Morgan Junction Park expansion: City closes the deal

(WSB file photo)
ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY NIGHT REPORT: Seattle Parks has notified the Morgan Community Association that it’s closed the purchase of the Morgan Junction Park expansion site at 6311 California SW. The plan has been in the works for almost two years – we first reported the sale negotiations in September 2012. The site just north of the current park includes the building housing a minimart and dry cleaner to the north, and some undeveloped land to the west. We don’t have word on the final purchase price yet; the site had originally been listed as a potential development site for $2 million. There is no money budgeted yet for developing the site, which will officially be “landbanked” for starters, but it’s one of the projects for which money is earmarked in the Park District proposal on next month’s ballot (a preliminary version was noted here last October). According to what the city has told MoCA, the timetable for demolition of the building is not set yet, so the businesses will be there a while longer; the site needs some cleanup too because of its past.

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Parks says the purchase price was $1,887,000. The site is a little more than a quarter of an acre.

Morgan July 2, 2014 (7:47 pm)

Public Bocce or Petanque courts?

Chuck and Sally's Van Man July 2, 2014 (7:48 pm)

Guardedly optimistic. Once the minimart providing them with cheap alcohol is gone, I hope that the riffraff currently frequenting the park pushes on and leaves it to the families the expanded park is intended to attract. It’s a step in the right direction, no doubt.

WSobserver July 2, 2014 (8:33 pm)

Sorry to see them go. I like this mini mart, they have absolutely everything.

Ray July 2, 2014 (8:34 pm)

More importantly, since it is mentioned whenever there is a development story, what will they do to provide parking for the park….

hj July 2, 2014 (8:48 pm)

No outpouring of grief for the small local businesses displaced by development?

K'lo July 2, 2014 (9:26 pm)

Hopefully the riffraff will also vacate the alley between California and 44th. Not only are they wandering into private backyards, also there have been fires and more than a few aid calls to this particular spot.

heather July 2, 2014 (10:20 pm)

Parcour please!!!

man July 2, 2014 (11:12 pm)

Awesome get rid of the Losers in the park. I don’t even want to let my dog go there and the minute I do I get harassment by Vagrants.

Graham Morgan July 3, 2014 (12:28 am)

If some of the space is allocated for park parking, I find it more likely that it will be used by folks visiting the nearby businesses and apartments – I’d rather see a larger neighborhood park, which really shouldn’t need dedicated parking.

JK July 3, 2014 (5:53 am)

Morgan, I’m down with bocce/petanque/boules and would learn to play. I really enjoyed watching it be played in parks in Europe.

A community park really needs no parking. Residents of said community will just walk there.

Brian July 3, 2014 (7:54 am)

The idea that this park would ever need a parking lot is ridiculous. The whole idea is that it serves the folks who live in the housing that surrounds it and there should be zero need to drive to it.

Gotb July 3, 2014 (8:30 am)

Just a reminder to some if the above commenters: parks are for everyone, not just people you approve of.

John July 3, 2014 (8:43 am)

No parking please. It’s healthy to walk to a park. I like the idea of having an area set aside for parcour.

BWD July 3, 2014 (9:19 am)

Sorry, Gotb: parks are not bars, sleeping encampments or urinals. I cannot even walk past that park without getting harassed. My kids would love to sit at the park after eating at Zeke’s but that is not possible.

Norquay July 3, 2014 (9:22 am)

A park?
Just another large patio.

JVP July 3, 2014 (9:49 am)

@Gotb, parks are for everyone that is acting civilly. Intimidating behavior and public intoxication should not be defended and needs to be enforced by police.

980XX July 3, 2014 (10:12 am)

The way to discourage unwanted behavior is to fill the park with activity. Benches and a little patch of grass are good for drinking and not much else.

Two words: dog park. It cleared out the undesirable behavior at the park on 3rd in Belltown and it could do the same here. Not to mention it could reduce the scourge of unleashed canines at Lincoln.

