Category Archives: Downtown

Downtown Bremerton project ‘Spyglass Hill’ underway

I’m often asked about the Spyglass Hill development, a project that will add 80 apartments on Highland Avenue in downtown Bremerton. Since crews bulldozed the dilapidated homes there last year, the most frequent question about it I get is “When will construction start?”

Now, it turns out.

Late last week, the Earth movers started up above the Manette Bridge (see above photo). I happened to run into Wes Larson, its developer, last week at Great Peninsula Conservancy’s Spring Dinner, and so I had to ask. Yes, the permits are in hand and construction on the $15 million project has begun, I learned.

First up is attaching utilities to the property via Washington Avenue. You’ve probably noticed how there’s a gap in the retaining wall on Washington that used to be John Hoffman’s garage/storage space. Now, that gap is helping to provide crews space to underground the utilities into the project. Once that’s done, a new retaining wall will go up and that space will be filled in.

From there, the project will go up five stories.

Its original completion date was January 2016. I suspect that may be pushed back since construction didn’t start quite as early as anticipated.

Spyglass isn’t the only new apartment project going up downtown. You may have seen the 606 Burwell project, which is moving along for an opening date before the year’s up. There’s also designed projects that have not set dates for construction but are ready in theory. Those include “Evergreen Pointe” near the park and the Towers project off Sixth Street and Washington Avenue.

I’ll keep you posted as I hear more on any of these projects.

Spyglass1_7631197_ver1.0_900_675 — What Spyglass Hill will look like when it’s completed.

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Washington Avenue Project: Sixth Street to close

josh farley

Work begins down at Fifth Street and Washington Ave. in Bremerton during the first phase of improvements. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN

As you may have noticed, work on Washington Avenue has started to ramp up. Crews from RV Associates have closed down Fifth Street at Washington Avenue, mostly to install new stormwater drains as well as some water and sewer pipes.

Next week, it’s going to get crazier, with the closure of Sixth Street at Washington Avenue to do much of the same work they’ve been doing on Fifth. The closure starts Tuesday. Mayor Patty Lent assured me that the city will keep open one of the two roads — Fifth or Sixth — at any given time, so Fifth should be reopened before Sixth closes.

The closure will remain until about May 19, though there will be “intermittent” openings, including for the Armed Forces Day parade on May 16.

This, as frequent readers of this blog know, is only the beginning.

A few weeks from now, northbound Washington roadway, between Sixth and the Manette Bridge, will close. Traffic will be diverted into the southbound lanes while crews put in utilities and install wider sidewalks and bike lanes on the northbound side.

There’s certainly no shortage of roadwork going on right now. A section of Marine Drive was paved with some fanfare recently, a chunk of Trenton Avenue in Manette was, albeit without fanfare. Along with Washington Avenue, Austin Drive near NAD Park will also be repaved this summer.

I’ll keep you posted on these city projects. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions along the way.

A few resources:

Phase I & II Traffic Control Plan (PDF) or the temporary Phase III Traffic Control Plan (PDF)

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Mysterious parrot comes to Bremerton courthouse

josh farley

Jennifer Smith visits with the parrot, found outside the courthouse Wednesday morning.

A green parrot showed up at Bremerton Municipal Court Wednesday morning, to the surprise of courthouse staff.

“I thought it was an obnoxious crow,” said Becky Hoffman, senior legal technician at the Park Avenue facility.

Hoffman, along with Security guard Mel Devin, spotted the bird, with a teal head, perched on a window near the entrance, right underneath a light. Dave Boynton, the city’s home detention specialist, put on gloves and brought the bird inside. It appears domesticated.

The staff put it in a box with some water, a saltine cracker, blueberry and strawberry.

“They gave it a nice comfy home,” Devin said.

UPDATE, 12:30 p.m. April 29: The bird’s owners have been found. A Kitsap Humane Society Animal Control officer was able to find a craigslist ad where the owners were asking if anyone had found a parrot.

The bird, named Drax, is home, safe and sound.

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New street parking comes to downtown Bremerton

josh farley

Don’t be distracted by the mountains. There’s new street parking below them.

