West Seattle biznotes: Teriyaki mystery update; M3 Bodyworks adds insurers; wine-tasting room opens; gym food drive

BENI HOSHI SAGA, THE NEXT CHAPTER: Almost two weeks ago, after a WSB reader tip, we noted that Beni Hoshi Teriyaki had abruptly disappeared from 35th/Fauntleroy; property owner Seattle City Light told us that BH had been subleasing, so SCL had no info on what happened. Now a “FOR LEASE” sign has appeared. We aren’t seeing a listing yet so have an inquiry out to the broker to ask if they’re looking for another restaurant or casting a wider net.

3 MORE INSURERS FOR M3 BODYWORKS: Longtime WSB sponsor M3 Bodyworks says it’s expanded the list of insurers with which it’s working:

M3 Bodyworks Massage Clinic is now accepting three new insurance plans. We now have contracts with Group Health, United Healthcare and First Choice Health Network. This is in addition to Premera/Lifewise, Regence/Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, and Cigna. We are pleased to be able to serve our community with these new offerings. To book an appointment, go to M3bodyworks.com and click on “Book your appointment now!” Then select the plan that matches your insurance card. Our online scheduling system will book you with a therapist that is currently contracted with your insurance plan.

You should always call the customer service number on the back of your card to ensure massage therapy is a covered benefit. We will do our best to assist you in finding the answers for you as well. Feel free to contact our front desk staff with any questions you may have about your new insurance. M3 Bodyworks Massage Clinic is a longtime supporter of the West Seattle Blog. We are located at 5236 California Ave SW, Suite D. We look forward to welcoming these new insurance clients to our practice!

NEW WINE-TASTING ROOM: Wine fans have a new option on the peninsula:

Two Brothers Winery is proud to announce that its new tasting room is now officially open to the public.

We are located in the lower unit of Belli Capelli Salon, 3902 California SW; the entrance is off Bradford Street. We will be open most Friday and Saturdays from 3:00-6:00 PM. We look forward to expanding the hours as the year progresses. Please feel free to contact us to set up both private and group tastings.

STRAIGHT BLAST GYM FOOD DRIVE: Sonia at Straight Blast Gym (5050 Delridge Way SW) says they’ve having a food drive until Valentine’s Day, hoping to collect more than a ton of food. There’s an incentive – they’re having a drawing among donors to give away an iPad mini, and you get one drawing ticket for every 10 food items you bring in. Stop by Straight Blast 6 am-8 am or 2-9:30 pm Mondays-Fridays, 8:30 am-1 pm Saturdays, 5 pm-8 pm Sundays.

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‘What do you look like at night?’ and other options for your West Seattle Friday night

January 17, 2014 2:23 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Trailer for “Despicable Me,” on the big screen at HPIC tonight)
If you haven’t already checked the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar for tonight – LOTS going on, and here’s just a sampling, four events to consider:

‘WHAT DO YOU LOOK LIKE AT NIGHT?’ West Seattle Bike Connections is going to help you answer that:

This evening we are inviting any cyclists, runners, roller-bladers, and walkers who are ever out in the dark-hours to come by and be video-taped to see how they appear to those around you.

See first-hand from another point of view just how well, or not, your lights and/or reflective gear work from all angles and in different lighting situations.

We will be meeting at Jack Block Park (just south of Salty’s) on Harbor Ave, arriving at roughly 5-5:15 and going until 7 at the latest when the park closes.

Enter the park from Harbor and follow the road (SW Florida St) back and around the curve to the left, we plan to meet there just at the road straightens out. We hope to SEE you there.

FREE MOVIE NIGHT AT HPIC: Bring your minions to Highland Park Improvement Club, where “Despicable Me” is tonight’s movie – 6:30 pm, doors open; 7 pm, movie time. No admission charge; concessions available for purchase; bring your own pillow/blanket and/or use an HPIC chair. (12th/Holden)

BOBCAT BOB: The local legend plays on, 7-9 tonight at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor). Jazz, blues, folk, country, R&B, more. (5612 California SW)

WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SHOW’S FINALE: The West Seattle High School student-directed winter show ‘The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon’ wraps up its three-performance run tonight in the WSHS Theater, 7:30 pm. More info here. (3000 California SW)

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Hoop it up! West Seattle hula hooper organizing community jam

January 17, 2014 1:37 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle news | WS & Sports

That’s Seaview resident and hula hooper Mary Decker, who’s sponsoring a free Community SpinJam later this month and has room for more local hula hoopers to RSVP. It’s at 8 Limbs in The Junction at 2 pm Sunday, January 26th – RSVP via Facebook by going here. Mary says all ages are welcome, adding “when I say all ages, I really mean it. This is not just for kids. In fact, the hoops I make are large and heavy, much easier for an adult to use than those tiny lightweight ones we know from the olden days. Kids can use them too, though!”

