Owners of the U-District’s longtime business, Café Allegro, once wrote a letter to The Daily detailing how plans for a law school on Parrington lawn threatened green spaces abloom with mahonia, forsythia and ornamental cherry trees.

But times have changed. The law school sits atop Parrington lawn, and this week, developers of George F. Russell Jr. Hall — a new six-story development directly in front of the café — announced its official opening at its location on the corner of Northeast 42nd Street and 15th Avenue Northeast. The new multi-use development rests atop a former surface lot where parked vehicles hardly obstructed the historic Cafés alleyway entrance; now the café opens to the side of the six-story building.

Local residents initially objected to the project because of its size and how it might affect neighbors such as Café Allegro, which hosts local musicians, displays local artwork and serves as a meeting ground for reading groups and AA meetings.

At design-review meetings three years ago, several groups petitioned to reduce the size of Russell Hall — now host to a copy center, pizza restaurant and four additional floors of office and residential space.

“I think they had pretty much written us out of the picture at that time,” said Nathaniel Jackson, Café Allegro’s co-owner.

Unico Properties, the developers behind the project, contracted Turner Construction to begin constructing a building whose plans initially included building a solid wall facing Café Allegro.

Customers began expressing their concern for Allegro, feeling as though it was threatened, Jackson said. Indeed, he said, business was dismal for a while.

However, Unico Properties came to an agreement with the café to alter their design in consideration of the popular coffee shop.

“I think they responded to the outpouring the community had for the Allegro,” Jackson said. “They were genuinely interested in keeping us alive.”

Unico Properties recessed their building to open up the alley, installed west-facing windows, constructed planters, and installed bike racks, a bench and round bollards in the alley they share with the café.

“It’s been a progressive relationship,” said Brenda Baxter, Turner Construction project engineer. “[Jackson] has come to grow to like us.”

As the construction workers made final adjustments to the structure last week, Jackson greeted them with a smile and said that the workers had even given him a hard hat.

“We were able to give feedback to them,” he said. “I truly feel as excited about the place as when I first walked in, in 1975. It’s fresh and there’s an energy that’s been re-introduced.”

Developers at Unico Properties, which also manages the university’s downtown real estate, bills the 64,000-square-foot building as an attractive, green-energy property for office space directly adjacent to the UW.

Local community groups such as the Seattle Displacement Coalition opposed Russell Hall because high-density developments such as Russell Hall tend to be more expensive residential options, which students sometimes cannot afford.

Previous uses of the property have also garnered just as much criticism; a much-beloved women’s dormitory, called the Wesley House, was built during 1926 in conjunction with the nearby Methodist church, but was torn down among controversy during 1968. The parking lot that afforded Café Allegro with the view of Parrington lawn that customers and owners alike had enjoyed until this past year replaced the old dormitory.

Jackson, however, regards the loss as just another change for a café that can boast to be Seattle’s first, and at the time, only espresso house, as well as the first wholesale customer for a small Seattle shop called Starbucks.

“It’s a different kind of light we get back here [now],” he said. “It’s like an overcast day.” He paused for a moment as he sat atop the new planter across the alley from his storefront. “I like overcast days,” he said.

Reach reporter Andrew Doughman at news@dailyuw.com.