Next time you’re in a jam to find some parking in downtown Bremerton, consider some new parallel parking spaces near the Manette Bridge. Yes, it will be a bit of a walk to Washington Avenue but there’s plenty of them — around 40 spaces — that have been created with the downsizing of the roadway.

The placement of parking spots on Washington, as it curves around and becomes 11th Street, is an early part of the Washington Avenue project that will reduce the street from four lanes to two in an effort to add bike lanes and wider sidewalks to the area between the Manette Bridge and Fifth Street.

But city officials realized that should the four lanes become two on Washington, the road north of the bridge, as it turns 90 degrees west and becomes 11th street, has no need to be four lanes anymore, either. Plus, there’s some residents impacted by the project that may not even be able to make it to their driveways for awhile.

Chal Martin, the city’s public works director, told me the new spots are permanent, and will last long after the Washington Avenue project is done. In the meantime, signs advertising the spaces to be two hour parking will be put in. Hopefully, though, the parking enforcers will respect those residents who can’t make it to their driveways due to the project.

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Former Seattle arcade coming to Bremerton

josh farley

Mike Cichy has been seeking a new locale for his arcade business since reluctantly closing the Seattle Waterfront Arcade last September.

He’s found one on Bremerton’s Fourth Street.

The fourth generation arcade owner, who lives in Illahee, signed a lease last week and has already begun remodeling a space on the 600 block. His plan includes roughly 40 games covering 2,000 square feet, along with a space for birthday parties.

“There will be something for everybody,” says Cichy, 36. “From toddlers to grandparents.”

Cichy, a fourth-generation arcade owner, would prefer to still have the arcade on the Seattle waterfront. Last year, he was given a 30-day notice to vacate from Pier 57 by its owners. Cichy said that redevelopment on the waterfront made finding a different space near impossible. He didn’t want to pay too high a price for space but also didn’t want to settle for a spot devoid of foot traffic.

So he looked closer to home.

“We were up in the air as far as what to do,” he said.

It wasn’t Cichy’s first time looking, and even finding, arcade spaces in Bremerton. He’s leased games inside the now-defunct Kart Trax on Wheaton Way and at the Bremerton Ice Center. He originally moved here with his wife, Joanna, who is a Bremerton native. The couple married in 2000.

His family has opened gaming centers all over the Puget Sound area, most recently the Seattle Waterfront Arcade. Cichy’s father, Gary, became manager at what was then called “Quarters” on the waterfront in 1994. The family bought Quarters and renamed it the Seattle Waterfront Arcade in 2002.

After looking at numerous locations in downtown Bremerton, he settled on one formally held by The Rockit Roost, an eclectic rockabilly and beer store that went out of business there in 2014. The building is owned by Timothy Stimac, who also owns the salon across the street from it.

He liked best the supportive atmosphere among business owners on Fourth Street, anchored by the 10-screen movieplex SEEfilm, for a location.

“I like the neighborhood feeling,” he said. “There’s a real sense of community down there.”

Ideally, he’d like to operate the Bremerton location and find another on, or near, the Seattle waterfront. But he feels he’s found a permanent home for his business.

“I’m looking longterm,” he said. “I’d like to be here 20 years — or more.”

No date has yet been set for the arcade’s opening but Cichy would like to be in business before June if possible.

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IN PHOTOS: Washington Avenue, past and present

josh farley

About 40 people came out for the third Story Walk in Bremerton of the year, meeting at Evergreen-Rotary Park on a surprisingly sunny Saturday afternoon. This time, the focus was the $3.5 million Washington Avenue project, and after an overview, we charted a course to the southeast.

I found today that there’s a pretty defined line between critics and supporters of the project. It goes like this:

Critics do not like the idea of having less of a road in and out of Bremerton (via the Manette Bridge) and believe if the city is to grow, this won’t be a helpful endeavor.

Supporters believe that the road’s eastern sidewalk has gotten so bad, drivers can afford to wait just a little longer in traffic if it means that you won’t feel like you’re going to be seriously injured if you take a wrong step.

