Coming soon, but not that soon
If you have passed through the Fauntleroy/Alaska intersection lately, you might have noticed the big new sign on the side of the Schuck’s/Hancock building that Fauntleroy Place will replace, trumpeting “Coming Soon … Whole Foods Market.” Not that soon, according to the latest info from the project’s development/management company (more below the pic) …
We pinged Blue Star to find out the latest on how soon “coming soon” might be, and spokesman Eric Radovich was kind enough to reply quickly. He writes, “Timelines have been a bit of a moving target but suffice to say we would like to move forward as soon as possible with construction. We still have some work to do with the City of Seattle. The process of securing building permits from the city will likely take 8 to 10 months. It is possible that demolition of the existing structure and groundbreaking for the underground parking garage could begin as soon as late February 2008. If the above timeframes hold true we could begin construction in spring of 2008, with a 16-20 month buildout taking us to late 2009 for completion.”
He also notes that Blue Star will have a booth as part of its sponsorship of this weekend’s Summer Fest, and you can drop by to get more questions answered about Fauntleroy Place.
P.S. on the subject of the potential grocery-store glut once Whole Foods and the new QFC to the west arrive — anyone else notice that Target in Westwood Village is expanding its food aisles, with a slew of new refrigerated cases just arriving, and some shelf-shuffling under way on the south side of the store?
Almost out of sight, but not out of mind
If you look between the townhomes almost complete on the controversial site across from Seattle International (formerly Gatewood Baptist) Church, you can still — for now — see the old house neighbors know as the “hunting lodge.”
But maybe not for long. The empty space, which was given the address 7204 Cali, is where two more townhouse buildings are supposed to go; those buildings probably would be as close to completion as their bookends, if not for feisty neighborhood pushback. First, neighbors protested the lack of environmental review of the townhouse projects (scroll down for details), which were processed separately rather than as one big new clump of housing. Then they chimed in about concerns that the “hunting lodge” will no longer be visible from Cali; their concerns are noted in this city memo about the project dated earlier this month. The latest ruling went against them and for the project, but an appeal’s been filed, and an “appeal hearing” is set for July 16.
Pro-Charlestown picketing today
Can the Charlestown Cafe stay in its longtime home, or will the property owner continue the process of booting it so a big-box store can move in? Today’s the day Charlestown supporters plan to make some noise with a picketing demonstration along Cali in front of the restaurant. Lots of info, and downloadable sign art (example at left), at Our Town West Seattle. (P.S. to demonstration attendees: If you take picketing pix and post them to your own site or a gallery site like Flickr, please leave a comment here afterward, with a link; we’ll be away from the computer much of the day and unable to post anything you send us directly.)
When it rains, it pours: Megaproject mania
Maybe they were just trying to get it all over with before the pre-Fourth of July mass exodus? Whatever the reason, city planners have just issued a sheaf of decisions affecting WS developments, most notably what we’ve been calling the megaprojects just east of The Junction. Our eyes are a little too swimmy at the moment to pore over all the fine print but these decisions appear to be steps forward for both projects; one decision for Fauntleroy Place (Whole Foods etc. @ 3922 Alaska), two for the “Capelouto project” (QFC etc. on adjacent parcels @ 4100 and 4122 Alaska). P.S. for those as geeky as us — the Design Review Program has just fancied up its site a little bit.
Progress for the other WS megaproject
Four days after the 41st/42nd/Alaska megaproject (with QFC) cleared a city hurdle, the Fauntleroy Place megaproject just a couple blocks to the east (with Whole Foods) has cleared one too. The company in charge of the project, Blue Star Management, says city council members unanimously approved the “alley vacation” today, and explains the alley’s future: “The alley running north to south from SW Oregon Street to SW Alaska Street between 40th Ave SW and 39th Ave SW will be relocated into an L-shaped alley, running from SW Oregon Street south and then exiting west at about three-quarters block on to 40th Ave SW, instead of continuing toward SW Alaska Street.” Blue Star reiterates that it hopes to start construction early next year; below is the latest rendering of what Fauntleroy Place is supposed to look like.
Demolition assistance
Chainsaw buzz is echoing through the Cali/Charlestown vicinity this morning as the Seattle Fire Dept. carries out a “training exercise” as part of the demolition of the teardowns-to-townhomes at 3906 and 3910 Cali. So far, as our photo shows, they’re tearing up the roofs; will they set the houses on fire later today? We’ll see what we can find out.
Out of luck?
You are, if you expect the ravaged roadway of Sylvan/Orchard (east of High Point and home to the sign at left) to be all good as new once the upcoming closure is through. Nope, just a short stretch, reiterates the project spokesperson in today’s Herald.
Teardown-to-townhomes: Who gets the boot
We usually find out about impending teardowns-to-townhomes by watching the city permit process. Today, though, we’ve got one that came to our attention from the people who are getting the boot before the backhoe shows up: the current renters of a doomed brick duplex along Fauntleroy, a couple who moved here from back east last year, and like so many of us, fell madly in love with WS. They aren’t ready to buy; one of them is in grad school. But now they’re on notice they’ve got to be out by the end of this month. There’s one instructive thing about their story; first, here’s a photo they kindly sent of their soon-to-be-ex-duplex …
The tenants note in their e-mail to us: “We rent through a property management company and didn’t know, till now, who the owner was — it’s Soleil Development.” (Which has other WS projects, including this one.) We checked property records for their address; Soleil technically didn’t take ownership till last winter, after these tenants moved in; but before their arrival last August, it was purchased last June by Dan Duffus, Soleil’s owner. So perhaps it would be worthwhile for would-be renters to use this site to check who owns their prospective new home; if it’s a development company, or someone you can easily see in search engines is linked to one, know you might not live there for long.
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