Recent Stories with tag belltown

Our pet & wildlife and real estate correspondent, Lyle George, provides this picture he snapped while heading to Gary Fukushima's show at Tula's in Belltown last night. The SunBreak has a long history of Seattle rat coverage, but this is the first time I've seen a solution that literally takes a bite out of the rat population downtown. Rats of 2nd and Bell--you're on notice.

UPDATE: A helpful commenter gives you...the rest of the story. "The dog's name is Ozzie and rat hunting is his favorite hobby. He is a Dachshund, not a beagle, and he is 11 years old. He can be seen most days around Belltown. His owner has plenty of other pictures of him catching rats (some bigger than that one) and then there’s the two Seattle officers that provided the spotlights one night so that the crowd of people that gathered to see Ozzie with one of his prizes could take pictures. He had on his cowboy hat that night."

Our Flickr pool's got grillin' fish in it, thanks to Great_Beyond.

A weekend in the '90s? Unpossible! But the thermometer and Cliff Mass say it's so. Speaking of Cliff, here he is losing his mind at the absence of clouds along the Washington coast. It's a picture, so it happened.

Okay, let's keep this short because we all have better things to do. We can all pat ourselves on our green backs because Seattle made it into the NRDC's list of the top 22 cities who are "beacons on energy innovation." City Light's wind and hydropower initiatives helped, but so did an ambitious weatherization plan.

Maria Cantwell was down at the Port of Tacoma yesterday talking about her FREIGHT Act. Dino Rossi was making spurious claims about medical research. What else? Mars Hill bought a church in the U District (god not included). Microsoft's Xbox is selling like hot pixelcakes, says TechFlash. HorsesAss noticed the Seattle Times' questionable tax-math skills, too.

Meanwhile, we've got hoods in the 'hoods. CHS has the new about the armed hold-up at 14th and Republican last night, as well as two coffee shop break-ins. This is probably why Obama is visiting the East Precinct. Belltown=Founders Day Festival. RVP offers a little counter-commentary on the Belltown public safety push. CD News welcomes Hollow Earth Radio. Southend Seattle welcomes Seward Park bats. On Queen Anne, "affordable" studio apartments are priced at $1,105 per month (for this the developer gets a tax reduction of $400,000).... (more)

Thanks to our Flickr pool's shawnmebo for illustrating that Belltown can be beautiful.

Last night Mayor McGinn and I'm-official-now Police Chief John Diaz had some squishy "news" to report in the battle to reclaim Belltown from drunken douchenozzles and menacing assmittens. A month and a half in, the pair claimed their Late Night Public Safety Initiative has "paid some huge dividends."

The Seattlepi.com quotes Chief Diaz saying, "We've stopped at least two shootings that I know of that were this close to turning into something very serious, we were able to stop the individuals."

For balance, the Seattle Times notes one woman complained that a morning walk to the store included "a pimp and a group of prostitutes, a drug dealer waiting for a buyer and a homeless man who was masturbating in a doorway."

Belltownpeople attended the public safety meeting, and notes that besides the increased police presence, Belltown will see once-a-week foot patrols, new LED streetlights, a drug-dealer and mentally unstable diversion program (which needs funding), and faster cleanup on Aisle 4, thanks to a CleanScapes pilot project.... (more)

The Seattle Police Department spent much of last week in the center ring of the media circus surrounding a jaywalking bust gone bad, and I couldn't shake the feeling the brass's eye had wandered off the ball.

As if to underscore that, Belltown saw another weekend shooting (June 6: shooting death of Steven Sok outside Belltown's V-Bar; June 13: the "shots fired" weekend), and one man was beaten unconscious. He'd confronted four men who were making catcalls at his girlfriend.

Belltown has been on a roll this spring: An end-of-May brawl saw 20 to 30 people fighting in the street.

Belltown People compares the post-last-call scene to Clockwork Orange's "ultraviolence":

Nearly every shooting, mugging, bludgeoning, and assault takes place after the neighborhood's clubs herd their drunken patrons onto the street. Neighbors are rightly concerned at the apparent inability of the police department to cope with such a serious onslaught of drunken hooligans....

Mayor McGinn

The City of Seattle's general fund is a portrait of neediness. It's carrying about $4 million in red ink from 2009, and is looking at a $7-million shortfall in 2010, thanks to revenues coming in $2 million under projections and $5 million in "expenditure risks" (more on this later). In addition, 2011's forecast keeps coming in $56 million short.

