Mohave Daily News: Business

SEATTLE - There's no question the graffiti-strewn, rain-rotted, boarded-up old Denny's is a landmark in the most basic sense: People refer to it when giving directions, as in, ‘‘Turn left at the Denny's.''

But is the 44-year-old eyesore, with its swooping roof line, worthy of historical designation? Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board thought so, saving the eatery from demolition and blocking construction of yet another condo complex.

The board's vote last month boggled many Seattleites, who consider the building tacky at best and don't buy the argument that it shares some architectural DNA with Seattle's most famous landmark, the Space Needle.

‘‘They're saving something no one cares about,'' said Jed Lutge.

The developer that bought the property for $12.5 million in 2006 cried foul, noting that no one trumpeted the restaurant's historical value several years ago when it was going to be demolished for a monorail station.

The company, BCC Mikie Ballard, is challenging the ruling and promises a legal assault on Seattle's landmarks ordinance, prompting a philosophical debate over whether, in a cookie-cutter world of strip malls and big-box stores, something is worth saving just because it's different.

‘‘We're not just looking at high-style buildings or buildings for the rich and famous as buildings that should be preserved,” said Eugenia Woo, a preservation consultant who worked to save the Denny's. “Seattle was a working-class city, and Ballard's history comes from that.''

The Denny's building was completed in 1964 at an intersection near downtown Ballard, then a blue-collar, Scandinavian enclave that has seen property values rise as boutiques, chic restaurants and condos have moved in. It originally housed a local chain restaurant called Manning's Cafeteria; Denny's replaced it in 1983.

The company is pleading financial hardship in asking the landmarks board to reconsider. And it has sued in King County Superior Court alleging that the city's landmarks ordinance violates the state constitution.

Fans of the building still hope for a compromise, in which the developer would restore it - perhaps turning it into a restaurant or bar - and erect the condos around it.