The recession and real-estate slump have resulted in dozens of stalled construction sites all around Seattle, some waiting for economic conditions to improve, some on the market, some seized by banks. Most are surrounded by cyclone fencing, and the nicer ones have tarps laid down to control erosion. My favorite neighborhood pit has sat in a state of semi-demolition since early this summer; it’s the old Seattle Mountaineers clubhouse in Lower Queen Anne, which sold to a real-estate partnership for nearly $5.9 million in March 2007. (Disclosure: I’m a member of the Mountaineers, a non-profit outdoors club.)The old structure, originally built in 1950 as the Norway Center, was knocked down fairly quickly. Then progress mysteriously halted, with a yellow earthmover/excavator left parked in the middle of the site. The retaining walls hadn’t been torn out, so the half-block parcel now looks like a gouged-out tooth, with the gums covered in graffiti.The property belongs to a partnership led by local firm Goodman Real Estate. The city planning department (DPD) has issued a permit for the parcel–to be combined with a smaller site to the north–for some 200 apartments in a six-story building, with retail on the street level. That’s being developed by Virginia-based Avalon Bay Communities.Or was, until the demo workers packed up their tools, save for the orphaned yellow earth mover. Curiously, the original DPD permit signs also disappeared. In their place, I found, is a very different building permit application…WTF? The permit (above) is for New City Hall in Olympia!No wonder the project has stalled. Has there been some terrible bureaucratic mix-up–building the wrong building in the wrong city?”I’m absolutely certain it’s being built here,” says Olympia project coordinator Kathy Nolet. “I can see the crane from my office.”Or has Olympia surreptitiously annexed LQA for its own–like some Russian breakaway province? Will the once mighty 98119 be ruled by the City Manager of Olympia? These questions await answering.In the meantime, SW is still attempting to reach developer Avalon Bay and the backhoe owner, DMJ Contracting, with calls that have not yet been returned.