This morning, the Mayor's budget director, Beth Goldberg, briefed the City Council on the steps necessary to balance the budget, with "the bulk coming from police, parks and libraries," sums up the Seattlepi.com. The cuts total $12.4 million (pdf), and an unspecified amount would carry over into 2011, to address that year's looming deficit.

Last week, Mayor McGinn was also looking at the Fire Department for cost savings; after this weekend's fire, which took five lives, cuts are on hold. An investigation into the equipment failure that left the first truck to arrive unable to pump water is ongoing.

Says McGinn: "The tragedy in Fremont this past weekend gave us a concrete example of the importance of protecting our public safety budget; in light of that event, I am not proposing any reductions to the Fire Department, giving us an opportunity to fully review the safety implications of any potential reductions."

That still leaves police (a $2.27 million cut), human services ($246,000), and parks ($1.67 million). The police department will have to do without 21 extra officers promised by the Neighborhood Policing Plan, and the city is "cutting" 53 full-time positions (not hiring for 44 vacancies). McGinn notes that the city is still staffing police officers at record levels.

(More peace officers doesn't necessarily bring more peace and quiet: A man who fired a shot in Belltown last weekend was released after police questioning found he had a permit to carry the weapon. The man claimed he'd fired it to frighten off two other men who'd flashed their guns at him. All in favor of taking advantage of this return to frontier justice and renaming Belltown "Tombstone," say aye.)... (more)

Just before 3 a.m. on June 6, a shooting took place outside the V Club (V-Bar) at 2nd Avenue and Blanchard St. A resident of the building across the street took the footage above. Police officers monitoring bar closings in the area responded and found two men with gunshot wounds on the sidewalk.

21-year-old Steven Sok was dead, reports KOMO, and a 44-year-old man who may have simply been a passer-by was transported to Harborview with life-threatening injuries. MSNBC says a witness told them Sok was outside, having a cigarette and talking with the club's bouncer when he was killed. An update later on Sunday on the SPD Blotter said, "As of this posting, there are no known suspects and no one is in custody."

Forget Thailand. Belltown is where the action is. Our network partner Seattle Crime tersely summarizes the condo rebellion:

Seattle police are on the hunt for Belltown condo owners who are apparently holding their condo association's flatscreen TV hostage as part of a coup to overthrow the building’s owner association leadership.

Realtor descriptions of the Ellington betray no evidence of the social unrest that has flared up so dramatically, though it seems to have stemmed from a fine levied for running the security gate and secretive board meetings. Paying $709 in HOA dues leaves you feeling entitled to due process, apparently. Maybe this cautionary tale can be worked into future performances of Condo Millennium?

Like peanut butter and chocolate, fashion and art are two great tastes that go great together.  Tomorrow night, the two become one at Belltown bar Amber in Jewels, with the couture gowns of (friend of The SunBreak) Cameron Levin and the fashion-inspired paintings by Seattle cityscape and portrait artist Ethan Jack Harrington. Take a look at the video above for a glimpse of the works in progress.

As per the title, both the fashion and the art draw from precious gems, with vivid gowns of Pearls, Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Black Diamonds, Jade, and Topaz.  Tomorrow night, the paintings will be revealed first, and then the gowns, with the girls in the portraits modeling the dresses in a fashion show.

The event also features music by DJ Johnny Fever, hors d'oeuvres, and drink specials. It's a singles party, ladies! Doors open at 5 p.m., with the fashion show right around 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, with all ticket proceeds benefiting the Susan G. Komen Puget Sound Affiliate. Also, 20 percent of any purchase of Harrington's paintings or Levin's dresses will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Bing's Streetside view captures the scaffolded look of The McGuire

Yesterday, the news broke that a 25-story high-rise in Belltown, The McGuire, would be torn down just nine years after construction, due to "defects." The $31-million apartment tower, at 210 Wall Street, had been clad in scaffolding for months, as the owners tried to deal with cracking and spalling of the concrete exterior, due to problems with reinforcement placement in the building’s frame.

Further investigation revealed that post-tensioned slabs--widely used in high-rises to help support and strengthen the concrete, and allow for thinner floors--contained cables that were corroding. (After it opened, The McGuire fairly quickly had troubles with water entering the building's envelope, and then the wrong paint and grout had been used to protect the cables from water, as well.) The City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development told the owners to repair it or vacate by the end of 2010.

Given the costs of repair, the Carpenters Union Local 131 and MEPT, the Multi-Employer Property Trust, gave hundreds of residents notice to vacate. (The McGuire's original developers were the Carpenters Union Local 131 and Harbor Properties.) Ronald Holden, Belltown's eyes and ears, reports on his blog Cornichon that residents are being offered substantial incentives to quit the building by May 15.

