19 Dec Pioneer Square in the News

Three foreclosed Pioneer Square buildings sold (Seattle Times)
Canadian investors have acquired three historic buildings in Seattle’s Pioneer Square — for about half what the previous owner paid four years ago. An affiliate of Seattle residential-developer Intracorp lost the buildings to foreclosure this year.

Pioneer Square to Get Its Streetcar; Aloha Extension Still Up In the Air (PubliCola)
At tomorrow morning’s meeting of the city council transportation committee, council members will discuss a proposal to extend the route of the proposed Capitol Hill/First Hill streetcar into Pioneer Square, a response to Pioneer Square businesses and residents who argued that the neighborhood would benefit from the extra transportation option, especially during construction of the Alaskan Way tunnel.

Heroes Catering Is a Blue-Collar FareStart (Seattle Weekly – Voracious)
With far less fanfare, Pioneer Square’s Bread of Life Mission has since 2003 operated a similar program, Heroes Catering, albeit one which sports a far bluer collar than that of its uptown peer.

Dudley: Dinner with Zynga CEO a game-winner (Seattle Times)
Seattle’s Cara Ely, created the blockbuster “Dream Day” franchise for Oberon Media’s I-Play, went to a Zynga recruiting dinner and ended up sitting next to founder Mark Pincus. Now she’s been commuting constantly to Zynga’s San Francisco offices, where she’s the creative director on a new hidden-object game called “Hidden Chronicles.”

At the Seattle Art Museum, listening to old records is the show (KPLU)
SAM has also launched a second pop-up installation called “Record Store.” It’s another kind of listening lounge (no actual records are for sale) where visitors can practice the art of looking and listening to albums. It’s located in a Pioneer Square storefront at 406 Occidental Ave.

Why a $490,000 viaduct museum now? (Seattle Times)
The government-waste question of the week is: Why is our state opening a viaduct museum, of all things, in Pioneer Square?

With Pioneer Square, a historic district, “we are going to mess up their lives for four years with this project,” Hammond said. “So we see this as a small price to pay to mitigate that.”

New Museum in Pioneer Square (PubliCola)
Erica has already made it clear that she thinks the uproar over the new museum in Pioneer Square dedicated to the tunnel project is faux populist journalism (and GOP rhetoric) at its silliest.

Viaduct replacement museum fulfills state’s obligation to protect Pioneer Square (Seattle Times)
An exhibit devoted to the project that replaces of the Alaskan Way Viaduct has generated some controversy over government expenditure. Guest columnists Charles Royer and Kevin Daniels say the law requires such a treatment because of its effect on historic Pioneer Square.

Schrammie: Wasting $485,000 on viaduct museum (KOMO News)
Secretary Paula spent some time with me explaining why the state DOT is opening a museum in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. She says its focus will be on providing a history of the neighborhood as well explaining the tunnel project that will replace the viaduct.

Midday Scan: Viaduct museum; see you in court over liquor jobs; Kalakala’s ‘significance’ (Crosscut)
In fact it’s mitigation (or horse-trading or politics). Pioneer Square will take a hit during the tunnel’s construction, and this is a tangible way to say “sorry about that.” As Westneat writes, “It’s just a cost of doing business.”

Turks, Looking To Do Business with Native Americans, Say They’re Related (Seattle Weekly)
You might think this is just the art of schmooze. But Sedat Uysal, the Turkish-born proprietor of Pioneer Square’s Cafe Paloma, lights up when asked about this affinity. He says he was struck by the same thing when he immigrated here 26 years ago.

Crystal Palace or Legoland for new Pioneer Square development? (King5)
The new “Stadium Place” development is now being built in Pioneer Square in the north parking lot of the Seahawks’ Stadium. It’s 25 shiny stories that will be one of the most unique buildings in the state. The defining points are several two-to-four-story sections of the building that are stacked askew, kind of like 50-foot Jenga blocks. But does it fit with the Square’s red brick and turn of the 20th century charm?

Slide show: North lot project to rise near Pioneer Square (PSBJ)
When completed in 2015, the project will include three residential towers, a hotel, offices, retail space and a parking garage. The developer started work last month, clearing away some contaminated soil on the site. Daniels expects he will be able to make up some of the time lost on the project.

Seattle seeking affordable space for artists (KPLU)
“We’re working on programs that would help bring artists back into the downtown. We’re expanding our partnerships and our work on the Storefronts program to really look at how we can use arts to help revitalize empty retails areas. So, there are a lot of challenges that we face.”