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Julie Breidenbach chosen as Fairmount Park Elementary principal

January 17, 2014 10:43 am

| 18 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle schools

Seattle Public Schools has just announced that Julie Breidenbach will be principal of Fairmount Park Elementary when it reopens in West Seattle this fall. We reported yesterday that a principal announcement was likely by week’s end, and this letter from superintendent José Banda, to be sent to all elementary families in West Seattle, has just arrived:

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Julie Breidenbach as the new principal of Fairmount Park Elementary School, effective immediately.

To meet the needs of our growing enrollment, Fairmount Park Elementary is scheduled to open for the 2014-15 school year. Ms. Breidenbach will be the planning principal this year and remain principal when the school opens to students. She will begin making the necessary decisions needed for a new school, including hiring teaching team leaders. She will also be connecting with families of students slated to attend Fairmount Park next year. [A note about enrollment: Current students who are in the new school’s boundary can stay at their current school, but will also be able to change to Fairmount Park if they wish. For more enrollment information, visit our Enrollment website.]

Julie Breidenbach transfers to Fairmount Park from Thurgood Marshall Elementary, where she has been principal since 2009. Fairmount Park will have an option APP program, and Ms. Breidenbach is a strong supporter of APP education. She has extensive experience in merging an APP program with a neighborhood school and is sensitive to the social and emotional needs of all students.

She is looking forward to the opportunity to open a school and work with the entire school community to build a school where children with all types of individual and special needs will feel part of an inclusive and supportive community.

A Fairmount Park school website has been established, and Ms. Breidenbach asks that all parents in West Seattle check the school’s website regularly. Meetings will be scheduled to work with families on getting the school ready to open and information on those meetings will be posted.

Ms. Breidenbach earned a Masters of Education from the University of Washington and a Bachelors of Arts in education from Washington State University. She holds a Washington State Administrative Certificate.

Please join me in welcoming Julie Breidenbach to Fairmount Park Elementary!

Information-night dates for Fairmount Park, to be held at Alki since the school is still undergoing expansion/renovation work, are in our Thursday story.

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Celebration of life January 25th for West Seattleite Sue Scharff

January 17, 2014 10:34 am

| 8 COMMENTS

| Obituaries | West Seattle news | West Seattle people

Family and friends will gather one week from tomorrow to celebrate the life of Sue Scharff, gone too soon at just 50, and they want to make sure everyone touched by her knows about the event:

Sue succumbed to ovarian cancer on December 16, 2013, at home, surrounded by family and friends. She was preceded in death by her mother Audrey Scharff and sister Beth Scharff. She is survived by her father Sam Scharff; son Jeremy Kim; granddaughter Miranda; ex-husband Kimin Kim; and nieces and nephews. Sue was a masseuse in West Seattle, where she lived for the past 9 years. She enjoyed many activities ranging from riding her motorcycle Thelma, walking along Alki, exploring Schmitz Park and Camp Long, but her heart belonged in Bridgeport, Washington, helping out at Rama Farms.

We will all miss Sue’s wonderful smile, her great life advice, her compassion for those of less advantage, and her big caring, giving heart. She was a wonderful Mother and Friend who could take any situation and find a peaceful solution. She selflessly volunteered her own body in research for ovarian cancer in the hopes of helping someone else.

We will hold a Celebration of Life for Sue at the West Seattle Eagles on Saturday, January 25th, at 1 pm. Come and enjoy time with friends and family as we share stories of the short but beautiful life Sue led.

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Benefit breakfast! Pancakes tomorrow with West Seattle Lions Club

January 17, 2014 9:58 am

| 2 COMMENTS

| How to help | West Seattle news

Fun fundraiser to start your weekend – from the WSB inbox:

Come join us for the West Seattle Lions Club‘s annual pancake breakfast Saturday (January 18th) at the West Seattle Senior Center, 8 o’clock to 11 in the morning, 4127 SW Oregon. $6 per person; 10 and under, $4; free for children under the age of four. We will be serving pancakes, sausages, eggs, orange juice, coffee, and tea. Come and have a great time, and thank you for supporting The West Seattle Lions Club!!!

