Tag Archives: redevelopment

Tai chi, soccer, fundraising, and more on this weekend’s events calendar

April 27, 2012 Wendi Dunlap 1 Comment

Tai chi practitioners in a Wisconsin park. On Saturday, local folks will do tai chi and qigong at Jefferson Park as part of World Tai Chi and Qigong Day. Photo by OnTask via Creative Commons/Flickr.

There are lots of activities on the Hill this weekend to keep you busy, from soccer and tai chi to urban redevelopment and high school fundraising. Here goes:

Today (Friday) from 1-2 p.m. is the unveiling ceremony for the new community tile mosaic mural at Beacon Hill International School. Details are here.

Saturday is a busy day, starting at 9 a.m. at Jefferson Park where neighbors are meeting for a pick-up soccer game. “Bring friends and play some soccer with a great view,” they say. Details are on Facebook.

An hour later at Jefferson Park is a local version of the World Tai Chi and Qigong Day event, from 10-noon and sponsored by Wise Orchid Martial Arts. There will be a free qigong and tai chi class and demonstration, followed by a group lunch. Information is on Facebook.

Also on Saturday from 10-noon, El Centro de la Raza is hosting a community open house to present the finalist design teams for the redevelopment of El Centro’s south lot. The south lot currently contains a parking lot, but is planned to contain a mixed-use transit-oriented project with housing. Details are here.

Then on Saturday night, head over to the South Seattle Community College campus in West Seattle for the Cleveland High School Red and White Night Soaring Eagles Auction from 5:30-9 p.m. and help the high school on the Hill raise $10,000. Information is here.

Urban Planning

El Centro to present redevelopment concepts at open house

April 19, 2012 Wendi Dunlap 3 Comments

This lot south of the main El Centro building is planned to become mixed-use transit-oriented development. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.

On Saturday, April 28 from 10 a.m. to noon, El Centro de la Raza will hold a community open house to present the finalist design teams for the redevelopment of El Centro’s south parking lot into a mixed-use, “transit-oriented development” project. The finalist teams will present their site redevelopment ideas and concepts based on feedback from last year’s community meeting, and also on El Centro’s program needs and desires.

The two finalist teams, SMR Architects/Glenn and Glenn Architects/DKA Architecture and Weinstein A|U/Jones and Jones, were selected from an initial group of five teams. According to El Centro de la Raza, this was due to their “extensive experience in multi-family design, childcare and community facilities, and prior work with diverse organizations and communities.”

All interested neighbors are invited to the open house. Lunch, translation services and childcare will be provided. If you will be eating lunch, RSVP by noon on April 27 to 206-957-4605 or execasst@elcentrodelaraza.org. El Centro de la Raza is located at 2524 16th Ave. S.

History of the Hill, Meetings

Jefferson Park Golf Clubhouse nominated as landmark

February 2, 2012 Wendi Dunlap 2 Comments

The City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, February 15 at 3:30 p.m. to consider the landmark nomination of the Jefferson Park Golf Course Clubhouse.

All interested are invited to attend and comment. Written comments are also welcome, and should be received by the Landmarks Board by February 14 at 5 p.m. Comments may be mailed to:

Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board
Dept. of Neighborhoods
P.O. Box 94649
Seattle WA 98124-4649

The landmark nomination application includes an extremely detailed description of the building as well as a summary of Beacon Hill and Jefferson Park history, and may be viewed here (PDF link), as well as at the Beacon Hill Library.

The clubhouse, which was built in 1936, has been nominated by Bassetti Architects, the firm that is involved in a development project which would tear the building down and replace it with a larger facility. It is not uncommon for sites to be nominated as landmarks by their owners or representatives before a development project can begin.

The February 15 meeting will be held in the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Ave., Suite 1700. Further information about landmark preservation and the nomination process may be found at the Department of Neighborhoods website.

Urban Planning

El Centro also seeks the communityâ€™s development input

November 19, 2009 Jason 24 Comments

Update: The survey form has been updated. See below for the links to the new questionnaire. They need responses by noon on Sunday, November 29th. Thanks for sending along the new form and revised due date, Chris!

Elliott Jones, Development Assistant with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps at El Centro de la Raza sent this to the mailing list today:

If youâ€™re involved with El Centro de la Raza at all, you know that weâ€™ve been working for a few years on finalizing plans to develop the South end of our property (directly across from the Light Rail Station along Lander St.). We are extremely excited because now that the Light Rail is up and running, it wonâ€™t be too long before we get to develop the property and make our beloved Beacon Hill even better!

Our vision for the space includes a large multi-purpose/event building, underground parking, low-income housing, an open space/plaza, as well as retail/office/business space. We are currently working with the Business and Economic Development Center (BEDC) at the University of Washingtonâ€™s Foster School of Business to assess what kind of retail/office/business space will be best for the Beacon Hill community. And of course, in order to figure that out we need your input!

Students from the BEDC will be at Red Apple this weekend with a questionnaire they developed regarding what kind of development you, as Beacon Hill residents, would like to see on that piece of property, so valuable now that the Light Rail has moved in â€“ small, independent stores? Chain restaurants? More grocery options? Better parking?

If you’d like to fill out the survey without taking a trip to Red Apple, you can ~~download the survey in Microsoft Word format from El Centro~~ download the revised survey in Microsoft Word format here.

Because not everyone has the capability of running Microsoft Word, we have made an HTML version and Google Docs version available if you find working with those formats in your web browser easier. (I hope this does not cause a hardship for the survey talliers.) These links have been updated to reflect the new survey above. — Ed.

Please email your completed surveys to Ming Huang, President of the Asian Business Student Association, at huangmingf@yahoo.com.

Ms. Huang and her colleagues will compile them and send the results to El Centro anonymously. Mr. Jones emphasized that they are committed to developing the El Centro property in the communityâ€™s best interest.

If you have any questions, you can contact Elliott Jones at (206) 957-4652.

Beacon Bits, Local Business, Photos, Urban Planning

Beacon Bits: Recession affects light rail area development and local cut glass company

April 6, 2009 Wendi Dunlap

If you’re wondering where the expected “building boom” along the light rail route on MLK is, you’re not alone. The Seattle Times reports that projects are being delayed — sometimes permanently — by the current recession’s tight credit and overall economic malaise. The South Seattle Beacon recently discussed this issue as well, with representatives of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund and the city’s Office of Economic Development suggesting that the current situation is a “great opportunity” to focus upcoming development.
Speaking of development near the light rail line, we meant to post this last week: a PDF of Sound Transit’s plan for the Beacon Hill light rail station area. The gray areas that say “future development” are not owned by Sound Transit and will be fenced off by chain link fence after the construction is complete. It’s up to the property owners to decide what to do with those areas, and their plans are unknown at the moment.
Also in the Times, Kusak’s Cut Glass, at the foot of Beacon Hill just off Rainier Avenue on 22nd, was founded in Seattle nearly a century ago, in 1914. The company was named “the Northwest’s family-owned small business of the year” by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Seattle office last year. And now, in the recession, it is struggling, but determined, to survive.

On a positive note, the cherry trees are blooming! (A little late this year, aren’t they?)