Coming soon, but not that soon
If you have passed through the Fauntleroy/Alaska intersection lately, you might have noticed the big new sign on the side of the Schuck’s/Hancock building that Fauntleroy Place will replace, trumpeting “Coming Soon … Whole Foods Market.” Not that soon, according to the latest info from the project’s development/management company (more below the pic) …
We pinged Blue Star to find out the latest on how soon “coming soon” might be, and spokesman Eric Radovich was kind enough to reply quickly. He writes, “Timelines have been a bit of a moving target but suffice to say we would like to move forward as soon as possible with construction. We still have some work to do with the City of Seattle. The process of securing building permits from the city will likely take 8 to 10 months. It is possible that demolition of the existing structure and groundbreaking for the underground parking garage could begin as soon as late February 2008. If the above timeframes hold true we could begin construction in spring of 2008, with a 16-20 month buildout taking us to late 2009 for completion.”
He also notes that Blue Star will have a booth as part of its sponsorship of this weekend’s Summer Fest, and you can drop by to get more questions answered about Fauntleroy Place.
P.S. on the subject of the potential grocery-store glut once Whole Foods and the new QFC to the west arrive — anyone else notice that Target in Westwood Village is expanding its food aisles, with a slew of new refrigerated cases just arriving, and some shelf-shuffling under way on the south side of the store?
Have a party, make a stand
We know you’re mad about crime and ready to tell the crooks “enough” — one way to make a stand is to organize a block party for National Night Out on August 7th. If you sign up with Seattle Police within the next few weeks (full info here), you get to close your block to traffic and dance (or whatever) in the streets.
Lincoln Park parkers, beware
According to the map and list accompanying this P-I article, one of the Lincoln Park lots has had the 5th-highest number of car break-ins reported citywide in the past 18 years. (Although the number cited during that span, 452, “only” equals out to roughly one every two weeks.)
Looking ahead to Summer Fest
-So much going on at Summer Fest in The Junction next Friday-Saturday-Sunday, you just might have to go each day (and night). Besides the music lineup first mentioned here 2 weeks ago, the Summer Fest website has lots more details now about the rest of the fun (including what sounds like an absolute blast on Friday, with the Rat City Rollergirls, a car show, and more) plus a full list of vendors and exhibitors.
-Many community groups will be there Saturday & Sunday in hopes of grabbing your attention. Among them, the relatively new (and growing) Sustainable West Seattle promises a photo display of “sustainability in action” around WS; skatepark advocates will hold court, gather signatures, and show their stuff at a “temporary skatepark” (Wells Fargo parking lot) And if you missed the recent WS Emergency Preparedness event, just stop by the Megawatt/Morgan Community Association booth, where you’ll be able to get a free CD of the key info presented there (including our suggestions for getting online in times of trouble, and what you can do now to be sure you’ll be able to).
Found: Beach Drive dog
Got a note from someone who found a “white/golden Lab” dog on Beach Drive today. If you lost this dog or know who did, e-mail us and we’ll give you their contact info. SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Dog and owner are now reunited.
They came, we saw, they didn’t quite conquer
Time & place: Somewhere after noon today atop the Alki seawall. One of the hundreds of small children awaiting the Seafair Pirates‘ Landing said to an accompanying adult: “We’ve been here THREE HOURS!”
Said the adult: “Yeah, we’re not doing THIS again next year. We’ll just watch it on the news.”
Having watched this particular orchestration of the Seafair Pirates Landing two years in a row now (as we wrote last year, we had given up on the whole thing long ago, till we launched WSB and therefore felt dutybound to check it out) — we might do the same. Why, you ask? Click ahead for more, including more photos, and links to some other writeups already up online:Read More
Unplugged, the summer edition
Some pockets of power trouble here on the south end of West Seattle in the past 18 hours or so, including here at WSB HQ (so says the early-rising team member, who noted it was out at least as far as 35th and Trenton, for at least an hour until about 6 am). Another outage happened in neighborhoods near Morgan Junction last night; one reader tells us it was out at her house for at least 5 hours. No word yet on what’s going on here (the City Light Outage Hotline only makes mention of something going on right now in Sodo) but it might have something to do with the Morgan substation just north of Thriftway, where several City Light crews blocked off that last stub of Morgan for a while last night (photo below), though our ERTM says they weren’t there this am.
Get your booty down to (or at) Alki
Every weekend this month has something huge in WS — and it all kicks off this morning with the Seafair Pirates’ Landing bash at Alki. According to the Pirates’ own website (yes, even these scalawags of the sea can be found online), they’ll storm the beach around noon-ish, but fun can be had starting around 9:30 am; read full details here, including special freebies for kids. All this will also kick West Seattle Hi-Yu events into high season; check the Hi-Yu schedule here. (If you’re interested, our writeup of last year’s Pirates Landing is here. Note the part where we did NOT park near Alki. Don’t even try. Take the free Water Taxi shuttle’s Alki route, take the regular bus, walk, ride your bike, do anything but turn side streets into Attack of the Parking-Challenged.)
The calm before the swarm
Alki will be wall-to-wall people in a few hours, but tonight at sunset, along the east reaches of Alki, some solitude could still be found …
Lost ‘n’ found
If you lost a set of car keys on Holden in the past day or so – somebody found ’em and turned them in at the SW Precinct. (The reader/key-finder who wrote to us notes cryptically that they’re keys for a “nice car.”)
From Ovio, to oysters
Some WSB readers have mentioned hearing the next restaurant in the ex-Ovio/ex-Guppy’s/ex-pizza etc. space on the southern edge of The Junction would have something to do with oysters … now the state liquor-license application files seem to confirm that, with paperwork reported this week for “Ama Ama Oyster Bar” going into that very space.
Fiery 4th in WS
We’ve received reports of several overnight fires blamed on fireworks around WS, but the one in the High Point vicinity was by far the biggest. News coverage includes this P-I article, an update from the Times, and a KIRO update with links to video. We’re glad to hear nobody was hurt, but honestly, this is why personal fireworks are banned in cities like ours. Fun, sure; dangerous and damaging, unquestionably, no matter how hard you try to keep it safe.
Reminder: Admiral closure tonight
The city now says Admiral will only have to close for one full night as part of the latest phase of the repaving process: 7 pm tonight till 6 am Friday, it will be closed between Olga and 41st. More in the city’s latest project update here.
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