New condo/retail building advances in Admiral District
At the same Southwest Design Review Board meeting last night where the latest Charlestown/Cali Petco plan was panned, a condo/retail building in the Admiral District got thumbs up. It’s the project proposed for this space @ 2310 Cali, south of Admiral Pub:
Architect Terry Williams (of Thienes/Williams Architects) showed the board revised renderings for the 4-story building, which will maximize its 50-foot-wide lot with 12 condos, with a residential entrance on the left side of the first floor (see rendering below), retail to the right of that, with its entrance at the far right. Note the plantings and seating bench planned on the street in front:
The next rendering shows the rear view (thanks to Terry for sending us these images so we could share with you); 12 parking spaces are behind the first-floor doors.
Board members approved the design with just a few conditions: They want the flat roof over the parking area to become some sort of common space for residents; previously it was going to be simply a torch-down roof. They also asked for a few aesthetic changes around the front balconies, and tweaks to the rooftop deck, but overall had praise for the plan, which had undergone significant changes since its “Early Design Guidance” meeting exactly one year earlier. Next step, the developer applies for permits to get closer to construction.
Freeway Fright ’07 starts tonight at 10
Morning commuters won’t be dealing with it till Monday, but the weekend effects will be major — starting at 10 pm, the West Seattle Bridge exit to NB I-5 will close completely for the whole weekend. If your destination off I-5 is the U-District or somewhere further north, try this alternate route: Take The Viaduct; just past the Battery Street Tunnel, follow the Mercer Street/I-5 exit, which is a relatively straight shot (less than a mile) over to the interstate onramps. Meantime, these links should be handy: WSDOT’s “everything you need to know NOW about the closures” page is here; our live WS cams page including The Bridge is here.
Bulletin: Design Review Board keeps Petco project on a short leash
Just back from three hours at the Southwest Design Review Board meeting on two WS projects — the headliner was the reworked design for the Petco store proposed to take over the Charlestown Cafe site — board members still have major concerns and are basically sending the new architects back to the drawing board for a third “Early Design Guidance” meeting (some projects only need one). Detailed report to come.
Admiral Theater wants you back in the balcony
More information from the folks at the Admiral Theater about plans for its latest round of renovations, previously mentioned here and here. Biggest news: the Admiral’s Steve Garrett says they have the OK to reopen the theater’s long-closed balcony “once certain work is done” — but first, he says, they want to do some restoration work, including painting a mural in the balcony area, and they are looking for bids and proposals. Click ahead for a little more on that, including how to reach Steve if you want to bid, plus news of a prestigious premiere coming to the theater:Read More
Did he mean Metro Market? PCC? Safeway? Or?
Interesting quote from West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician in what The Big Blog says is an Esquire Magazine feature about “stylish” mayors (not available online so far as we can tell). We must admit, a decade and a half in WS but we have yet to find ourselves grocery-shopping at the same place and time as Hizzoner. (Did rub produce-browsing elbows with ex-police chief Norm Stamper once.) 9:47 PM UPDATE: Citizen Rain points us to examples of the mayor’s style in his online photo gallery, which is more up to date than many other parts of the city website – it actually has pix from his KIRO Radio guest appearance today. (And yet we couldn’t get timely, detailed city website updates during Windstorm ’06 …)
Freeway Fright ’07: Clarification about Spokane/4th
You may have read or heard something about a temporary traffic signal going in on the elevated portion of Spokane Street, better known as the last EB stretch of the West Seattle Bridge, formerly the West Seattle Freeway. We have doublechecked with WSDOT, which is working on traffic mitigation with SDOT, and they confirm for us that this is not so — quoting Erin Bogenschutz of WSDOT:
They are not removing any of the concrete barrier to allow eastbound vehicles on the elevated portion of Spokane Street to turn left to 4th Ave.
The City will install a new left turn signal for eastbound traffic on the ground-level of Spokane Street to turn left to 4th Ave. Currently, the signal prohibits left-turns. The new signal should be installed this afternoon.
