Redevelopment has quieted years of basement concerts at one University District house. The last residents moved out on Aug. 31, and the house, at 4558 7th Ave. N.E., now stands empty, awaiting demolition.

In its place, Bellevue-based developer Base Capital will build a six-story, 64-unit apartment building.

Although construction is common in the U-District, encouraged by rising property values, this corner of 7th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 47th Street seems delayed in joining the game.

Most properties in the area are houses built in the early 1900s, originally designed for one family but now rented to students and others seeking cheap rent.

The house, brightly colored and swathed in graffiti, narrowly avoided the construction of Interstate 5 in the early 1960s. Since then its front porch has had an expansive view of the freeway and a constant barrage of noise from cars zooming past.

JayMarc Development bought the house in March 2003 for $225,000. In September 2005, UW alumnus Diego Rondon and five friends from Gig Harbor moved in and formed the hardcore rock band Taiga.

The six started going to hardcore punk concerts held in houses, got into social activism, and turned vegan together. A few months later they had their first free show at 4558 7th Ave. N.E.

Rondon remembered how they decided on the house name, Camp Nowhere, based on a movie of the same name about kids who take over a summer camp.

“[It was] kind of like a clubhouse for kids,” said Rondon, who is now studying for the LSAT and living in Gig Harbor. “I thought it was our story.”

The five roommates moved out in August 2006 and Taiga disbanded.

Residents came and went, rarely keeping the lease up to date.

New residents renamed the house Dog City — allegedly because of some inside joke — and continued hosting shows. Bands such as the Pharmacy, Iron Lung and Matt and Kim all played in the house’s small basement.

“The acoustics are awesome and it just feels like everybody’s friends already,” said Catherine Cougan, a 19-year-old Western Washington University student who also goes to house shows in Bellingham.

Social connections and a culture of openness and safety kept a steady stream of bands coming in and the house open. The do-it-yourself culture — based on ideals of community, equality and anti-consumerism — also helped to keep the house open and bands booked.

“It felt really good to be able to come to a place that was sane ... and safe,” said Parker Lautensleger, a 19-year-old barista, who lived in the house for a year and a half.

Lautensleger started coming to shows at Dog City as a high school student from Monroe, Wash. When he had to decide whether to go to college or work, Lautensleger chose to move into the house to work before applying to schools.

“Knowing that there are ways out, if you need there to be, of a lot of conventions of modern life,” said Reed Walton 24-year-old data analyst, “[was] probably the number one thing I learned from living here.”

Walton said he used to feel like an outsider at shows, but living in the house for two years changed that.

Both Lautensleger and Walton moved into the house through recommendations from residents and later performed there.

The house’s openness and independence was not always positive. Those same values sometimes caused problems.

After a couple of visits from the police for noise complaints in 2003, the residents banned alcohol to ensure a safe atmosphere. Sometimes people came to the house trying to sell drugs, but the residents would kick them out, Walton said.

Dog City had its 15 minutes of fame when The Seattle Times and The Stranger wrote about the house in 2007, but a visit from the police the morning after the Times’ article worried the residents. They deleted the house’s MySpace, which they used to book bands and advertise, though SeattleDIY still advertised their shows on its monthly calendar.

Base Capital bought Dog City and the house south of it for more than $1 million in March of this year. The company is building a condominium on four lots at Northeast 47th Street and 8th Avenue Northeast, which the company bought from JayMarc in 2007.

The City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development hasn’t received demolition, master use, or construction permit applications for either of the two houses. Kevin Nagai, Base Capital’s project manager for the intended apartments, said his company will rely on keeping the site active during the day to discourage property damage to the two empty houses.

Base Capital’s redevelopment of the area could improve safety in the neighborhood, said UW alumnus Cody Lodi, lead architect for the apartments at Shugart Bates.

“It’ll help to have more people living there, to have more people on the street,” he said. “[Base Capital is] focused on revitalizing that area of the U-District.”

Nagai, a UW graduate, said the area’s zoning attracted his company to the house, which sits on a section of the U-District that allows buildings up to 60 feet tall.

These untapped development rights, in addition to the more restrictive 25-foot limit to the north and the property’s proximity to the UW, makes the southeast corner of Northeast 47th Street and 7th Avenue Northeast attractive to developers.

Although the U-District and other neighborhoods in Seattle are losing more and more of their cheaply rented old houses to new buildings, it doesn’t necessarily spell the death of the house show, said Casey Catherwood, who writes The Stranger’s all-ages music column “Underage.”

“It doesn’t matter what happens,” said Catherwood when he performed at Dog City. “Kids are going to find a way to have music.”

Reach reporter Roselle Kingsbury at features@dailyuw.com.