Why should WS residents have to drive to Highland Park to let their dog socialize off leash? New dog park now!

gotb July 3, 2014 (10:25 am)

BWD and JVP, I was referring to the Van Man, K’lo, and Man who referred to “riffraff,” “vagrants,” and “losers,” all are stereotypical and derogatory comments. I made no reference to, nor any defense of, public intoxication, urination, or threatening behavior. If you see illegal activity in the park, please call the police, that’s what I do. Have you ever done that? Or is misrepresenting what I said your solution to the problem?

ttt July 3, 2014 (10:54 am)

Awesome! It would great to expand that tiny park! The mini-mart is an eyesore, and I believe it does attract vagrants to the area. Expanding the park makes Morgan Junction more family friendly, and parks mostly make areas more beautiful.

DW July 3, 2014 (11:30 am)

I’m very pessimistic on this. Love the idea of a park there, but I loved the idea of the original park and I can’t take my kids there due to the vagrants that hang out all day. Maybe removing the mini-mart will help, but I’m skeptical. As long as the subsidized housing is across the street, we’ll keep seeing that element in our parks. And no, it’s not wrong to label this way, the parks were not built for the bums and lowlifes of our city.

sittingbird July 3, 2014 (11:45 am)

No one is going to buy land so they can build a park for you.

Robin July 3, 2014 (12:39 pm)

2nd dog park, though probably to small. There should be enough room at Lincoln Park to carve one out though. WEST Seattle needs one. Just doubled the value of property to the east, also. Prepare for another high rise there. Riffraff will be wherever the busses from Downtown come in. C-line easy. Burien transit station same thing… Will be nice that Morgan won’t become Alaska Junction or Admiral as easy.

JVP July 3, 2014 (12:51 pm)

Gotb – You came across as defending the bad behavior that happens in and around that park.

4thGenWS July 3, 2014 (1:25 pm)

I am almost 38 and have been going to short stop for as long as I can remember. I will be sad to see it go. The only other option for a mini market in the area has a much more limited selection IMHO.

As for the park, just because you build a better park doesn’t mean that you will get rid of the “riffraff” (a term some have used).

And people call the mini market an eye sore…that whole area is an eyesore and more because of the crappy worn down apartment complexes and even the brand new (not so crappy) apartment complexes. I will much rather see a small business there like a mini mart than these large complexes with no parking there.

There is a HUGE community park just down the road that people can use any time they wish. We don’t need more parks. It’s a huge waste of money.

Marge Evans July 3, 2014 (2:23 pm)

wonder what it will cost to clean up the site. dry cleaners are typically hazardous waste sites.

Jacob July 3, 2014 (5:36 pm)

I’m glad they found a way to get the deal done now. With all the building going on along California Ave, it wasn’t going to get any cheaper, and that “eyesore” was just begging for redevelopment.

I’ll be inconvenienced by the loss of the Short Stop, and will remember it fondly, but this is great news for Morgan Junction!

Bettytheyeti July 3, 2014 (5:38 pm)

Muscatel Meadows expansion?

Parking for a park, why? There is no required parking for a-podments. Public transportations options across the street!

My 2 cents, Bocce , parcour and chess additions, sure!

Brian July 3, 2014 (7:15 pm)

@4thgenWS: forgive me for not eulogizing the closure of a mini mart whose services are duplicated by Thriftway (who won’t sell to you if you appear intoxicated).

Also: it’s not the mini mart that attracts the “undesirables” you are all bemoaning; it’s the SHA housing directly across the street. Those folks are your neighbors.

Also, it’s laughable to claim that you can’t walk past that park without being harassed because my family walks by that park aost every day and we have literally never been accosted, harassed, or otherwise inconvenienced by the denizens of Morgan Junction Park.

He July 4, 2014 (9:01 am)

If it were cheap to clean up the site a developer would have bought it. Right? Id guess there’s more to it than the city just randomly wanting to expand a park. I the city should put 2m towards any of our “re-do” public works projects and let the site be developed to bring in tax revenue.

Rod July 4, 2014 (4:22 pm)

I’m totally with Brian on this one. I’ve seen short stop sell beer to sketchy folks who were very intoxicated many times, Nice folks, but won’t miss them a bit. The park needs to be policed by the people who use it. If you see bad behavior call them on it and if that doesn’t work call the cops. I agree that a small percentage of the residents of the SHA building are the root of most of the issues with the current park, but have no answer or solution for that.