The developers of the new residential/retail complex called 100 Republican unveiled a list of public benefits today in exchange for the city vacating part of an alley.  The project is going up at the site of the old QFC on Lower Queen Anne next to Seattle Center.

“It’s an important redevelopment on what is now a substantially dead block of Republican,”  John Coney, co-chair of the Uptown Alliance, told the City Council’s Transportation Committee.  “It is going to bring housing onto Warren Avenue North.  We believe that is important because that is another dead block in an urban center.”

The project will require a partial alley vacation (image below) adjacent to Republican Street.  A new alley is being proposed to provide access from Warren and connect in the middle of the block to the existing alley.  SDOT says two property owners on the block support the project, and they are working with a third who has some concerns about how the alley will function.

In exchange for the alley vacation, the developers have proposed a 2000 square foot public plaza on Republican Street and a rain garden on Warren Avenue (both pictured below). They also propose voluntary building setbacks, bike racks, lighting standards, and street banners.  Members of the Transportation Committee voted unanimously to move to project on to the full Council for a final vote.

Plaza on Republican Street

Rain garden on Warren Avenue

The six-story building will house 275 units–studios, 1-2 bedrooms, 10 town homes, and 17,725 square feet of street level retail space. It is expected to be finished in 2012. To read more about the proposed improvements, click here.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Whole Foods is hosting a 5 day party at its Interbay location.  Starting September 16, the store will host a different event for 5 consecutive days including wine, beer and food tastings.

The highlight of the party is the “Beer ‘n Burgers Bash” on Saturday (9/18) when you can sample beers from breweries around the state alongside sliders prepared by local chefs.  The event on Saturday runs from noon to 3pm with a suggested donation of $15 to benefit Northwest Harvest, which will also hold a food drive during the 5 day party.  You can purchase tickets for the Beer ‘n Burgers Bash by clicking here.

Whole Foods grand opening in Interbay from October 2009

Here’s a list of some of the other events scheduled to celebrate the anniversary:

· A tasting of Samuel Smith organic fruit beers.   Sept. 16, 5-7pm, $3.

· A wine and seafood pairing with white wine, local sake and sparkling wine.   Sept. 17, 5-7pm, $3.

· A wine tasting with local producer Theo Chocolates.   Sept. 18, 3-5pm, $3 donation.

· Mini cupcake giveaway in-store to the first 100 guests at 6pm on Sept. 20.

Temporary parks will be popping up all around Seattle this coming Friday for a global event called “PARK(ing)” day.

A 2009 “PARK(ing) spot in Greenwood.

The event, sponsored by Feet First, allows people “grow” parks out of parking spots. “The average city dedicates about 20 percent of its public land to the movement and storage of automobiles, including roads and parking,” the press release from Feet First states. “PARK(ing) Day shows city residents what urban space can look and feel like when more public land is allocated for parks, art, recreation, social interactions, and other people-centric pursuits—rather than vehicles.

It doesn’t look like there will be any Park(ing) parks in Queen Anne this year, but other “PARKs” around the city can be found here (.pdf.)

A 100-foot vessel from the early seasons of the TV show Deadliest Catch burned for more than an hour along the Ship Canal early this morning.

Nearly 100 firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze at a dock along the Queen Anne side, both from the dock and on the water. When fire crews arrived, they discovered the Arctic Dawn engulfed in flames, sending a huge column of smoke across the water into Ballard. The only person on the boat, an engineer, escaped the flames unharmed. There were no reported injuries.

My Ballard, which covered the fire, has more on the story here.

You have the chance to meet the four finalists in the running to design Seattle’s Central Waterfront project. SDOT says the project will create 9 acres of new public space after the Alaskan Way Viaduct is torn down. The winning designer will be chosen in part by how well he or she responds to questions from the public.

The designers will be on hand during a meeting on Wednesday, September 15 from 7pm to 10pm at Benaroya Hall. You can submit questions in advance to this email address Sonia.palma@seattle.gov .

Seattle City Light has been working to rebuild the electrical system at Seattle Center and around Lower Queen Anne (especially after all of the planned and unplanned outages over the last year). The work, however, requires a planned outage in the area from 11 p.m. tonight, Thursday, September 9, from to 7 a.m. Friday morning. Here are the details from City Light:

New cable will be pulled in and connected along a Thomas Street section of the system.  The area affected by the outage is bordered by Mercer Street on the north, Denny Way on the south, 5th Avenue North of the east and 1st Avenue North on the west.  The electrical system serving the Seattle Center campus is aging.  This work is part two of three phases in a systemic replacement of the system.   Three additional outages will be needed to complete phase two.  The dates of those outages are still being confirmed.

Please contact Kelly Enright at (206) 684-3111 or email her at kelly.enright@seattle.gov for more information.

It’s going to be another busy day on the top of the hill and at the Queen Anne Farmers Market, where it’s ‘stylin’ day.’ I’m not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds like fun! Check out the lineup:

• 3 to 5 p.m.—Music by Dustin James
• 4 p.m.—Chef Demo with Zephyr Paquette of Elliott Bay Cafe
• 5 p.m.—Check out a Fashion Show sponsored by Queen Anne Dispatch
• 5:30 p.m.—Portrait Photo Mini Workshop with Valentina Vitols
• 5 to 7 p.m.—Music with Dustin Darnold
• 5 to 7 p.m.—Free 5-Minute Chair Massages by Laurie Swanson, LMP
• 6 p.m.—Cooking Demo with Seattle Food Geek‘s Scott Heimendinger
• ALL—Cookbook exchange! Bring one, take home another!

