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Former Tully's site languishes

It's been almost ten months since Tully's abandoned its Madison Park location in a downsizing move last October.  And it's five months since the Madison Park Blogger reported that HomeStreet Bank would be opening a branch in the space.  Yet to date, about the only thing that's happened to the building is the addition of some graffiti.

One of the most-asked questions we hear is, "What's up with that Tully's space anyway?"  So we decided to see if we could get an answer from HomeStreet.  Karen Brandvick-Baker of the Bank's corporate communications department responded as follows:  "We do not announce potential new branch locations until we have received approval to open the branch. The location has not yet gone through that process."

In the meantime, presumably the Bank is paying rent on the lease, which was rumored to have been $10,000 per month or more when Tully's held the space.  So it may be an expensive waiting game for HomeStreet, which recently announced it's buying small banks in Seattle and Yakima.  Those purchases also require regulatory approval.