I just got back from the meet-and-greet that developer Jim Mueller hosted at the old Deano’s property. There was a pretty good crowd for a Saturday morning event, with about 20 people there to get more information on Jim’s plans for that property and others he’s working on in the neighborhood.

Here’s what I found out:

• The remaining buildings on the Deano’s property will be torn down within the next week
• The red brick building on the corner of Madison & Denny Way won’t be kept. The brick has been previously sandblasted, which let moisture into it and causing a lot of damage. In addition, there’s significant contamination from an old dry-cleaner in the ground under the building, and Jim says it wouldn’t be possible to get to it with the building in place.
• Although the overall scale of the new building is fixed by the existing master-use permit, architects will be refining the details of the design over the next few months. Jim is putting a lot of focus on creating a friendly pedestrian environment along Madison, with “European style” outdoor seating for cafes, etc.
• There’s still a lot of building permits to work out, so construction on the new building won’t begin until spring or summer of 2009

Jim is also redeveloping the property across Madison where the Twilight Exit currently sits. The design for that project is complete, but permitting will push the construction date out until spring/summer of 2009.