Waterfront buildings to be sold

More retail space is one possible outcomeThe Villa Marina building, located at 1928 43rd Avenue E., and its neighbor directly to the north were both listed for sale last week. Villa Marina is an almost-unique Madison Park property, with its mix of retail, office and residential units. In addition to the five or six apartment residents, the 1921 building is home to Park Bench Gifts, Tazo Salon and an architectural firm, Shoesmith-Cox Architects....

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Whither our empty storefronts?

Neighborhood's retail vibrancy takes some hitsThose who care about the longterm health of Madison Park's business district no doubt shudder when contemplating the possibility that any more retail spaces might go the sad way of our community's notorious Black Hole---that tumble-down, two-out-of-three-shops-empty building at the very heart of what old-timers here term "The Village:"The departure of Tully's, Best Buds, and Mad Pizza have each resulted...

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Ice-melt deluge to inundate Madison Park

Only parts of Washington Park expected to remainMadison Park will definitely be underwater, for the most part, if global warming takes the ultimate toll on this fragile earth, causing all of the world's ice sheets to melt. That, at least, is one of the interesting conclusions of UW Planner Jeffrey Linn, who has created an intriguing map of Seattle showing the effects of a 240-foot rise in the level of the world's oceans. By expert consensus, apparently,...

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Waterfront project riles some neighbors

Shoreline permit application under review The owners of the only Madison Park house that actually sits in Lake Washington have filed an application to build a three-story, six-unit apartment building on the dry-land portion of their property at 2346 43rd Avenue E., north of Swing Set Park. Their 2,600 sq. ft. single-family home, built in 1947, sits over water on pilings near the shoreline and is connected to land by a narrow wood walkway. The...

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December Police Blotter

A plethora of burglaries as the year endsAfter several months during which there were few break-ins reported in the neighborhood, Madison Park, for reasons not entirely clear, experienced a veritable rash of such incidents in the final month of 2013: nine separate incidents.The first break-in occurred at Bert's Red Apple on the first day of the month, when during the night two suspects approached front door on the store but were apparently scared...

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No bubble for the Tennis Club

Hearing examiner upholds decisionThe City of Seattle's Hearing Examiner has denied the appeal by the Seattle Tennis Club of an earlier decision denying the the private club's proposal to add coverings (perhaps along the lines of the graphic above) to two tennis courts at the facility.  The coverings would have provided "seasonal weather protection" for the courts during the bad months each year.   Some neighbors whose views might have been...

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We're back on the beat

While we were away...Since our last posting in 2013, the Christmas Ships came and went, we had a bit of snow, construction got underway on the new HomeStreet Bank branch (formerly Tully's), and neighborhood flower shop, Best Buds, shut its doors.  The community, meanwhile, has been assailed by the sound of pile driving (520-related), a rash of hit-and-run events (all involving parked cars, fortunately), and a mini-controversy over...

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