. Having a plaza at the southeastern corner of the project also would capitalize on available sunlight, he explained.

The layered effect of having the plaza tower in front with the taller apartment building "gives more of an urban village feel." Blissett said

Large developments like Fauntleroy Place must be reviewed for comment by one of the seven Design Review Boards scattered around the city. The volunteer boards include architects and urban planners who live in the area. Their opinions are advisory but city staffers pay attention to their comments.

Some members of the West Seattle Design Review Board said the design for Fauntleroy Place doesn't take advantage of its important location at Alaska Street and 39th Avenue. A partly sunken, multilevel plaza on the corner of Alaska and 39th with taller buildings behind misses an opportunity to signify being a portal to the Junction, they said. Some members recommended the project's design be reconfigured to place more "massing" at the development's southeastern corner.

Board member Deb Barker said the partially sunken plaza is "a depression at the entrance." She pointed to an entrance planned at Alaska Street and 40th Avenue, which will be the new entrance for Hancock Fabrics store.

"The Hancock entrance feels like an entrance," she said.

Jeff McCord, board chairman, called the proposed plaza "negative space" that "becomes the center of the project."

He suggested architects design something taller "to support the corner."

"That is a very prominent corner," McCord added. "It's the first gateway into West Seattle."

Board member Vlad Oustimovitch said he likes the overall design of Fauntleroy Place and endorsed the layered plaza idea. He thinks it would draw the interest of passersby. But he was critical about what he called Fauntleroy Place's "cosmetic problems."

"The entry looks like jewelry and not architecture," he said.

He also questioned the materials planned for the new project. The exterior of the first and second floors will be brick. The floors above that will have exterior walls of precast concrete.

Oustimovitch urged the architects to loosen up the architectural style because the feeling in the nearby Junction is " playful and eclectic."

"Free expression would be good," he said.

Easton Craft from Blue Star Development said the lowest plaza level was to be just 30 inches below grade and that the architects. However architects have been redesigning the main entrance in response to the Design Review Board's comments. They will come up with "a larger, more substantial treatment," he said.

The latest plans for Fauntleroy Place indicate there will be 178 apartments, which is a bit smaller than the previously announced 185 units.

The parking garage has been scaled back too. Previous plans showed 566 parking spaces but now there are to be 487.

The development site is in an area zoned for commercial and residential use with a 65-foot height limit. That's a height of six stories.

The West Seattle Design Review Board's recommendations will be sent to the director of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.