A place of their own
7:30 tonight @ Delridge Community Center, the West Seattle Skatepark Action Committee meets; WS-based city skatepark advocate Matt Johnston says it’s open to anyone wanting to join (or find out more about) a group of people “working hard to create safe public facilities for skateboarders in West Seattle, that respect the communities they are placed in, and provide healthy and active places for kids and big kids to enjoy this popular sport.” (You can read more about where WS falls into the Citywide Skatepark Plan here.)
Water Taxi takes off
The newest numbers, courtesy of the office of West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine, show quite the ridership boom for the Elliott Bay Water Taxi this year: July had 36,885 passengers, up 20% from last year; total ridership for this entire Water Taxi season was at 88,336 as of the start of this month, a 27% increase from the same period in ’06. From here on out, comparisons will be more complicated, since as we first told you last month, the WT’s capacity got a big boost in time for Freeway Fright ’07. All the same, this bodes well for efforts to make it year-round and get it a new home.
47 hours till Freeway Fright, 20 hours till Admiral Agony
The latest on the major road projects that are rolling our way like a semi-truck with burned-out brakes:
FREEWAY FRIGHT ’07, aka the I-5 northbound lane closures: We know it’s going to be crunchy but gosh, the handwringing we’ve heard on tv lately … you would think our peninsula is going to be scooped up and flung into the middle of the Pacific, with all this hue and cry over People In West Seattle Won’t Be Able To Go Anywhere. Oh well, maybe it means a few more square feet of sand on Alki for the locals if the weather ever gets nice again. Back to the traffic: WSDOT has launched this very handy new page with specifics about What Exactly Is Happening Right This Minute, schedule changes if any, relevant cameras, and current traffic troubles. We’ll have it linked prominently here on our site every morning along with specifics on what us WSers need to know before heading out (more on that tomorrow).
ADMIRAL AGONY ’07, as in, the paving that will close Admiral Way for two nights between Olga and 41st starting tomorrow night, 7 pm-6 am. This city press release has the bare-bones basics about detours and so forth; the city e-mail update we posted back on Monday has even more information, including the warning for neighbors about possible vibrations from construction equipment.
WS Gas Price Watch: Sudden steep drop
The new holder of the “lowest posted price for regular gas in West Seattle” title is … Shell @ Fauntleroy & Alaska (photo right). It’s been in a price war of sorts with the kitty-corner 76 for a few weeks — one would drop a couple cents, the other would match or edge lower — but suddenly sometime since this morning, the Shell slashed its prices and now sells regular for $2.69. That’s six cents cheaper than the station that had been the low-price titleholder for a while, Arco on Delridge, which is at $2.75.
TLC for WS murals
The beautiful murals around the heart of West Seattle are getting some long-awaited TLC. WS Junction Association president Dave Montoure of West 5 describes it as “the long process of restoring the salvageable murals in The Junction.” As our photos below show, they’re starting with the Hi-Yu Parade mural on the side of the Post Office, hit by taggers some time back. Dave also notes regarding the overall project, “Earl Cruzen, the gentleman who was a key figure in the original murals installation project, has stepped forward yet again — he’s a true WS treasure — to locate the original mural artists about restoration, replacement and, unfortunately in some cases, disposal.” Read more about the WS murals here and here.
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P.S. We didn’t realize till a viewer e-mail following this post that the high-rise megaproject on the drawing board west of Jefferson Square is to be called “Mural,” in tribute to the WS murals … scroll down this page for a rendering.
More pix from Night Out parties around WS
Two more photos just in. The first two are from the Ercolini Park gathering, where Bill Barna reports not only was a good time had by all, but $1,000 more was raised for the park (now just a few thousand to go; find out how to help at their website).The second one is from the 3200 block of 45th SW, courtesy of Luckie.
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Alki Community Council president and 
As mentioned below, tonight the 
-Tomorrow night is the monthly West Seattle Art Walk in The Junction; more than a dozen stops and their intriguing offerings are 
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