Tag Archives: north kitsap

Suquamish Tribe completes casino expansion

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0143.JPG

The Suquamish Tribe put finishing touches this summer on a three-year expansion and renovation of Clearwater Casino Resort. 

Mark Lindquist Campaign KickoffThe project launched in 2013 when lead contractor Korsmo Construction began work on a 700-stall parking garage attached to the casino.

Additional phases included the creation of a 98-room hotel tower, a fine dining restaurant and café, three commercial kitchens, a sports bar and lounge, a renovated buffet and service area, 3,500 square feet of  non-smoking gaming space, and improvements to the existing gambling floor where people will continue to bet in the ncaa tournament but this time around they will have more options!

Construction wrapped up at the end of August with the upgrades to the main entrance, according to a news release from Korsmo. Work finished a month ahead of schedule.

Application filed for Poulsbo storage facility

poulsbo.self.storage

A self storage company is moving ahead with plans for a four-story facility near Safeway in Poulsbo.

self.storageSite plan and critical area permit applications were filed for a 90,000-square-foot facility to be constructed on 2.55 acres at the southwest corner of Lincoln Road and 10th Avenue, according to a notice published this month by the city.

The hillside site is situated just east of Highway 305 and south of Safeway.

Two floors of the building would be above ground on the east (uphill side of the property), with two stories below ground.

All four stories would be above ground on the west (downhill) side.

Customers would access the facility from Lincoln Road and 10th Avenue.

A 100-foot buffer would protect the south fork of Dogfish Creek on the southwest corner of the property.

The applicant is Urban Self Storage of Seattle, which also operates facilities near Keyport and on Bainbridge Island. A subsidiary of Urban Self Storage bought the Poulsbo property from Union Bank in 2014 for $545,000, according to county documents.

Building rendering by Jackson | Main Architecture, via the city of Poulsbo.

NOA PoulsboHeatedStorage by Tad Sooter on Scribd

Local food market adding Kingston location

kitsapfreshlogoKitsap Fresh is adding a Kingston location, just in time for the fall harvest.

The local food co-op, which allows members to order online from local farms and pickup produce from a central distribution hub, will celebrate the launch of a new pickup site at Downpour Brewing in Kingston from 4-7 p.m. on Sept. 28.

Prospective members can learn more about Kitsap Fresh at the event, which will also feature live music and specials on beer growlers.

Kingston is the third location for Kitsap Fresh, which also has pickup spots in Poulsbo and Bremerton. More are planned. 

Downpour is located at 10991 NE State Hwy 104, next to The Cup & Muffin.

Stalled Poulsbo apartment project may be moving again

It’s been a few years since we’ve had any news to report on the Edward Rose project, a massive residential development planned for the corner of Highway 305 and Bond Road in Poulsbo.

0630_LOC_RoseDevelopment_KS copy
Kitsap Sun file art | Click to enlarge

That changed this Thursday, as the city announced pre-application materials had been filed for the development, which would create 552 apartment units, 160-units of senior housing, a commercial plaza, and 34 acres of landscaping and open space, spread across 57 acres.

Access would be from Bond Road and Highway 305, with a connection to Vetter Road also planned.

A pre-application meeting is scheduled for Oct. 4. The pre-application process allows developers to informally discuss plans with city staff because filing a land use application.

A master plan for Edward Rose was approved in 2011, but the project never broke ground.

Edward Rose & Sons is a development company based in Michigan.

Fifth marijuana grow approved in North Kitsap; retailer relocating

The state approved a fifth marijuana grow in North Kitsap this week.

The Liquor and Cannabis Board issued licenses to recreational marijuana producer and processor Americanna Naturals on Tuesday. The company will be located at 26420 Pioneer Way NW, near Twelve Trees Business Park.

Americanna Naturals is the 15th producer/processor licensed in the county. A grow was approved in Kingston just last week.

In other marijuana business news, a retail store that had been licensed in Port Orchard has successfully changed its location to East Bremerton.

Fillabong, which also operates a shop in Silverdale, was originally approved for 4978 Mile Hill Drive. The store will now be located at 3249 Perry Ave.

Here’s an updated map of marijuana business licenses in Kitsap:

New owner plans relaunch for popular Suquamish pizzeria

bella.luna.sunrise (1)
Sunrise from a table at Bella Luna

A new owner plans to relaunch Suquamish’s Bella Luna Pizzeria this month, rebranding the waterfront restaurant as Scratch Kitchen.

Lisa Hunt Ledbetter, who served as manager of Bella Luna for a year and a half, bought the business from former owners Bob and Kari Rowden in June.

In a farewell post on Facebook, the Rowdens thanked patrons for their support over 17 years, adding that “it’s been one hell of a ride.”

103_34621-300x277Hunt Ledbetter said she hopes to broaden the appeal of the restaurant, but her Scratch Kitchen won’t start entirely from scratch.

