Will Kenmore EVER “Get It?” Bothell’s getting a Hotel, Pub and Theater!
McMenamins is Officially Approved by the Bothell City Council
Click on this picture to visit McMenamins' Home Page
The Puget Sound Business Journal reported today:
The Bothell City Council has agreed to sell Portland developer McMenamins five acres of property including the historic Anderson Building, which would be converted into a hotel.
The city approved the $7 million deal, which includes cash and community benefits. Bothell residents will get free access to the Northshore pool and to community meeting space and a community garden for 15 years.
This agreement will allow the city to reopen the Northshore pool, which has been closed for more than a year.
A Couple of Personal Thoughts
When I spoke at the public hearing several weeks ago regarding The City of Kenmore’s ill-conceived “ground lease” to Urban Partners LLC, I sincerely believed that the City’s loyalty to UP LLC was misguided and a little too cozy for my tastes. Our City Council seems to be fixated on UP LLC and all the wonderful things it’s going to do for Kenmore. For what it’s worth, I’m not-at-all impressed with the way this situation was handled by our City Council.
How is it that Bothell can find a developer who is willing to PURCHASE property for development (along with some substantive public benefits) when the City of Kenmore concocts a virtual give-away ($1 per year) lease to a developer who has yet to spell out what they intend to do with 9 acres of the City’s property? As I sit here writing this post, I wonder if Urban Partners LLC and the City of Kenmore will be developing a hotel, or pub, or theater or any other exciting project in Kenmore Village? If all Urban Partners LLC can come up with is to rent commercial space to retailers until 2014, I think this exercise will have been a total failure.
Seminary at St. Edwards Park in Kenmore
Will Kenmore EVER “get it?” Since my last post a number of Kenmore residents have contacted me to express their frustrations about the lost opportunity for McMenamins to lease the Seminary at St. Edward Park. In 2005 McMenamins proposed to revitalize the deteriorating landmark by renovating it into a hotel. For those of you unfamiliar with that fiasco, the SeattlePI’s article: Neighbors Oppose McMenamins Plans for a Hotel at St. Edwards Park describes a classic example of community short-sightedness. Basically, a bunch of NIMBY, prohbitionist, control freaks tanked what would have been one of the most positive developments in Kenmore history. It would have been a renaissance for the park and for Kenmore. Instead, the “concerned citizens” worried about McMenamins “taking control” of the park. So, after 5 years all of those same “concerned citizens” have “taken control” and allowed the Seminary to rot……because they have the vision, imagination and money…….right….
Clearly, this development in Bothell raises some big questions about the vision, imagination and commitment of our City Leaders here in Kenmore. During the public hearing regarding the “ground lease,” Mayor Baker stated that Kenmore is far ahead of most communities because “at least we have a developer when most cities don’t.” Well, we may have a developer but Bothell has a developer who is well-respected, with an excellent track record and who could have worked with us in the past. Instead, Kenmore did what all backward-looking towns do: they choose the path of least resistance and watch their treasures crumble.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Kenmore vs Bothell – shoulda, coulda, woulda
While I completely agree that McMenamins is a class act, and missed opportunity, neither the City of Kenmore nor proponents could ensure concurrent improvements to Juanita Drive to support additional traffic flows, combined with anticipated expansions by Bastyr University.
I’ve lived with the existing traffic since 1976, and there are times of the day when emergency vehicle CAN NOT cross the Sammamish River bridge southbound because of congestion. Under those circumstances South Kenmore (Inglewood and Arrowhead) is served only by fire stations Southeast of QFC, Southwest of Big Finn Hill Park, and North Kirkland.
Bothell’s infrastructure has two major State Routes intersecting in downtown, and I405 a mile or less away, to handle it’s traffic. An envious position to be in.
Kenmore’s City Council has only recently queued up improvements to Juanita Drive sometime in the future, but the design concept selection was not the widest iteration of the three ideas presented.
It’s true that Kenmore at large and elected did NOT aggressively and sufficiently embrace the Seminary conversion nor Juanita Drive improvements. The Seminary belongs to all state citizens and there enlies the ongoing push-pull problem.
Both Kenmore and WSP&R shoulda, coulda, woulda, but Kenmore Village was the focus at the time. A missed opportunity …. shades of LakePointe.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Typo correction: “existing traffic since 1987″
June 17th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Speaking of Beer and Saint Ed’s park, this week is the Washington Brewers Festival. This year they finally got shuttle buses running to keep the traffic down. One of the shuttle bus sites in the Park and Ride on Bothell Way. I’m going to the fest this Saturday, but I’m going to have breakfast at Jay’s Cafe and then catch a bus.
