Keeping Up

Tree Walk returns June 21

Last year's first-ever guided tour of neighborhood trees is being repeated this month for those who missed the first go-round, as well as for those who would like to learn more about what makes Madison Park one of Seattle's great arboreal neighborhoods.  The "walk around" will be guided by the former Pacific Northwest editor of Sunset Magazine, Steve Lorton, and Ronald Heibert of Madison Valley's City People's garden store.  Both are current on Pacific Northwest biota, and each of them is a story teller with an historical bent. So come prepared to learn something (and perhaps to take some notes).

Steve Lorton expounds during last year's Tree Walk

The Tree Walk begins at Park Shore Retirement at 10 am, Saturday, June 21, and ends there an hour and a half or so later. This year's tour is a fundraiser for the Madison Park Community Council, which is the sponsor.  Donations to the MPCC, which is a registered non-profit, are encouraged but not required.

Neighborhood-based Arts & Crafts Farm

If you're a kid aged 7-12 (or are the parent of one), you may be interested in knowing that it's possible this summer for neighborhood kids to spend a week at an art camp without having to go anywhere far for the experience.  Madison Parkers Gayle Jack and Ann Wyman, who each have extensive backgrounds teaching kids arts and crafts, will be offering three one-week sessions of an "Arts & Crafts Farm" here in the Park during the weeks of June 23-17, July 14-18 and July 21-25.

The location will be 1601 41st  Avenue E., which is just one block south of Bert's Red Apple.  Activities will include painting, printing, jewelry making, tie dying and beading. The fee is $220 per week. More information is available from Gayle or Ann, (206) 322-4342 or gayle.sjack@gmail.com.

Madison Park Conservatory for sale

Although the website was recently taken down and the restaurant's Facebook page now reads "Permanently Closed," Madison Park Conservatory is actually on the market, we've learned, with a sale price of $249,000. The current owners apparently have a long-term lease on the property and would like to sell the lease rights, leasehold improvements, furnishings and the name to a new owner/operator. We've heard there's some interest in the space if the lease becomes available. It appears that the MPC has been on the market since it shut down in February, after three years on the local scene.

Villa Marina sold

The 14-unit Villa Marina apartment building at the foot of Madison Street was sold last month for $4,025,000, according to real estate broker Paragon Real Estate Advisors. The building was built in 1921, but many of the residential and commercial units have been recently renovated and we understand the new owners intend to complete that process for the remaining units.


[Art photo above (Kandinsky riff) from the website, www.artprojectsforkids.org.]

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Waterfront buildings to be sold

More retail space is one possible outcome

The 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. There is also one open retail space, recently vacated by the Aegis Living sales office. The two-level, 9,300 sq. ft. wood-frame structure is listed for $4.5 million.

The property is managed by Lakeside Capital Management, whose principal, Dennis Daugs, had this explanation for selling the building at this time: "The Villa Marina property has been thoroughly and carefully upgraded over the past decade.  The property is jointly owned by a number of investors who are all getting older and have different financial goals.  My role is simply as manager of the fund and co-investor. Selling to a long-term owner who wishes to acquire this trophy asset at appraised value would be a win for all."  Daugs also notes that his building contrasts with others in Madison Park, some of which are "poorly cared for" and have "absentee owners."

Also now for sale is the building in which Lakeside has its offices (1938 43rd Avenue E.) and whose lower floor is home to IndieFlix.

This 1941 wood-frame structure contains 5,700 sq. ft. and boasts a mightly fine view from its upper-level deck:

Daugs reports that it's his intention to have Lakeside lease back the space from the new building owner. The listing agent, Kidder Matthews, notes in the listing information for the property, however, that it is "suitable for street-front retail use" and that Lakeside would be willing to vacate the space for the new owner. That raises the intriguing possibility of having another retail shop or two, or even a restaurant, in this location. The building is listed at $3 million.

The property is zoned for multi-family residential, so a new owner could choose to replace the building and go that direction.

Interestingly, Villa Marina was not the only Madison Park apartment building to go on the market last week.  A five-unit building at 633 33rd Avenue E. was also listed, with an offering price of $1,700,000.

[Middle photos courtesy of Kidder Matthews.]

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News of the 'hood

'Why us?'

Employees of our local Wells Fargo branch may well be asking themselves that question after the Bank's windows were smashed in an overnight incident last week. This is the second such act of vandalism at Wells Fargo this year. But given the larger notoriety of certain other national banks (JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America for example), what justifies Wells Fargo as a particular target?  Wells was also singled out by the Occupy Seattle protesters during their downtown march a couple of weeks ago. Of course it's possible that this local crime is just a random bank smashing, unpolitical in nature.

The incident, which took place last Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, occurred within hours of our posting on vandalism in the neighborhood.  According to a resident living near the Wells Fargo office, Seattle Police took their time Wednesday morning going over the scene and taking a lot of photos.  No immediate word on whether anarchist symbols were spray painted on the building, as was the case when the Bank's windows were broken in January.  This incident may have been captured on on the branch's heavy-duty camera, though seasoned vandals would be unlikely to expose themselves to that kind of scrutiny unless disguised:

Aggravated assault with a weapon

On Saturday, Madison Park was the scene of an unusual crime involving a weapon, in this case a bottle of Bud Light.  An "Unpaid Intern" at The Stranger got the story ahead of us yesterday; and frankly, we could hardly do a better job of describing the incident. The posting, entitled "Never Get Between a Man and his Bud Light" can be found here. Presumably the bar involved is McGilvra's.


