Don’t Miss Discover Burien’s First Farmers Market of the Year, this Thursday!
May is here and with it comes a week full of sunshine and the first Farmers Market of the 2013 season.
Discover Burien’s 2013 Farmers Market Season Starts the First Week of May
Shop abundance of fresh produce, handicrafts at Burien Farmers Market
Burien council Votes to Change Town Square Developers
The following article was published in partnership with the Highline Times.
The stalled Burien Town Square saga continues as the Burien City Council voted unanimously Monday, Feb. 25, to direct Harbor Urban, owner of the still undeveloped parcels at Town Square, to sell those parcels to another real estate developer, Legacy Partners, as permitted under the city agreements with Harbor Urban.
Burien Town Square condo sales representatives Tamea Duckworth, left, and Julie Knutson are as perplexed as everyone else by the twists and turns in the Town Square saga. They are standing on one of the vacant parcels.
Legacy wants to complete the multi-family housing-retail project in Burien’s city center and has submitted to the city a redevelopment proposal that calls for a mix of upper-scale multi-family housing and retail.
The remaining undeveloped Town Square property is just north of the current Town Square condominiums and Library/City Hall between Southwest 152nd and Southwest 150th streets.
In agreeing to the switch in developers, Councilmember Gerald Robison commented, “Harbor Urban hasn’t come up with anything.” (more…)
Family Owned Cupcake Bakery Opening in Downtown Burien This February
On the SW 152nd St strip of businesses between Elliot Bay Brewery and Pho La Vang, will soon be the home of Burien’s new family owned cupcake bakery, Oliver’s Bite.
Oliver’s Bite is the independent venture of sisters Shino and Ayano Akiho and their parents. According to Shino, “We chose to open our shop in Burien because when we first moved here, the community was so welcoming… We feel like Burien is an up and coming city. There are tons of cupcake shops in places like West Seattle but nothing like that here. We just thought, ‘Hey, it’s time to make Burien a little more colorful!’ So we are opening a cupcake shop.” (more…)
WaBi Burien’s February Walk-n-Talk is Happening This Sunday Rain or Shine
Feeling cooped up during winter’s dark, gray days of rainfall? Get out for a walk! Have a nice chat with other local folks. Get some fresh air and chase the doldrums away. (And if you have your pedometer, come see how many steps you can log toward your daily goal of 10,000.)
The forecast is for cloudy but DRY SKIES on Sunday, Feb. 3, (but raingear may be wise nonetheless). This is a FREE event and is enjoyable for all ages (including little ones in strollers). (more…)
Husky West Seattle is on a roll, Burien boom is next: Eric Mathison’s Optimistic Perspective on the Future of Burien
The following article was published in partnership with the Highline Times and was written by Eric Mathison.
I noticed on the Highline Times website that Husky Deli over in the West Seattle Junction is celebrating its 80th Anniversary.
Wow, that’s a long time for a small family business to stick around. It’s going great as it serves up delicious ice cream cones and homemade sandwiches in the yuppie heaven of West Seattle.
It’s so popular, Husky ran the hugely successful nationwide Ben and Jerry’s chain out of town a couple of years ago.
All of West Seattle is on a roll. Its arterials are lined with high-rise condos and chic eateries.
A Whole Foods Market will anchor a six-story 370-apartment mixed-use project. It will sit across the street from “The Hole” project, which is to be filled in with a fitness center and 216 apartments. (more…)
Walk-n-Talk and Chase the Rain Away This Sunday, December 2nd
Will we be walkin’ and talkin’ and singin’ in the rain? (Isn’t that what galoshes and bumbershoots are for?) Incredibly, every Walk-n-Talk for the last 16 months, we’ve had dry weather. (Except that on one walk day it started drizzly and ended sunny.) Maybe by scheduling our walk, we chase the rain away?
Let’s meet up at 2:00 on Sunday, December 2, on top of the grassy knoll at Burien Town Square for our monthly Walk-n-Talk. We will circle east along SW/S 152nd St., past and around Highline High School and Moshier Field, as far as southbound Des Moines Memorial Drive, then back west along S/SW 156th St., and north on 4th Ave. SW. (This month’s route was the one selected for our July Walk-n-Talk by Burien Frequent Walker, Rob Johnson.)
This 2.25 mile route has sidewalks the whole way (!) and is mostly flat, so this is an ideal route for folks with mobility issues or who are pushing baby strollers.
- Date: Sunday, December 2, 2012
- Time: 2:00 meet-up. Walking starts at 2:15
- Place: Meet on the grassy knoll at Burien Town Square
- Distance: About 2.25 miles, round trip. Mostly flat. Sidewalks roundtrip.
- “Encourage active living to support physical and mental health.”
(Part of Burien’s new “Vision”.) - Initiate conversation between friends and neighbors, new and old.
- Create our own little “volksmarch“, in the European tradition.
Click on the map below to view a larger image.
Then please print it out and bring it with you if you’d like a copy as you’re walking.
New wave of buyers moving to Burien Town Square
The following article was published in partnership with the Highline Times and was written by Steve Shay.
The 124-unit Burien Town Square condo development has been burdened with the reputation of being a quiet complex for the wrong reasons, lagging sales. That burden seems to have lifted as a record number of customers have recently made offers while many units have had closings.
According to Tracy O’Brien, Burien Town Square Sales Director, things are picking up steam in her “sales gallery” as fast as those locomotives at the Electric Train Shop across the street.
“Of the 124 units, 38 (total) will be closed and occupied within about one month,” O’Brien said. “We had four closings in October, five this month, and we’ll have four more in December. In addition to those closings, we’ve also had six new offers so far this month. And we’re just two weeks into November.”
O’Brien believes the flurry of activity is due in part to a new financing program with Union Bank. She said they are taking as little down as 5-percent down payment at current market rates without charging private mortgage insurance, or PMI, enticing to first-time buyers. Typically a bank will charge a monthly PMI fee if the buyer makes a down payment of less than 20-percent as the bank is taking on a bigger risk. With 5-percent down, PMI is about $60 month per $100,000 loan amount, which, again, the Union Bank program would wave. (more…)