One curious aspect of the project to me is the history behind it all. This isn’t the first time Washington Avenue’s capacity was debated and then changed — in the late 1960s, it was expanded from two lanes to four lanes.

Now, we’re going back down to two.

I have long sought documentation of the late 60s project from state and city officials, to no avail. But on Friday, I got an email from Bremerton resident Jim Herdman.

“Last night I ran across some old pictures of the widening of Washington Avenue in the late 1960’s,” he wrote to me. “Our old house that my wife and I lived in for thirty years (1974 to 2004) was located at 611 Washington, second house in from the corner of 6th and Washington. My folks bought the house in 1957 and owned the property when the construction began. The house on the corner was the old Red Cross Chapter before they later moved to Pacific Avenue.”

Herdman dropped off a set of photos showing construction crews tearing into yards to make the roadway bigger. I share them with you here with his permission.

Screen Shot 2015-03-21 at 10.36.32 PM — The work begins. Equipment goes right into residents’ yards.

Digging the hole for the retaining wall we all know and love today.

Screen Shot 2015-03-21 at 9.23.32 PM — The road takes its new shape.

Construction for the new project starts up in April; city officials hope the road work is done by the end of the year.

Thanks to all who came out for the story walk; mark your calendars for April 25, when we get a closer look at the Bridge to Bridge trail.

Here’s some links to our past Story Walks:

The meandering Madrona Forest

Redwood Rendezvous in West Bremerton

Fourth Street’s Economic Divide

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Come walk Washington Avenue with me Saturday

josh farley

On Saturday afternoon, I invite you to come walk and tour Bremerton’s Washington Avenue, a road that this year will be completely torn up and put back together again. As part of my monthly Story Walk series, we’ll explore all the facets of this $3.5 million project, including:

Where the roadway will shrink from four lanes to two, to make room for bike lanes, lighting and wider sidewalks.
How the project makes obsolete an environmentally troublesome beach sewer pipe, and what crews will do with it.
Why Evergreen-Rotary Park, too, will benefit from the project and connect the park to its new portion at the Kitsap 9/11 memorial.
And more!

We’ll have plenty of time for questions and Bremerton Public Works Director Chal Martin will be along to go over project details as well. The tour is free and I hope you can make it.

Here’s the facts:

What: I’ll lead a walk detailing every inch of the $3.5 million Washington Avenue project.

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: It begins at the parking lot near the 9/11 Memorial at Evergreen-Rotary Park at Pacific Avenue and 13th Street. The walk will cover no more than 2 miles but be prepared for hills and possible rain.

Here’s links to our previous story walks:

The meandering Madrona Forest

Redwood Rendezvous in West Bremerton

Fourth Street’s Economic Divide

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Honor roll: Bremerton bar expands, closes coffee shop

josh farley

The Honor Bar is on a roll. Unfortunately, that comes at a price for those of us who rather enjoyed the Scout Cafe, with its espresso bar and bakery.

The two establishments, both owned by Alan and Jodi Davis, are housed under the same roof at 1223 McKenzie Avenue near Evergreen-Rotary Park. They’ll soon become just one. On Sunday, the Scout Cafe closed shop, so that its owners can expand the fast-growing Honor Bar into both spaces.

Popular as it was, the Scout Cafe was hampering the potential of the Honor Bar, Alan Davis told me.

“The cafe was great but the honor bar is the driving force,” he said.

The couple will take the downstairs space that used to house the cafe for additional Honor Bar seating, bringing total capacity up from 30 to about 50. During summer months, a garden out back can grow it even more.

Davis said they’ll put in a draft beer system downstairs and make the old espresso bar into a cooking exhibition area, something he once had while a chef at Queen City Grill in Seattle.

Davis called the Scout closure and Honor Bar expansion bittersweet, but said it would give him a chance to enhance and grow the Honor Bar menu, something he’s really looking forward to. Look for more variety, on top of already popular items like the bar’s oysters and ribeye steaks.