Legal advisers Kennedy Associates said the owners were suing the general contractor and architects. Emporis.com and the city's permits confirm that the general contractor on the project was the national firm McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., one of the top ten commercial builders in the U.S. Here is their differentiator:

Because we are true builders, owners get more and better options. Faster and safer execution. And a clear cost/benefit solution that yields the best final cost, every time.

Structural engineers were ABKJ, who also worked on Harbor Steps and Belltown's Arbor Place. Architecture firm Hewitt has a long list of Seattle projects, from Harbor Steps and Belltown's The Klee lofts and suites, to the Capitol Hill light rail station and University Village. Most recently, they are working on Belltown's Third & Cedar project, a 17-story tower with about 200 units, funded by HB Capital.... (more)

Slightlynorth gives you...Belltown!

(Follow-up post on the architects, structural engineers, and general contractor here.)

The McGuire apartment building, at 210 Wall Street in Belltown, opened its doors in 2001. Now, just nine years later, it's closing them for good. Though the marketing copy, ironically, boasts "exceptional attention to detail in design construction," the 25-story building, with 272 units, is suffering from "corrosion of post-tensioned cables and concrete material and reinforcement placement deficiencies," according to legal real estate advisers Kennedy Associates. (Their full press release, with full grout details, is after the jump.)

Since repair is financially infeasible, residents are being relocated (with larger incentives the sooner they leave), and the building will be dismantled. Everyone must go by the end of this year. This comes as a bit of a shock to residents of the upscale building, who are paying $1,000-$1,500 per month just for studios. But investigation of the defects revealed that conditions were becoming unsafe, and Seattle's Department of Planning and Development is requiring the building's owner to submit periodic inspection reports to track the building's health.

Carpenter’s Tower, LLC, is the named owner, a partnership of the Carpenters Union, Local 131, and MEPT, the Multi-Employer Property Trust. They're suing the general contractor and architects (not named in the news release). Since it's unlikely the general contractor built just one structure, I've got a call in to find out who it was.

In the heyday of building before the real estate market crashed, roughly from 2001 onward, just-add-water condos sprouted up quickly. Nine years was enough to do The McGuire in--that doesn't seem that long. But the Seattle Times just reported on Northgate's Thornton Place condominiums, and the settling problem that 20 of the 109 units are experiencing, just a year after project completion. Floors and walls have separated by half an inch so far.... (more)

What time Mark Pickerel hasn't spent behind drum kits and guitars, he's put in behind counters and cash registers. The former Screaming Trees and Truly drummer and current Praying Hands frontman and musician-about-town owned and ran Ellensburg's Rodeo Records from 1991 to 2005. After a five-year break, he's splitting stage and retail time again as the co-owner and well-coiffed face of Belltown's Damaged Goods. Days ahead of a Facebook-fueled grand opening of sorts—which featured free beer, wine, homemade margaritas, and a shopful of old-school scenesters and new-school browsers—I spoke with Pickerel about his new venture, its future, and what it means for his other career.

So what brought you back to retail?
When I closed Rodeo Records, I was frustrated with the current state of music retail, but I hadn't given up on it entirely. So some friends of mine who just moved here from Los Angeles mentioned that they were interested in finding a space to open up a gallery. They wondered if I might be interested in running retail space out of the same spot, in the hope that I would attract some foot traffic and generate interest in the place. It just happened to coincide with me needing some income—I became a stay at home dad a couple of years ago, and I'd found it more and more difficult to make a living as a musician while being distracted with my daughter most days of the week. [Laughs] They found this gallery space right next to Roq La Rue, which is one of my favorite galleries. We met with the building manager the next day. So literally within 24 hours of imagining getting back into retail, I confirmed that we'd be moving in by January 1.... (more)

(h/t to Belltownpeople)

The slogan for Belltown's Moda condominiums is "Fashionable living. With money left for life." There is not, apparently, money left to pay the subcontractors who installed the balconies.

Last Friday, Hideous Belltown was tipped off by a passer-by that men on a ladder were partially removing balconies from Moda. He inquired what they were up to, and they said they were owed $20,000 and were taking the balconies back.

Hideous Belltown's Keller took a walk by this week and it was true--the railings were gone from a number of balconies. The word is, the units of each are occupied, so there's a chance here for a particularly brave resident to--if he or she survives--to file a spectacular personal injury lawsuit.

Photo courtesy of Hideous Belltown/Igor Keller

Moda, unsurprisingly, did not return Hideous Belltown's call for comment.