29 Aug Pioneer Square in the News

Photo by Jordan Lewis (courtesty of ISI)

Alley, Alley, in Come Free (Sightline)
Once a stinking strip of menace that was friendlier to rats and crime than to hummus and dancing, Seattle’s Nord Alley is an urban place transformed. Cleared of dumpsters and filth, it now hosts art exhibits, blooming flowers, and a mobbed monthly party (pictured above). Nord is the leading edge of a trend just catching on in Cascadia: the reclamation of downtown alleys as lively, even lovely, public realms.

Seeking sports fans, Jones Soda moves to Pioneer Square (Seattle PI Big Blog)
The Seattle-based company, formerly headquarter in the South Lake Union neighborhood, said Monday that one of its chief reasons for moving to Pioneer Square is easy access to sports fans on their way to Safeco and Century Link stadiums.

Jones Soda CFO Michael O’Brien resigns (PSBJ)
Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. has announced that chief financial officer Michael O’Brien has resigned and will join a private coffee business. The company is looking for a replacement.

Parking spat may stall project at CenturyLink Field (Seattle Times)
An ambitious, long-awaited redevelopment project on CenturyLink Field’s sprawling north parking lot — scheduled to break ground next month — has hit a last-minute snag that could delay it.

McGinn: Seattle to take ‘high road’ to economic development (Seattle PI)
Kevin Daniels, owner of a Pioneer Square real estate company, said City investments in his neighborhood – like bringing in broadband and doing density rezones – had helped revitalize it, leading to new companies like online-diamond retailer Blue Nile moving in.

Parading around in Seattle, 1926 (Seattle Times)
BOOMING SEATTLE, looking for an open staging place north of Pioneer Square in the business district’s new retail neighborhood, found it here at this — depending on how you stretch it — five- or seven-star corner at Fifth Avenue and Stewart Street.

Yelp helps way more than it hurts, restaurant owners say (PSBJ)
Al Calozzi, owner of Calozzi’s Sandwich Shop in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, is a popular purveyor of Philadelphia-style cheesesteak sandwiches, among other East Coast favorites. He has taken a few online shots from reviewers who don’t understand the role of Cheez Whiz in his sandwiches, but mostly his young shop is an online star. Its nearly 150 customer reviews on Yelp average four-and-a-half stars out of five.

Seattlest Shares: How We’re Preparing for an Earthquake (Seattlest)
“Mostly, though, I dealt with the impending Big One by moving out of Pioneer Square.”

Real Change Vendor Saves the Day! (Real Change News)
If Real Change Vendor, Robert Surles, had not been there to save the day there’s a good chance that the pergola would not be standing today and a lot of lives could have been lost.