The featured nonprofit this week is Friends of Seattle Public Library. As always the market will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. on W Crockett Street at Queen Anne Ave N.

It’s the first day back to school for Seattle Public School students so be aware of school zones. Here is a look at the schedules for Queen Anne-area schools.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve been just itching to find out what’s going into the vacant slot at caffeine corner. Ever since the Peet’s Coffee & Tea closed down at 2201 Queen Anne Ave N back in January, the neighborhood has been buzzing with speculation as to what is coming next. And now, my friends, we have the answer. Welcome sustainable sandwich shop Homegrown.

After noticing the remarkably familiar “Sprouting here fall 2010″ signs in the window, and hearing rumors of a sandwich shop opening up in the neighborhood, I emailed Homegrown owner Ben Friedman, who confirmed that the local chain—currently with locations in Fremont and Capitol Hill—will be opening up in Queen Anne in the next few months.

A “sustainable sandwich shop” in more than one way, Homegrown uses green materials for printing and serving food, and uses fresh and sustainable ingredients to create a 100 percent compostable and recyclable product. You won’t find bottled water there!

And unique from the other two locations, the Queen Anne shop will be open all day, every day.

“We’re planning to open this fall in the old Peet’s space on the corner of Queen Anne Ave and Boston. The new shop will have the same menu, look and feel as our other locations and we plan to be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week – from 8am to 8pm,” Ben wrote.

Mystery solved!

After living in Seattle for more than a decade, I did something yesterday that seemed a bit odd.  I bought hard alcohol from a place other than a state liquor store.

In a building along busy 15th Ave West in Interbay, Steven Stone is making vodka.  But he’s also making a little history.  Stone did some research and found out that his new distillery named Sound Spirits holds an interesting distinction.

“I did a public records request with the state and they have no record of any distillery in Seattle since Prohibition.”

Stone shows off his first creation in the Sound Spirits tasting room

A legal distillery that is.  Stone’s first creation is Ebb and Flow, a slightly sweet and incredibly smooth vodka made from Washington barley.  He takes a lot pride making it one batch at a time.

“Most vodkas come out of huge plants.  There’s nothing special about them because they are pretty much just pure alcohol.  It’s kind of a tough nut to crack being a craft vodka distillery.”

Ebb and Flow will soon show up in bars and restaurants now that Stone landed his first purchase order with the state.  And yes, you can sip it and buy it right at the distillery, as long as you stick to Washington’s limit of a  two ounce sip and a 2 bottle purchase limit per customer.  A few weeks into the new venture, the tasting room is already filling up.

“People have been hearing about us by word of mouth so hopefully that will continue to grow exponentially.”

Making it one batch at a time

Stone, who lives in Ballard, still has a day job at Boeing.  But on nights and weekends, he’s throwing all his efforts into making his small business a success.

“The joke is rocket science by day and rocket fuel by night.”

Now that he’s tried his hand at vodka, Stone is already thinking about different spirits for the future.

“Gin will be next.  And being from Ballard, after that we’re thinking about doing an aquavit.  And of course we need to get whiskey in a barrel.”

Sound Spirits is located at 1630 15th Ave W.  The tasting room is open most evenings and weekends, but call ahead.  Their grand opening celebration is all day September 18 followed by an evening party that you’re asked to RSVP for on their Facebook page.

Today, Wednesday, September 8, Seattle City Light crews will begin work to replace the tall transmission tower on the south side of the Ship Canal at Warren Avenue, between Nickerson and the Canal. Today crews will be removing a 20-foot section of steel lattice from the 190-foot tower, part of repairs that could take up to three weeks. The work will begin around 9 a.m. and is expected to take several hours. From City Light:

A 230’ crane will lift the tower and lower it to the ground for the necessary steelwork to be completed. It’s estimated the repairs will take up to three weeks and then the steel section will be re-positioned on the tower.

The high voltage lines that are held by the tower will be restrung across the Canal in the summer of 2011. These distribution lines provide additional reliability and back-up for power running from the utility’s Ballard Substation to residents in Queen Anne and Magnolia.

So in case you drive by and wonder what they’re doing way up there, now you know.

The Not-Its! are filming a music video this evening for their song “Green Light, Go!” and they need kids!

The kids’ band, whose lead guitarist is also a teacher at Adams Elementary school, will be at the Vera Project at Seattle Center tonight starting at 6 p.m. They expect the filming to last about 30 minutes. Put your kiddos in bright colors with no logos. Tutus and ties are always welcome the group says on their Facebook Page. The Not-Its will have mini cupcakes to the mini participants.

Seattle Police have been busy responding to burglary reports across Queen Anne over the past week.  Although the full police reports detailing each incident aren’t available yet (with the exception of one that provided little information), we wanted to give you a heads up about when and where these burglaries took place.

9/5:  3000 block of Queen Anne Ave (forced entry, home)

9/5:  2400 block of 3rd Ave W (no force, home)

9/3:  1500 block of 10th Ave W (forced entry, business)

9/3:  3000 block of 3rd Ave W (forced entry, business)

9/3:  3300 block of 3rd Ave W (forced entry, business)

8/31:  1000 block of 5th Ave N  (no force, home)