Photos by Sebastian Garrett-Singh

The fire that caused extensive damage to an under-construction townhouse project at 24th and Norman last week was intentionally set, fire department investigators say.

Now a post signed only by “Some Anarchists” on the Puget Sound Anarchists website claims responsibility for the arson.

The townhouse project developer Benjamin Custom Homes describes the homes as “efficient green homes with approximately 2500sf of modern living, attached parking and private roof-top deck with views of the Seattle skyline.”

The case is under investigation by SPD’s arson team. We have attempted to contact SPD to ask them about the PSA post and will update when we hear back. (UPDATE: Seattle Police said investigators are aware of the post, but have no additional information on the investigation at this time.)

Details from SFD: Continue reading →

It may not look like it, but the the Judkins Park Skatespot is open for grinding.

Though people have been skating there for quite sometime, the $600,000 mini skate park quietly opened officially President’s Day weekend.

The park is still surrounded by fencing, but the entrances are open. Final landscaping work is dependent on warmer weather and should be completed in March.

The city expects to hold an opening event in late May to kick off the summer.

More (rainy) photos: Continue reading →

Today is the deadline to apply for the 23rd Avenue Action Plan Advisory Core Team.

What is the 23rd Avenue Action Plan? The Department of Planning and Development is working to develop a community vision to “improve the health and equity” in the neighborhood’s main commercial cores along 23rd Ave: Union, Cherry and Jackson.

This is separate from the upcoming repaving and complete streets redesign (an open house about that project is Saturday), but will certainly tie into the road work.

We’ll have more on the project soon, so stay tuned.

From the application document:

The purpose of the 23rd Avenue Action Plan project is to establish a city-community collaboration that creates a shared vision and action plan to improve the health and equity of three Central Area community cores: 23rd Avenue & E. Union Street; 23rd Avenue & E. Cherry Street; and 23rd Avenue S. & S. Jackson Street. The 2013 project will focus on these community cores to: Continue reading →

Image from The Bikery

With a focus on being inclusive and affordable, The Bikery has operated its volunteer-run bike shop out of a storefront at 14th and S Main Street for years.

After successfully raising enough money to dig out of a financial crunch one year ago (thanks in part to many of you), the Bikery has reorganized and is moving its operations to Hiawatha Place and S Charles Street, filling a void left by the closing of Working Dog Bicycles.

That move starts today and will go through the weekend, and they could use a hand.

Details from the Bikery newsletter:

We found an awesome new space at 845 Hiawatha Pl S, the old Working Dog Bikes space.

We’re moving this weekend, 2/28-3/1, and we need your help to get there. Heck yeah, all volunteer hours will count towards shop credit!

Shifts

We’re looking for folks to sign up for the following shifts, 4-5 people per shift: Continue reading →

Soon, the rest of the country might get a chance to experience Ezell’s Famous Chicken. Seattle Met reports that the fried chicken company, which started at 23rd and Jefferson, is starting a food truck extension named Ezell’s Express:

Jennifer Stephens started working at Ezell’s Famous Chicken when she was 12 years old. Her cousin, Phylicia Davidson, started in the ninth grade—she needed shoes for basketball. In 2001 the two found themselves operating the same storefront in Skyway. There they’d hatch plans that are just now—after years at Microsoft and in mortgage banking and litigation law—taking shape in the form of Ezell’s Express.

Ezell’s Express is a fleet of food trucks inspired by the namesake chainlet, now in operation for nearly three decades. In April Stephens and Davidson will debut their first outfit. After six months they plan to introduce others locally then launch further afield—possibly California and Oregon initially, and then in Texas. They’re franchising, just in a mobile capacity.

“Ezell’s is a product the whole world needs to know about,” says Stephens, and soon it will.

Read more…

Photos by Sebastian Garrett-Singh

An under-construction home at 24th and Norman caught fire early Tuesday morning. No injuries were reported, and investigators are still working to determine the cause.

Flames from the 24th and Norman fire could be seen from several blocks away, according to firefighters.

One house nearby had to be evacuated when embers fell on its roof, but firefighters put out the fire and the residents were allowed back inside.

We will update when we learn more.

Concept image from the BCH website

UPDATE: The townhomes were being built by Benjamin Custom Homes. Here’s the project description:

The site consist of three modern highly efficient green homes with approximately 2500sf of modern living, attached parking and private roof-top deck with views of the Seattle skyline. Continue reading →

Brendan Bosworth and his mother Sally Homann paint a room of Meter Music to get it ready for its 2011 opening.

