Emerald Bay Equity hopes to break ground in the first quarter 2011 on a long-stalled development project on Queen Anne Ave N, according to a report by the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce yesterday.

Artist rendering of Seven Hills project.

The Seven Hills project, located at 1919 Queen Anne Ave just across the street from Metropolitan Market, was originally slated to be a mixed office/retail building, but as we previously reported, the developers changed plans to mixed-use retail/residential back in August. The four story building will include 57 apartments, some 8,200 square feet of retail space, and two levels or underground parking for 68 cars.

This project is the third of EBE’s four-phase development plan for 2.1 acres of property, called “The Collection,” along Upper Queen Anne’s main drag. The first two phases–the Sweetbrier and Eden Hills mixed-use residential/retail buildings–have already been completed.

Until very recently the Sweetbrier was struggling to fill its retail space, but in the last 16 months a number of new tenants have moved in, including Key Bank, Twirl Cafe, and most recently, Menchie’s frozen yogurt.

The plans to move forward with the Seven Hills project comes only eight months after EBE put The Collection of properties from 1911-1919 Queen Anne Ave N up for sale, a package that included both the Sweetbrier and Eden Hills developments, and the half-block where Metropolitan Market is located, EBE’s phase four project.

Artist rendering of Met Market project.

The group still plans to redevelop the final plot into a four-story, 125-unit apartment complex with 40,000 square feet of ground-floor space for the longtime neighborhood grocery and other retailers, and 200 underground parking stalls. According to EBE principal Joe Geivett, the company plans to start this phase in 2012.

When The Collection developments are completed, they will amount to more than $140 million in property value, in 250,000 square feet of mixed-use retail and residential space at the top of the hill, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report published in April.

Currently EBE is working with an “unnamed partner” to finance the Seven Hills project, according to the DJC. The City of Seattle has tentatively scheduled a design review meeting on the new version of the project for January 19. Read up on past design review recommendations on the project here. Review the project’s permit status here.

A recent FBI report released the national and local crime statistics for first half of 2009, January to June, and compared to the 2008 numbers it looks like violent crime is down 4.4 percent nationwide and property crime is down 6.1 percent. However, in Seattle both violent and property crimes have gone up compared to last year. The Seattle Times wrote,

Data released Monday by the FBI showed incidents of violent crime (murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery) in Seattle increased from 1,582 during the first six months of 2008 to 1,927 during the same period this year — a rise of nearly 22 percent, the FBI reported.

Property crimes (burglary, larceny, theft and car theft) in Seattle also rose approximately 4.5 percent during the first half of the year with 16,325 incidents, compared to 15,629 incidents during the first half of 2008.

I personally was never sure if there was actually more crime, of if I was just more aware of it, until I saw these numbers. And there’s no denying the reports of burglaries and break-ins keep coming. Just this morning the Ballard Walgreens was robbed at gunpoint. Jonah Spangenthal-Lee at SeattleCrime.com has a theory behind Seattle’s recent rise in crime. He breaks it down to three main causes. One: The economy. Two: A shortage of police officers. And lastly, an unfinished Neighborhood Policing Plan that falls short of helping cops better integrate with and serve their neighborhoods. Read Jonah’s full post here, and tell us, what do you think?