Jimie Martin PZC
West Seattle Lions President

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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday updates; weekend I-5 alert

January 17, 2014 5:58 am

| 4 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Latest bridge and Viaduct views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Our Friday watch begins. First note of the day – a WEEKEND ALERT if you are headed north; WSDOT is working on expansion joints on northbound I-5, just north of the West Seattle Bridge, and that means major lane closures from tonight through Sunday morning (they promise to finish long before the Seahawks game):

9 pm Friday, Jan. 17, through 10 am Sunday, Jan. 19

*Up to three of four lanes of northbound I-5 closed between South Spokane Street and Yesler Way.
*Access to and from I-90, S. Dearborn Street, and Edgar Martinez Drive South will remain open.
*Crews will keep at least one or two lanes of northbound I-5 open at all times through the construction zone area.

MONDAY REMINDERS: Monday is the King Day holiday, which brings transit/transportation changes – Metro’s on a “reduced-weekday” schedule, and the Water Taxis will NOT run. (Side note – if you’re interested in a little more info about the new boats being built, check this out.)

10:12 AM: Crash at Delridge/Alaska, per 911 log, and this photo was just texted to us:

We don’t know how it’s affecting traffic, but SFD has already cleared it and closed their part of the call, which suggests no major injuries.

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West Seattle businesses: FASTSIGNS’ grand opening

January 17, 2014 3:20 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| West Seattle businesses | West Seattle news

Celebrating the grand opening of FASTSIGNS of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) Thursday night, owners James Pike and Jessica Lee posed with new WS Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynn Dennis. Chamber members came to join the party, holding their monthly After Hours event in conjunction with the grand-opening festivities. As noted here last month, FASTSIGNS’ goal is to “make it as easy as possible for the customer to achieve all of their visual communication goals, needs, and desires” and it offers many ways to do that. Many of its offerings were shown off last night, and some were given away as door prizes, including the local item FASTSIGNS’ Christine Greene is showing off in our photo:

Missed the event? Find them at 6323 35th SW, and online here.

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2nd half of Design Review doubleheader, 4433 42nd SW: ‘You don’t really have to be here’

January 17, 2014 1:39 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| Development | West Seattle news

Thursday night’s Southwest Design Review Board doubleheader meeting was a lot shorter than the last one over which the board presided. That’s because the second review was about one aspect of a project whose team voluntarily came back to talk about it, even after getting an overall thumbs-up last time.

The project is the four-story, 80-unit, 52-parking-space Junction Flats mixed-use project replacing three old houses at 4433 42nd SW. Its board approval last August (official report here) included a directive for bigger balconies on the 42nd-facing east facade of the building. Project partner Brandon Nicholson, owner/developer for this as well as principal of architects Nicholson Kovalchick, explained that wouldn’t quite work because it would take a bite out of the light for studio apartments set aside as affordable housing.

Pitching for the board to compromise on the directive, he declared that Junction Flats is different because the team is all local – “completely different than any development you’ll see (from) out of town developers. We know this neighborhood, we know this market – my firm was based here for 10 years until we outgrew the space … Our fear is that many projects are being developed by out of town developers” with units too big, rents too high, or units too small, zero parking, etc. One-fifth of Junction Flats’ units will be held at Homes Within Reach program levels.

In addition, he explained, they are using federally (HUD) guaranteed financing, and on a tight timetable due to reviews associated with that. He and NK staff architect Courtney McCunney brought three options (detailed in the revised design packet) for trying to meet the spirit of the board recommendation, which focused not just on livability but also on the building not looking so “flat” up against 42nd, as board member Laird Bennion described it, also expressing concern about the uniform size of the windows and a resulting “monolithic” look. He said making it an attractive building would be the difference in its survivability over the long haul, instead of getting “scraped in 20 years.” Nicholson agreed, saying they’re getting a 40-year loan, so they don’t want the building to expire sooner, either.

No audience members chose to comment, but the board did take a look at written and visualized input sent to planner Tami Garrett by René Commons from the Junction Neighborhood Organization. Ultimately they asked NK to go with “a combination of option 1 and option 3” as shown in the revised packet, and the meeting ended. Watch the project via this city webpage; if you have any comments, on design or other issues, send them to planner Garrett at tami.garrett@seattle.gov.

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