One thing I noticed on the site was the list of sponsors:
http://www.washingtonbeer.com/sponsorswabf.htm
Take a look at that list. Lots of folks are showing up to toot their horn. Notice who isn’t in that list? The City of Kenmore.
My God. What a lost opportunity to get the city in the face of potential customers and folks who would love to spend money to eat in Kenmore’s fine dinning… OK, above average dinning experience. The City of Kenmore should really be at the festival with a booth and pimping the city like the fleet’s in.
The City Council just doesn’t get it, do they?
June 17th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
As a frequent visitor to McMemamins Edgfield hotel in Troutdale Oregon, it should be noted the access is by a two lane road as well. The visitors are very respectable of the venue, and during normal hotel business days, is is extremely low key. This is the beauty of a McMenamins destination.
As I was married at St. Edwards park, it breaks my heart that a few narrow visioned people were able to side track the project. It shows the complete lack of vision on the part of the Kenmore city council, and the great forward thinking vision by Bothell. I am looking forward to being annexed into Bothell as Mark Lamb and his staff continue to move our city forward. They are showing us how a real city should be run!
June 18th, 2010 at 7:19 am
Kedamono:
Just for the record
Give some credit to Kenmore for successfully organizing the annual, 8 week Summer Concert series at the park, and recruiting consistent sponsors. They typically have a table and representation at each concert.
Can we do more – you betcha. Kenmore citizens, at large, need to get vocal. There’s a larger meeting room at a new City Hall hat needs filling.
June 18th, 2010 at 7:20 am
Kedamono:
Just for the record
Give some credit to Kenmore for successfully organizing the annual, 8 week Summer Concert series at the park, and recruiting consistent sponsors. They typically have a table and representation at each concert.
Can we do more – you betcha. Kenmore citizens, at large, need to get vocal. There’s a larger meeting room at a new City Hall that needs filling.
June 18th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
[...] Will Kenmore EVER "Get It?" Bothell’s getting a Hotel, Pub and Theater! [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
Shame on the Kenmore City Council, Rep. Ruth Kagi, Ray Benish, Judy Finn, Ann Hurst and Citizens for St. Edward State Park. Where are all their plans for St Edward Park? The buildings continue to deteriorate while the Citizens for St Edward do nothing. Typical NIMBY approach to community.
The only shoulda coulda woulda is we shoulda coulda woulda not become a city and allowed Bothell to annex us. Now we are controlled by a group of small minded individuals and an inept City Council. Decisions are being made by people that think a summer concert series (paid for with tax dollars) is the same thing as a thriving, well respected & tax-paying business coming into the community.
Sit around and complain about traffic while opportunities like McMenamins & LakePointe slip away and watch Kenmore collapse.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:33 pm
“Sit around and complain about traffic”
Jason:
Unilateral decision making doesn’t make for constructive solutions …..
A coordinated Juanita Drive plan that deals with traffic load (SESP in any form, Bastyr growth, 520 toll diversions, a slough bridge, and near an dear to me as a south ender, access to public safety vehicles and responders and timely travel-ability into Kenmore ….. is all I ask.
June 23rd, 2010 at 9:42 pm
I sit in disbelief at the apathetic inadequacy of the Kenmore City Council. Stop this “do nothing” attitude, stop blaming the bad economy for your failure to be creative, and come up with a Plan B to push forward with a downtown revitilization project! I was at the Beer Festival this past weekend. It’s so sad to see the beautiful seminary building just sit there, crumbling with broken glass its windows, along with a community-loved pool that’s closed down. Just another example of prevailing apathy that is becoming more evident in the City of Kenmore as time roles forward. Please, Kenmore, get yourself back on track. I want to continue having faith in your vision (if there’s anything left of it).
July 3rd, 2010 at 12:14 pm
In response to original post, plus 8 & 10: City of Kenmore has only limited control over what happens at St Edw State Park, mostly negative(i.e. regulatory). I worked on the CAMP for the park and think the outcome re use of the Seminary Bldg was correct: this is the wrong location for McMinaman’s. Downtown Bothell makes great sense; if Kenmore had any other older buildings, maybe their business model could have worked here. The real culprit re deterioration of the the Seminary Bldg and pool, in my opinion, is State Parks. They let things go for 25 years and then thought McMinaman’s would bail them out. St Ed’s and Bastyr will always have access problems (at least in the view of the traffic engineers and Fire Marshall), so reuse of the facility has to be something that will not be a big traffic generator. A successful commercial activity like McMinaman’s is, almost by definition, a big traffic generator. Ann Hurst et al would be pleased to know they “control” Kenmore!
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Hi Tom – Thanks for your comment.
As long as there’s always someone else to blame and as long as there is a lack of compromise and vision to get past the transportation issues with Bastyr and the park, then EVERYONE loses.