Fans of Bella Luna’s pizza will be comforted to know the pizza recipes will remain intact.

Scratch Kitchen will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. The eatery will have an Internet café vibe in the morning, with coffee, fresh baked goods, Wi-Fi, and perhaps a new seating area in the back room.

Hunt Ledbetter plans to expand the breakfast and lunch menus with more pasta recipes. Scratch Kitchen, as the name suggests, will emphasize locally-sourced produce and dishes made from whole ingredients, complemented by a selection of local beers (and kombucha.)

Hunt Ledbetter said she is a little nervous making changes to a restaurant that already has a strong following, but she believes Suquamish will embrace a fresh concept.

“I feel like in smaller communities, like the one we live in, people love something new,” she said.  “… I’m only going to expand on what Bob had, and keep it going.”

Work on a light remodel will begin this weekend. Hunt Ledbetter said the makeover will include new floors, new paint inside and out, and a revamp of the back room used for trivia nights and live music.

The restaurant should remain open throughout the project. Scratch Kitchen is tentatively scheduled to debut Sept. 12.

Check out the Bella Luna page on Facebook for updates.

Marijuana grow approved in Kingston

The state approved a fourth recreational marijuana grow for North Kitsap this week.

Producer and processor Greenleaf Growers will be located in a business park at 26178 United Road, off Bond Road, according to Liquor and Cannabis Board records.

Greenleaf is the 14th producer/processor licensed in the county.

Here’s my new and improved map of licensed marijuana businesses in the county (zoom in to see individual locations):

Kingston-based CB’s Nuts featured in WSJ

cbnuts3_18377479_ver1.0_640_480A simple business strategy landed CB’s Nuts in the pages of The Wall Street Journal.

The Kingston-based company’s peanut butter was featured in art accompanying a story about food makers marketing products that incorporate a small number of ingredients.

It’s hard to get simpler than CB’s Nuts peanut butter, which uses just one ingredient. (Spoiler alert: It’s peanuts.)

“That’s part of the beauty of our products,” said CB’s Nuts President Tami Bowen told me during a recent interview. “They’re really simple, they’re low input, they’re fresh, they’re clean, so they have a really broad appeal.”

cbnuts2_18377478_ver1.0_640_480Much, much larger corporations are adopting a similar philosophy, according to the WSJ’s Anne Marie Chaker.

Industry juggernauts Hershey Co., ConAgra and General Mills are all pushing products with fewer additives, and using slimmed-down ingredients lists as a marketing tool.

“Instead of burying ingredient lists in the fine print on the back of the package, food manufacturers are trumpeting simpler formulas prominently on the label’s front,” Chaker writes. Read the full story here.

In other CB’s Nuts news, you may have noticed a Northwest-themed mural painted on a storage container outside the company’s Bond Road headquarters.

Malolo Design (also based in Kingston) posted a cool time-lapse video showing the creation of the mural earlier this year:

Whiskey Creek Steak House closes; pizzeria coming

whiskey.creekwhiskey.creek.signWhiskey Creek Steak House, a Keyport restaurant that experienced a brief and ill-fated brush with reality TV fame in 2012, has shut down for good.

A sign on the front door says the steakhouse closed Aug. 5, “to give the new owners time to make changes on the building to start their new adventure.”

That adventure, according the sign, will be a restaurant called Trendy’s Pizzeria, described as “an authentic East Coast eatery.”

Whiskey Creek had been in business since the 1990s and gained national exposure in 2012 when it received a makeover from Food Network program “Restaurant: Impossible:”

The TV show crew stripped Whiskey Creek of its kitschy Old West interior and nixed popular menu items.

The owners came to regret changes made by “Restaurant: Impossible.” They moved the restaurant to a larger space across the highway in 2013 and later turned the business over to employees.

Whiskey Creek closed without fanfare last week. It’s website and social media pages are already offline.

I’m hoping to get in touch with owners of Trendy’s to learn more about their plans.

Starbucks, Sherwin Williams stores approved in Poulsbo

rpi retailPoulsbo has approved plans for a retail complex that will house a Starbucks coffee shop and Sherwin-Williams paint store.

The stores will be constructed on a parcel directly north of CVS, off the intersection of Highway 305 and Hostmark Street (see inset image).

Starbucks will get a 2,000-square-foot shop with drive through. Sherwin-Williams will occupy a 4,000-square-foot space.

The Poulsbo planning director approved the project Aug. 1, according to a notice published by the city.

The applicant is PacLand-Seattle, which initially submitted plans for a coffee shop and restaurant on the site.

CVS sold the 1-acre parcel to Seattle-based RPI Poulsbo LLC. at the end of June for $1.175 million, according to county documents.

Sherwin Williams already signed a 10-year lease agreement with RPI Poulsbo, with a projected start date of May 2017.

I included a little more context in my original post on this project.