Development
The City of Normandy Park has postponed the Joint City Council/Planning Commission meeting on the Manhattan Village Draft Integrated Subarea Plan/EIS scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 19th.
A new date and time for the meeting has not been determined at this time.
Press release:
Join officials in Des Moines to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new four-star Artemis Hotel on Wednesday, July 27.
The groundbreaking for the multi-million dollar, 250-room hotel at 22406 Pacific Highway S. will take place from 11 a.m. to noon. Officiating at the event will be State Representative Dave Upthegrove, Des Moines Mayor Robert Sheckler, City Manager Tony Piasecki, Belay Architects, and Mr. Yang, a majority owner in the project. Light refreshments will be served.
Designs for the Artemis Hotel complex feature a 1930s art-deco influence, spectacular views of Puget Sound and Des Moines' first convention center. The hotel will also include nine deluxe suites, banquet facilities, water-feature spa, workout facilities, poker room, and bar featuring live music.
There will be two full-service restaurants-one authentic Chinese and one American.
The Artemis Hotel is designed by Belay Architecture of Tacoma for Yareton Investment & Management LLC, a Washington real estate developer. Located a convenient 3 miles south of SeaTac International Airport, the hotel is anticipated to open sometime in fall 2013.
More information added from the project manager
Update for July 14:
The long-languishing Burien Town Square condominiums are finally going back on the market in August.
The condos have been off the market for about two years.
Cost of the condos will be more than 35 percent lower than when the condos first came on the market in June 2009.
ST Residential, managing member of the project, had contemplated converting the unsold condos to rental apartments until economic times got better but have decided the current market will support the new prices. Prices are expected to be from $120,000-$420,000. Original prices went from the mid -$200,000s to the mid-$600,000s.
Only six of the 124 condos had been sold at the old prices.
Pete Marino, spokesman for ST, noted the original prices “were determined in a completely different economic climate.”
As to why the project owners waited so long before putting the condos back on the market, Marino said they wanted to make sure they analyzed the local market completely.
“We wanted to do our homework,” Marino declared.
Primary Image, Cropped:
Photo credit:
Eric Mathison
Burien lawmakers honored April 25 New Start students who were named Earth Heroes and OK’d a contract to store big rocks from Seahurst Park on Port of Seattle property.
But the most exciting council meeting event was the evacuation of council chambers and the Burien Library after a prankster pulled the fire alarm.
City Manager Mike Martin said a boy entered the shared City Hall/ library building, pulled the alarm and escaped down the street.
There was no indication of a fire but the shrill alarm distracted the meeting to the point where council members and audience members fled the building. About two dozen library patrons also milled around the outside of the building for about 15 minutes. A Burien firefighter checked the building and turned off the alarm before the evacuees reentered the building.
The big rocks from Seahurst Park will be taken from the seawall as part of the city’s restoration of the north beach to a more natural condition. The south shore was restored previously.
The Des Moines City Council is holding two open houses to gather the community's thoughts and ideas on proposed zoning changes for the Marina District neighborhood. Interested parties are invited to attend an open house on Saturday, April 30th from 9 a.m. to Noon and Wednesday, May 4th from 5-8 p.m. at the Des Moines Activity Center, 2045 S. 216th St.
The council wants to improve the economic health of the Marina District and accelerate positive change by removing development obstacles; providing flexibility in the city's development regulations; and identifying tools and incentives to spur economic investment. These economic development goals seek to create a thriving business district that provides a variety of goods, services, activities and events for the community and visitors to enjoy.
In order to realize these goals, the council is looking at changes to the D-C Downtown Commercial Zone that would include:
Raising building heights along 7th Avenue South to 45 feet;
Establishing building height bonus areas that would allow some buildings of 45 to 75 feet if certain public benefits are included in a project;
Burien lawmakers are expected to vote Monday, March 28 on a plan to recycle rocks from Seahurst Park’s north seawall for a drainage system in the Northeast Redevelopment Area.
Council members will be asked to approve an agreement between the city and the Port of Seattle to store the rocks on Port property near South 144th Street and Des Moines Memorial Drive.
Public Works director Larry Blanchard briefed lawmakers March 14 on the agreement.
Blanchard said recycling the rock taken from the seawall and storing it on Port property until it can be used in the redevelopment area could save the city $500,000.
Burien plans to restore the north beach to a more natural condition, as was done earlier on the south shoreline. Restoration would include removing the seawall and rocks.
Burien Mayor Joan McGilton noted that on the south shore project, the rock was transported by barge to Tacoma.
“It was very expensive,” McGilton declared.
SeaTac lawmakers may take further action Feb. 22 on the city's plan to consolidate five departments and divisions into one community and economic department.
The consolidation is designed to improve the city's permitting process for builders.
Council members approved Feb. 8 Cindy Baker's contract as the first director of the new merged department. They also voted to eliminate the planning director position.
Baker was serving as the interim planning director before she was selected to head the new department.
But Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher asked for at least two more weeks to study the full consolidation plan unveiled by Interim City Manager Todd Cutts.
Cutts asked for three new division manager positions. While there would be no net gain of positions in the transition, salaries for the three managers would cost the city an additional $31, 415 per year, Cutts estimated.
The fiscal impact figure is based on paying the five managers at the maximum pay rates.
"We don't have to hire at the maximum but I would guess that someone wouldn't come over from another city and take a pay cut, "Human Resources director Anh Hoang said.
The city of SeaTac may be poised to turn the page on a sometimes-rancorous relationship between city planners and developers.
Interim planning director Cindy Baker has been selected as the first director of a newly formed Department of Community and Economic Development.
The new department consolidates five departments or divisions into one. They are economic development, planning, engineering development review, building services and permit center.
The position was created to streamline the SeaTac’s permitting process and help speed up new building and economic development projects.
Former planning director Steve Butler often clashed with builders seeking development agreements. Butler left SeaTac in August for a position in Mill Creek after the consolidation was approved.
Baker was hired as interim planning director in October. Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher and the council’s two newest members, Rick Forschler and Pam Fernald, opposed her hiring.
The three argued that the city could save around $60,000 in four months by not filling the interim position.
However, the council’s four other members argued the temporary position was needed.
By Michael Miller
On a recent visit to the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle I was saddened to see that yet another landmark has disappeared. The Totem House, Seafood and Chowder, Family recipes since 1948, has given up the fight leaving a note on their door stating,
“Goodbye friends, the economy has overtaken us, we will miss you greatly!”
Four people signed the note.
It seems to me that more and more funky sites are morphing into condominiums, apartment houses and most unbelievably into - out of state banks bearing names foreign to the local tongue. Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase Manhattan Bank have replaced Peoples Bank, Rainer Bank and Seattle First National Bank, all absorbed by these and other larger institutions.
Photo credit:
Photo by Michael Miller
At the Design Review Board meeting on Monday evening, the proposal for Weber Thompson’s “Ballard West” building received conditional approval.
The six-story mixed use, retail-residential building will replace the old library site on 24th Ave N.W.
Monday's meeting was originally scheduled for Nov. 22 but was postponed due to the snowfall.
The proposed building will contain 9,572 sq. ft. of ground level retail space, three live-work units with 107 residential units, below grade parking for 80 vehicles to be provided. The proposal also contains several sustainability goals including a green roof and an ambition to meet LEED Platinum requirements.
At earlier meetings, neighbors expressed concern about the size of the building, the development blocking their light, and enduring more construction.
Photo credit:
Courtesy of Weber Thompson
