
(April 2011 photo by Kathy Mulady for WSB)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Almost one full year after the “closed forever” sign went up on the Charlestown Street Café‘s door – a new sign is up on the property at 3800 California SW:

We noticed the sign over the weekend, as did others (two WSB’ers sent us notes – THANKS!), and this morning we spoke with John Wunder at Associates West, the West Seattle brokerage handling the just-launched search for someone new to lease the property.
Wunder confirms that the most recent development proposal for the site (reported here shortly after the restaurant’s closure last April) fell through, though he doesn’t know why, since his firm was not involved with it.
(We had asked the city about that mixed-use-building proposal’s status a while back, since the city’s website had an online notation that the application had been canceled; the prospective developer didn’t answer our calls/e-mails, and all the city could say was, the required fees hadn’t been paid, so the application was canceled. Three years earlier, a plan to build a new PETCO store on the site stalled before clearing Design Review.)
According to Wunder, there’s already “lots of interest” in the site – in fact, it was being shown again this morning, he said. He does not expect the site’s ownership (which he says has NOT changed) to come up with another development proposal any time soon – he believes “the right tenant” will likely get a 5-year lease, adding, “We’re hopeful it’ll be something the community will like. Hopefully another restaurant …”
Whatever goes in, they will be leasing the entire site – he says it’s “all or nothing.” The site’s been vacant since the café cleared out, except for a Christmas-tree lot that used the north-side parking area for a few weeks during the holiday season.
No listing online yet but Wunder expects it’ll appear sometime later today. (Meantime, you can call Associates West at the number on the sign if you’re interested.)
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