21st and Union’s Meter Music School got a lot of ink in Sunday’s Pacific Northwest Magazine in the Seattle Times.

The magazine featured the humble community music school’s swift rise from a small, low-traffic music school to an active hub of music education with a base of 150 students (see our report back when the school opened in spring 2011). Meter Music School is a CDNews advertiser.

From Pacific Northwest Magazine:

Most weeknights, the classrooms buzz with tentative rock and pop music — maybe a confident Bach chorale on violin if you’re lucky — all happening simultaneously in private lessons and small-group classes. That tiny drum room, behind a sliding door in back by the kitchen, virtually throbs as students try out rhythms that are plenty loud and just familiar enough to recognize.

Some students are playing for the first time. Others have come to refresh skills they learned years ago but neglected.

At the center of it all is Bosworth, a 35-year-old with the long, curly hair of a rocker and the cheery disposition of the Pied Piper.

Read more…

Continue reading →

Chief Leschi. Image from MOHAI

The Leschi neighborhood is named after the Nisqually Chief executed unjustly by the Washington Territory on this day in 1858, according to HistoryLink.

Years before the founding of Seattle, Chief Leschi is said to have made camp in the neighborhood that now bears his name.

More from HistoryLink:

On February 19, 1858, Nisqually Chief Leschi (1808-1858) is hanged on a gallows at Fort Steilacoom, for the “murder” of the American soldier Colonel A. Benton Moses. Chief Leschi’s attorneys argued firstly that Leschi had not actually been the one to kill Colonel Moses, and secondly that Colonel Moses was killed during warfare (in which there were casualties on both sides), requiring that his accused killer should not be tried in a civilian court. On March 4, 2004, the Washington State Senate formally recognized “the injustice which occurred in 1858 with the trial and execution of Chief Leschi” and honored Chief Leschi as “a courageous leader” and “a great and noble man” (Washington State Senate Resolution 8727).

Read more…

Design for planned but stalled building on southwest corner

23rd and Union is the big story on the front page of The Seattle Times today.

Close readers of CDNews won’t be too surprised by much of the news, but it’s presence on the front page suggests that momentum for changes really is growing.

But the story also points out the sober reality that the corner’s cultural narrative is up for grabs, and there is a potential for the corner to be essentially annexed by the insatiable demand for housing and commercial space on Capitol Hill.

“What we are looking at are rents that are achievable for a lot of folks that have been priced out of Capitol Hill,” Joe Ferguson of Lake Union Partners told the Times. Lake Union Partners is behind plans for the long-stalled six-story building on the vacant southwest corner. As we reported last month, Ian Eisenberg bought that property recently with hopes of getting the project moving.

The Central District’s location makes it easy to walk, bike or take transit to the region’s largest employment center: downtown. Groceries, shopping, eating and playing are all within close reach from any CD home. With demand in Seattle for housing with such urban amenities growing far faster than the supply (and with no signs of slowing down), the CD is destined to continue its growth as a desirable place to live. These desirable traits are all good things. But as more people move to the neighborhood, what place story will they hear when they get here? Is the Central District an exciting, vibrant and unique place to be, or is it just gentrifying new growth on the edge of Capitol Hill? Continue reading →

Michale McGoin gets the Cafe ready to open in 2011. Photo by LizWas

Judkins St. Cafe is celebrating two years at 26th and Judkins today.

Situated deep in the neighborhood and not visible from any of the CD’s major commercial streets, the Cafe (a CDNews sponsor) still manages to pack the house.

As we reported in 2011, Judkins St. Cafe moved into the space after Charlie’s Flame Broiled Burgers closed. The Cafe keeps expanding its music and guest chef events.

Owner Michael McGloin thanked customers and neighbors today in a newsletter:

Hello Everyone,

It is quite hard to believe that today marks the 2nd anniversary of the cafe.

What an adventure it has been! I knew when I started that I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I’m not sure that even now I know what I have gotten myself into. I do know that I still look forward to being at the cafe each day. I am proud of what we have created, proud of our food, proud of our staff, and proud of our neighborhood.

And still it feels like this adventure is just beginning. In the months ahead we are planning many more special dinners and events, more live music and more new items on the menu.

For those of you looking for some good music and food this weekend, come by for a night of live jazz saxophone with Frank “Stainless” Steele this Saturday 2/16 from 6:30pm until close  or join us for a fine weekend brunch served Saturday and Sunday from 9am until 3pm.

Finally, in celebration of our anniversary we will offer special happy hour prices on beer, wine and mimosas all weekend.

Thank you once again for all your support!

– Michael