West Seattle real estate: Alki Tavern site part of $3.9 million listing

Got $3,950,000? You can own a third of an acre at 1311-1325 Harbor SW, across from Don Armeni, described as “ASTONISHING views directly across Elliott Bay to Seattle. 6 contiguous lots with commercial, multifamily zoning. Unobstructed view corridor in perpetuity.” We spotted the listing online first, then noticed the sign when we went over today for a photo.

The six lots include the Alki Tavern, a vacant lot, a century-old house (photo right), and offices (photo left) used by Salty’s, which county records list as the land’s owner. Though this website describes the listing as new – and we can verify it wasn’t there, as recently as three days ago (the physical sign is new too) – the listing agent’s site says it’s been on the market for eight months. (Other versions of the listing online have a lower price, $3,595,000.) The site is zoned for commercial/multifamily development up to 65 feet.

30 Replies to "West Seattle real estate: Alki Tavern site part of $3.9 million listing"

  • Mike March 4, 2012 (10:43 pm)

    wow, talk about making a profit…
    .
    “Last sold: August 24 1988 for $45,000”
    .
    http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1311-Harbor-Ave-SW-Seattle-WA-98116/49123983_zpid/
    .
    Also, I have issues with paying taxes on my house when this owner gets to skimp on taxes (2011 taxes paid, $3,700 due to the value being $368,000 according to the county…really? really? Common King County. Here’s your lost dollars)

    • WSB March 4, 2012 (10:54 pm)

      Just one note, Mike – I linked the 1311 Harbor county info as an example to show the ownership; that’s just one of the six parcels. I looked at all the other ones to make sure there wasn’t separate ownership, but while they’re being sold as a bundle, they are not taxed/listed as a bundle. – TR

  • Harmonic March 4, 2012 (11:30 pm)

    so?

  • JanS March 4, 2012 (11:32 pm)

    The vacant lot used to be where the Embers was…local restaurant/night club for many years. I knew Gerry Kingen owned that property, didn’t know he owned the rest…

  • Diane March 4, 2012 (11:48 pm)

    “ASTONISHING views” is so true; I used to go to the Thai restaurant there; gorgeous view even from ground level; so if they can go up to 65ft, with unobstructed views over the parking lot across the street, right at center of full city skyline views; prime real estate; if I had $4 mil, I’d buy it

  • DM March 5, 2012 (8:38 am)

    I hope they leave our beloved Alki Tavern as it is!

  • steve March 5, 2012 (8:52 am)

    looks like the alki tavern’s days are numbered…

  • Rick March 5, 2012 (8:55 am)

    I poured beer at the Embers in the mid 70’s when Kerry Kinsey owned it.

  • miws March 5, 2012 (9:27 am)

    I know of a (not my own) romance that the Embers ignited!

    .

    Mike

    • WSB March 5, 2012 (9:32 am)

      Anybody with an exterior photo from back in the day that you can scan, send it sometime!

  • Jim March 5, 2012 (9:42 am)

    If I recall, Gerry was going to make the Embers a Red Robin, but instead jumped on the Beach Broiler when it became available, for Saltys.

  • Brontosaurus March 5, 2012 (9:56 am)

    I’ve never been to the Alki Tavern but it seems like it’s been there forever. It would be so sad to lose another local business to condo development.

  • NotMe March 5, 2012 (9:58 am)

    Yeah, someone is going to pay something over $3million, and leave that dive bar just as it is. The winds of change are coming very soon to our local biker bar.

  • Silly Goose March 5, 2012 (12:01 pm)

    Oh the Alki Tavern was such a blast when I was single, would love to go there with girlfriends on Taco Thursdays, and look at all the sexy motorcycle boys and play darts. It is no doubt a dive but such a fun dive!!

  • Phoebe Underwood March 5, 2012 (2:43 pm)

    I just checked the pricing history on the Alki Tavern/Embers property and I was surprised to learn the listing is 243 days old! It seems the listing agent and the seller are manipulating the price to garner attention from on-line property searches.

    The original price, back in July 2011, was $4.5 million and the price was INCREASED to $5 million in September. Hmmmm. In February the price reduced approx $1.5 million to $3,595,000 and finally the price INCREASED $400,000 yesterday. Really?

    I must have missed yesterdays’ news report that increased Seattle real estate values by 11%.

  • WSB March 5, 2012 (3:14 pm)

    243 days = eight months, which I had pointed out in the second-to-last line. For what it’s worth, I look at commercialmls.com almost daily to see if anything interesting (like this) has turned up, and it has never before been there. If there’s a better place to find everything in a geographic area that’s listed in terms of COMMERCIAL real estate, would love to hear about it! I know there are often listings that don’t see the very-public light of day … TR

  • Phoebe Underwood March 5, 2012 (4:15 pm)

    Please note the link in your article for the property’s “listing agent” incorrectly directs to Colleen Fischesser’s website; she is not the listing agent and does not represent the property or the seller. I would love to have you link to my website so I can represent myself as the listing agent on this property :-)

    • WSB March 5, 2012 (5:20 pm)

      Yes, fixed. It was supposed to go to Susan Gebhardt’s site. I try very hard when writing about real estate to find the actual listing agent/broker’s link, rather than just using the one where I found it … but gosh, it’s sad that if I search Google for 1311-1325 harbor sw, seattle, her site isn’t even on the first page of results! I guess it doesn’t matter so much if real estate still works the way it did when we bought our house 19 years ago, but still. Anyway, thanks for pointing that out – TR

  • Phoebe Underwood March 5, 2012 (5:05 pm)

    I should’ve included this shameless plug in my last comment: http://bit.ly/AlkiTavernForSale -Just in case anyone is interested in additional details. http://www.SheSellsSeattle.com

  • will o wisp March 5, 2012 (7:05 pm)

    Years ago I talked to a fellow in the Alki Tav who said he was the owner and was not interested in selling. Guess someone made an offer too high to refuse. I was over last taco Thursday still pretty much the same inside.

  • Mike March 5, 2012 (8:37 pm)

    TR, thank you for the clarification earlier. Makes more sense now that I see it’s multiple parcels and not just one. :)
    .
    Also noticed another location along Alki that I didn’t know was up for sale, Dukes. http://www.commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=property.detailFS&ln=433425

  • Nick March 5, 2012 (8:48 pm)

    Say hello to another massive condo-complex. Sooner or later this entire stretch of Alki will be 100% condos. Not necessarily a bad thing, though. Great views and money to be made.

  • velo_nut March 5, 2012 (9:26 pm)

    Yeah, Alki Tavern is an armpit. Bring on the condos, because we need them.

  • DM March 5, 2012 (9:32 pm)

    Money to be made versus scraping a little bit more of West Seattle’s unique identity off the map. I know it happens. The Alki Tavern is a sweet refuge. I hope it can hang in there as long as possible.

  • Mike March 5, 2012 (10:21 pm)

    Alki, the cold wet version of Waikiki

  • Cami March 6, 2012 (7:47 am)

    It’s amazing that the Tav has lasted this long on that piece of property. Let’s hope we get to have a blow out goodbye there on a hot Thursday summer night for tacos. It’s the best dive in Seattle.

  • visitor March 6, 2012 (1:46 pm)

    isn’t there a guy who wants to build a hotel at the site of the old log cabin restaurant at Alki? Well, there ya go. This is a much better building site.

  • Seatttleseabug March 6, 2012 (8:18 pm)

    Surely this will not sell fast, already for sale for 8 months with the price going up and down all the while. Alki Tavern may be around for a while, hopefully! May be that loans for building are still hard to come by as well, so who really knows.

Sorry, comment time is over.