Do you have any ideas?
July 5th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I see no need to “get past the transportation issues with Bastyr and the park” in the sense I suspect you mean. Don’t mean to rant, but most public agencies (transportation, emergency services, etc) have a mentality that says “above all, we must make the cars and emergency vehicles happy” regardless of cost, impact on the environment, impact on historic landscapes, etc. We looked at these issues specifically and exhaustively during the CAMP, which included a lot of public participation and concluded that there should be no new roads within St Edward State Park. Sure, we could make the Fire Marshall et al happy by “improving” the park entrance road to 3 or 4 lanes (tho’ this still doesn’t resolve the problems with Juanita Drive); while we’re at it, why not clear another 20 acres of forest so we can put in more parking? The majority of the CAMP advisory committee, the public and the Parks and Recreation Commission came to the conclusion, which I agree with, that the entrance road should remain as is for its aesthetic value, and Bastyr, the park, the Fire Marshall et al need to think a lot more creatively if they really have a concern about emergency access (we detailed out the approach we think would work in the CAMP). The City of Kenmore and the Fire District, and Bastyr, had ample opportunity to comment officially on successive drafts of the CAMP policies and did not disagree with the traffic and parking policies as adopted.
July 5th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
OK! Now what?
July 5th, 2010 at 7:35 pm
Until or unless Juanita Drive is improved (incl bike and ped-friendly corridor!) mostly the City of Kenmore should leave “South Kenmore” alone. I wish they’d make a common-sense interpretation of their Critical Areas Ordinance to allow us to go forward with a couple new trails in St Ed’s called for by the CAMP, but that won’t happen before I’m too old to ride them. Meanwhile the real action should be getting Kenmore village or whatever it’s called, and Lakepointe, going. As a city, Kenmore has been and is now just a place most people drive thru on the way to somewhere else. More interesting, walkable development (Juanita Bay is a bland, but promising, example)and way more public access to Lake Washington waterfront seem to me to be key ingredients. There also needs to be a powerful local retail anchor. Rather than pursuing a big box, since we are almost exactly midway between a couple Home Depots and a Lowe’s, how about going after McLendon’s Hardware? Kenmore Camera is a wonderful store and a local powerhouse, but I don’t think it’s big enough to be an anchor. We also desperately need a replacement used book store since Corner Books lost their lease across from Maser’s. Since Tandoori Fire got booted from Bothell, how about a concerted effort to attract a couple really good ethnic restaurants? If none of these ideas go anywhere, maybe they can just make the “Car Wash” tower higher.
July 5th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Hi Tom – If you go back in my blog over the last year, you’ll see that we are of exactly the same opinion about the “development” vision for Kenmore. I’ve been an outspoken critic of the way in which the Kenmore Village has been handled, the ridiculous building of a $17/$18 Million dollar City Hall and many of the other ideas you propose.
It’s interesting how your serious commentary (which I appreciate very much) comes with a nice level of sarcasm. There’s a lot to be concerned-with when it comes to the City of Kenmore. Several of my blogging friends believe Kenmore should be annexed into Kirkland or Bothell and I believe it’s a viable alternative to the current situation.
A couple of other things: Having an anchor retailer is, IMO not what Kenmore needs. We need a core of high-tech office spaces or small-footprint manufacturing which would generate workers who would actually frequent Kenmore restaurants, retailers, etc. There is far too much retail in our area already (Northgate, Alderwood, Canyon Park, Shoreline, Lake City). McMenamins is the perfect type of developer who could bring a vibrant, multi-use product to our town, but we simply don’t have the leadership to attract such a venture. This is what’s so frustrating about St. Edwards.
Thanks again for your comments Tom!!!!
July 6th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Re annexing or merging Kenmore into Kirkland or Bothell, in my time as a King Co. land use planner I certainly found the proliferation of little jurisdictions in the region to be crazy, but I doubt that bell can be unrung now. I’d also not expect either Kirkland or Bothell to be very concerned about south Kenmore. Kirkland might see some self-interest in making Juanita Drive a more efficient link, but it might not. They’re very happy to get Finn Hill/Holmes Pt. into the city (more waterfront homes = more net tax base)but I don’t see them being very responsive to the neighborhoods around St Edward State Park.
I’ll close by just saying again, St Ed’s would have been the wrong place for a McMenamin’s or any other “vibrant” (i.e. high traffic generator)land use. St Edward State Park’s value to the community, and region, is its open space and recreational use, esp. in combination with King Co’s Big Finn Hill Park.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
[...] recent post entitled, Will Kenmore Ever “Get It?” Bothell’s getting a hotel, pub and theatre received quite a number of comments from Kenmore residents. Direct conversations with others have [...]