12th Avenue Neighborhood & Business District

Early design for 1111 E Union Street development

The second design review meeting for the triangle parcel at Union, Madison and 12th Avenue is coming up December 2nd at 8pm . The meeting will be held at the Seattle University Alumni and Admissions building at 824 12th Avenue (at E Marion Street). The project will be 6 stories and have 105 apartment units above ground floor retail spaces. Bring your comments and questions to the meeting.

You must check out Smash Putt this weekend! Take a break from the family and the turkey-induced coma (or better yet, bring the family!) to this crazy indoor putt putt experience. Smash Putt is 18 holes of putt putt fun with gadgets, moving parts, catapults, drill presses, and mopeds and was some of the best fun I’ve had in long time.

Catapult in Action!

Brought to you by the good folks at the Hazard Factory, Smash Putt is housed in the purple brick warehouse at 912 12th Avenue between Spring and Marion Streets. Check it out soon though because November 27, 28 and 29th  are the LAST DAYS of Smash Putt. They recommend buying advance tickets so check out their website , get tickets, and go score a hole in one!

Golf Ball Air Gun!

Central District News has updated renderings of the new Seattle University/Seneca Development student housing project in the works for the full block at 12th & Cherry. The developers of this project will be out to speak with the 12th Avenue Neighborhood Group soon, hopefully in January, so be on the lookout for that announcement.

This is an important development for many reasons. With more than 200 student beds, it will add a lot of people, and presumably vitality, to 12th Avenue. This project will also have several neighborhood retail spaces, and we are hoping that Seneca will be renting to student-serving AND neighborhood-serving businesses. Lastly, the southwest corner retail space (in the third rendering) will face the park at James Court that is currently in development (between this project and Watertown Coffee) so getting a restaurant in there that is active and lively throughout the day and night will be key to achieving safety goals at the pocket park.

Searching for that special holiday gift? Retrofit Home at 1419 12th Avenue doesn’t just carry great furniture…stop in to check out their wonderful variety of goods and say that you are there to "beat the season" and you will receive 10%  to 40%  off your purchase (just increased from 25%!) Can’t beat that deal!

pic of skillet food truck care of herbivoracious.com

We love to jump into the rumor-mill about 12th Avenue. This morning CHS published a story on the Packard Building and what will be occupying their restaurant space(s) - Skillet!!!

Skillet has been in the neighborhood for a few years, parking their mobile food truck on the lot behind the Photographic Center NW at 12th and E Marion.

If this rumor is true, it would be a coup for the Packard and a truly "neighborhood" move - renting to an established (albeit mobile) neighborhood business that is still relatively affordable. As more and more fast food restaurants have left Capitol Hill, I often feel like we are beginning to lack places where we can go and get a meal for less than $10 bucks (which also explains my obsession with Rancho Bravo!) Here is to hoping there is some validity to this gossip on the street…

Also mentioned in this CHS post is that Fleurish, the by-appointment-only flower store in the ground floor of Liz Dunn’s Union Street building, will be opening an orchid store at 1412 12th Ave, although I am not sure what retail space this will be in…more on this later.

What both of these moves signify is a growing diversification of the 12th Avenue Business District - something that is desperately needed for any good retail core to feel vibrant, pedestrian-friendly and active.  12th cannot survive as simply a "restaurant row".  It must have a mix of businesses that cater to a variety of customers.

12th & E Pine Facade

Maria Barrientos, developer of the Packard Apartments at 12th Avenue and E Pine Street, will be opening up the building for a community tour on Thursday, December 10th at 3pm . This will be a great opportunity to view the various apartment layouts, as well as the commercial retail and office space within the project.

Space is limited! To join the tour please contact Kate Stineback at kstineback@chhip.org or at 206-204-3831.

Construction nearly complete

There is a good summary article in the Real Change News this week about the Seattle Housing Authority Yesler Terrace redevelopment project. This is a project that is not in the 12th Avenue Urban Village, but is directly adjacent and will most certainly impact the community. As the article discusses, at its full build-out the project could add up to 5,000 units of housing and millions of square feet of office and retail. The picture of the redevelopment model above is from a community meeting, care of The Stranger newspaper.

12th Avenue Iron: on 12th between E Pike and E Union

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Steve at 12th Avenue Iron recently to find out a little bit more about their very cool work. 12th Avenue Iron is a partnership between Steve Marks, Mark Christiansen and Michael Prendergast who met while working with Pratt Fine Arts and went on to form 12th Avenue Iron about five years ago. They specialize in custom residential metalwork that ranges from elaborate railings and gates to furniture pieces, staircases and fire pits.

12th Avenue Iron has also partnered with local artists to fabricate larger scale art pieces. They fabricated the aluminum structure which was then skinned with wood on the exterior of this piece titled "Reach", designed by Lorna Jordan near Edmonds Community College.

12th Avenue Iron has also worked with their neighbors at Osteria La Spiga to create the custom metal work and detailing in the restaurant.

When starting work for a client, 12th Avenue Iron will usually create a mock-up of some of the design elements. This wall of sample work provides a good insight into some of the past work and a stepping off point for new clients looking for ideas. However, 12th Avenue Iron does virtually all custom work and contributes unique ideas and design to each project.

Past projects

Below are some other examples of 12th Avenue Iron’s exciting work.

Check out 12th Avenue Iron’s website for information and more examples of their great work.

There is a great 12th Ave Meeting tonight . But just in case you want to skip this and attend another neighborhood planning gathering check out the details below.

Neighborhood Plan Status Report Meeting

When: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Where: Seattle Central Community College
What: On November 10th the Planning Commission and Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee (NPAC) will present their report from the Central Area, Pike/Pine and Capitol Hill Neighborhood Plan Status Report Meetings that took place over the summer.  Info on one of these meetings can be found here.

What’s going on with Washington Hall on 14th Avenue near Fir Street? This cool old building is now a City of Seattle Landmark and Historic Seattle and 4Culture are partnering to renovate the building.

Information Sessions:
Monday, November 9, 6:00 pm
Saturday, November 14, 2:00 pm
153  14th Avenue,  Seattle, WA 98122

Here are more details from 4Culture:

Neighbors and friends of Washington Hall are invited to come get to know the project managers from Historic Seattle and 4Culture, learn about the progress of the current renovations, and chat about the future plans for the building.

Washington Hall is a Seattle City Landmark and a powerful historic icon, embodying a rich history of performance and community gatherings dating back to 1908. Historic Seattle and 4Culture are working together to preserve the hall with an operating model that maintains clear and meaningful ties to the history of the site while facilitating vibrant contemporary use of the building well into the future. 4Culture and Historic Seattle are committed stewards of Washington Hall and believe a successful operating model for the hall will be developed in partnership with past users, future users and the communities impacted by the space.

Please join us at one of the open houses, or contact Sara.Edwards at 4Culture dot org or 206.296.8677 with any questions, or to be added to the Washington Hall Updates mailing list.