I expressed concern about the biscuits (Scout Cafe always had the most delicious buttermilk biscuits). Davis reassured me that they’re likely to show up on the Honor Bar menu in the form of Strawberry Shortcake, and the like. So I feel better now. They’ll also continue carrying Stumptown Coffee — you just won’t be able to drink it until 3 p.m. once the new space opens.

The Honor Bar will remain open Wednesday to Saturday from 5-11 p.m. while construction occurs. The revamped bar will be ready to go April 22, in time for the farmers market season, Davis said.

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Barber putting ‘Bremerton on the map the right way’

josh farley

Joshua Adams cuts Jonathan Mendoza’s hair.

A haircut’s not the only thing you’ll get at Joshua Adams’ barbershop on ML King Way in Bremerton. As it is in any respectable barbershop, there’s plenty of banter, good conversation and free advice.

“They come in here and spill their whole life story sometimes,” said Adams of Jae’s Barbershop. “When they leave here they feel better.”

But the bottom line, Adams will tell you, is that it’s all about the haircut. And you’d be hard pressed to find someone more enthusiastic about cutting hair than the 2006 Bremerton High School grad.

“Cutting hair changed my life,” he said.

He started out by going to Olympic College and taking with him a backpack full of clippers. As he grew his clientele, he turned his apartment in Erlands Point into a barbershop. Slowly but surely, Adams, trained at Bates College in Tacoma, got ready to get a bonafide shop.

For that, he turned to Emmanuel Apostolic Church, the church he grew up in, and its Opal Robertson Teen Center property. He’s mindful that in being there it is a Christian barbershop but above all, he strives for a welcoming place for a haircut and conversation.

“We’re not here to preach the word to you but we are barbers and we’re here to help,” he said.

Bishop Larry Robertson, pastor at Emmanuel Apostolic Church, said Adams is highly motivated to grow his business but also has a “kind heart” for the community.

“The thing about Josh is that he has a tremendous amount of drive,” Robertson said. “But he also knows that in order to be successful, you’ve got to be able to give back.”

Adams, who also has started a production company, held a fundraiser Friday at the Eagles on Sixth Street to raise money for back to school backpacks (he’s getting a jumpstart for next year). He’s also held several events that have given free haircuts to the homeless.

He lives by the motto: “Do it, dream it, wish it,” he said.

“We’re gonna put Bremerton on the map the right way,” he added.

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Restaurant going swimmingly as Anthony’s manager departs

josh farley

The Anthony’s restaurant in downtown Bremerton was one of those “pieces” to that revitalization puzzle former Mayor Cary Bozeman told us so much about this past decade. Now nine years after it opened, few can dispute it is one of the most successful aspects of redevelopment here, as evidenced by the throngs of visitors there most nights and weekends.

John Heidt (pictured) has gotten to watch it progress from within. He’s been general manager for its entire nine year history, but he’ll soon retire and hand over the reigns to someone else.

“I’m confident it will continue to do very well,” he said in a recent interview at the restaurant.

The Bremerton Anthony’s was successful from the start, he said, though it had its struggles through the Great Recession like most businesses. In 2014, the dip the recession had caused was finally in the rearview mirror, with sales back up to 2007 levels. In fact, Heidt said, 2014 was the best year ever for the location.

The waterfront is a different place than it was nine years ago, he said. He recalls, in 2006, that it was “just the conference center, Hampton Inn, and us.” Today, there’s a lot more going on downtown, where he both lives and works.

“It has completely changed,” he said. “It’s starting to come alive.”

Heidt has been with the company a long time. He got his first job as a server and bartender with Anthony’s in Everett in 1990. He rose through the ranks and found himself as general manager of the Point Defiance Anthony’s in 2005 when the opportunity to open a brand new restaurant came.

He’s enjoyed the Bremerton community, particularly his membership in the downtown Rotary.

“There’s a lot of great leaders in this community,” he said.

Heidt and his wife, Babsie, will soon leave for The Philippines, where they’ll live in retirement. He said he’ll miss Anthony’s, a restaurant group where many employees have careers there as lengthy as his. Depending on the time of year, the Sinclair Inlet location where Heidt works has a staff between 50 and 75.

“It’s like a big family,” he said.

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