Rehashing the fence debate

We received a press release from Seattle Parks last week making it official that Madison Park's famous fence at Swingset Park is coming down, with the work expected to be completed by the end of June.  Meanwhile, Crosscut's Knute Berger, who served as a pro-fence-removal resident on the Park's advisory committee for this project, describes from an insider's perspective the interaction between the residents and the Parks people over how the fence was to be removed.  His take on the whole thing can be found here.


No more retail for Villa Marina (at least for now)

It looks like Lakeside Capital Management has given up, at least temporarily, on finding a new retail tenant for the space in the Villa Marina building that was vacated last month by Ropa Bella, the women's clothing store.  Although Lakeside, the building's landlord, was unwilling to confirm the story, we've heard from reliable sources that the space will soon become an office, rather than a new retail location.  It is possible that this is just a temporary situation, with a retail tenant still the ultimate goal.  So far, it has proven difficult to bring retail onto 43rd Avenue E., though Park Bench Gifts in the same building is gamely holding on.

[Madison Park's Wells Fargo branch is located at 4009 E. Madison St., Swingset Park is located at 2300 43rd Avenue E., McGilvra's is located at 4234 E. Madison St., and the Ropa Bella space is located at 1928 43rd Avenue E.] 

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Short takes No. 11

The case of the vanishing swings

The big swing set in the play area of Madison Park was suddenly missing its swings last week, though the cause was not immediately evident. On Wednesday, however, an explanation was provided by the parks department, which reported that it had removed the swings due to safety concerns.

It seems that during a routine safety check, an inspector detected that the swing set’s top rail, which is twelve feet high, tends to bow considerably, especially when “a large person” is on the swings. According to Seattle Parks spokesperson Dewey Potter, the top rail was actually bowing as much as two or three inches. This, in turn, was causing other structural bending, which is unusual. The swings have been removed until the problem can be addressed with the manufacturer.

While the swings are presumably in the Park for the use of children, their occasional use by “a large person” must be engineered for. As Potter notes, “play equipment safety is the highest priority for us.” The opportunity to swing in the Park still exists for those who can maintain proper ground clearance. The much lower, two-seat swing set remains functional—though probably not comfortably so for “a large person.”

Spa del Lago on the move

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One of the neighborhood’s several spas, and the only one with a hair salon, is getting ready to pack up and move out. But it’s not going very far. When the New Year opens, Spa del Lago will be located just across the street from its current location. Its new digs will be on the first floor of the Villa Marina building, 1928 43rd Avenue E.

The move is reportedly necessitated, at least in part, by the recent sale of the building in which the Spa has long been located. But the move also fits nicely into the plans of Villa Marina owner Lakeside Capital Management, which is in the process of converting the building from apartments to retail/commercial use. Another ground-floor retail unit in Villa Marina is being built out as retail space on the 43rd Avenue side of the building. That space, which is next door to Maison Michel, should be available for lease in the first quarter of next year.

As MPB readers may recall, the Villa Marina Apartments was slated last year to be replaced by a ten-unit condo project. Changes in market conditions, however, forced a change of plans; and the conversion of the existing building to commercial use was the outcome.

No word yet on what will be happening to the current Spa del Lago space at 1929 43rd E.

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Madison Park Café to ring in the New Year

Karen Binder is about to celebrate her 31st New Year’s at the Madison Park Café and would like us all to come celebrate the occasion with her. She reports she’s planning a special fixed-price New Year’s Eve dinner, promising both a glass of free sparkler and “great fun.” The menu is available here.

Binder and a business partner opened the Café in 1979, and it’s been serving French-bistro cuisine since Binder assumed full ownership of the restaurant in 1999. It is, without challenge, the longest-running white-tablecloth eatery in the neighborhood.

The Madison Park Café will also be doing a Christmas Eve Dinner this year, with an “early-ish” seating, says Binder. For reservations to either event call (206) 324-2626 or visit the website. The Café is located at 1807 42nd Avenue E.

Chase lowers the voltage

From the moment the large neon sign was installed above the Chase (née WaMu) branch in the summer of 2009, it was controversial in certain quarters. The Madison Park Community Council (MPCC) certainly took a dim view of the bright sign, which it felt violated the sign standards for the Madison Park business district. The goal of those standards is to exclude large, lighted commercial signs from the neighborhood. Though not every Madison Park commercial establishment adhers to the voluntary standards, the MPCC still hoped that it could get Chase’s attention to the issue and, hopefully, convince the Bank to be a bit less visibly present at nighttime.

Now, almost 18 months after the effort began, the Council can finally report success. Chase this week installed a smaller neon version of the Bank’s logo above the entrance to the branch. To get this action, the MPCC’s Kathleen O’Connor reportedly went straight to the top at Chase, asking for the help of Chase’s Washington President, Phyllis Campbell.

Rumor has it that the next target of the tone-it-down effort may well be Madison Park Conservatory’s newly installed representation of a flying Canada Goose, a skeletal image which is lighted at night. No confirmation of this, however.

Update: Since our original posting, the Community Council put to rest the rumor that anyone there has a problem with MPC's goose. Board member Lindy Wishard, in fact, reports that she "worked directly with the owner to insure that his sign was in keeping with the guidelines," adding that "we're grateful to Cormac [Mahoney] for caring about the sign and his storefront."

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