Christopher sent this photo of the vacant house on the northeast corner of NW 85th St. and 6th Ave. NW. being torn down today.
The house, at 358 NW 85th St., had been a constant source of frustration for the neighbors, according to Christopher.
The house has been unoccupied for years and was a constant target for graffiti and break-ins. And firefighters have been called to the house twice in the last eight months (most recently just last week).
17 responses so far ↓
1 Womble // Aug 18, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Now if only “Checkers” could be demolished….
2 Bella // Aug 19, 2009 at 7:00 am
And a couple of the other falling down vacant houses before they get set on fire….
3 Womble // Aug 19, 2009 at 7:17 am
the one on the south corner of Sandel Park should be top of the list
4 Iron City Mike // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:34 am
Seattle has a Checkers???
5 Iron City Mike // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:35 am
Seriously – who owns these vacant houses? The city? The banks that assumed them in a foreclosure? Absentee slumlords? And who is paying for the demolition?
6 GreenwoodGal // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:37 am
“Checkers” = nickname for Building in the NW corner of 85th and 3rd.
But some of us still refer to it as “our northwest hearts go out to all of you forever”
Glad this building is being torn down
7 Iron City Mike // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:54 am
Hmmm just curious – so did the “Checkers” building used to be an actual Checkers fast-food franchise? I understand there is a building on 85th that used to be a Pizza Hut as well.
8 GreenwoodGal // Aug 19, 2009 at 11:11 am
The Checkers nickname came from the white and red squares on the sides of the building. I believe those appeared when the building was spruced up after 9-11-01. The “our NW hearts” etc was emblazoned on a sign in the SE corner of the building
Prior to that, it used to be a music / dancing club.
The Ex-Pizza hut was at 85th and 1st NW, SW corner.
9 Jill // Aug 19, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I work on this block at 145 NW 85th St, I am a massage therapist. I call this block the “block of shame”. No one loves it, and it is a sad reflection on our neighborhood. The flipside: be careful what you wish for. Gentrification will come to this block soon enough and then I will be priced out of my office. I hope not.
10 ballardmike // Aug 19, 2009 at 1:48 pm
RE: Checkers building… it was the G-Spot years ago. An old nightclub from the olden days. Been there long as I can remember having grown up in the area. The checker pattern was a lame attempt at sprucing it up about 10 yrs. ago.
11 Womble // Aug 19, 2009 at 4:02 pm
and now Checkers just sits empty, UGLY, and sad. Bring on the wrecking ball
12 Iron City Mike // Aug 19, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I say replace it with one of these:
http://www.checkers.com/
13 JW // Aug 19, 2009 at 4:29 pm
What, replace Checkers with a cookie cutter feel reminiscent of the lifeless forms a lot of the places now popping up in Freemont? I kind of like the offbeat feel of Greenwood… even though the late night base thumping coming from that place made it hard to sleep sometimes.
14 Philanthus // Aug 19, 2009 at 10:05 pm
You can find out what’s going on with any property here:
http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/default.aspx
Note that the dates seem to note the initiation of an action, not the end of it. When I looked last week, none of the demolition entries for 358 nw 85th had a permit issued status, which matches what the owner (Si Ith) told me when I ran into him the day after the fire. He said he’s been pushing to get it dealt with, because he plans to live and have an office on that property, but (paraphrased) unless you’re a huge development company, DPT won’t give you the time of day.
15 Northa85th // Aug 20, 2009 at 9:21 am
“Phil,”
That demolition permit is years old. DPD’s page for the property reads: “Open: *Permit Issued*, DEMOLITION Demolish existing single family residence per subject to field inspection.” The field inspection happened before the issuance (see next line on page). Once it’s issued, the property owner can go to town. I imagine financing or something else on the owner’s side fell through. If anything, the City’s been on the owner’s backside to either raze or rehab the property. Under the relatively new vacant property and graffiti nuisance codes, he’s been in violation off and on for the last two years resulting in numerous citations.
And . . . I’d disagree strongly with the characterization of DPD. They’ve always been responsive when working with me, either on the permit or enforcement side.
16 Philanthus // Aug 20, 2009 at 3:17 pm
You missed this part:
“When I looked last week, none of the demolition entries for 358 nw 85th had a permit issued status”
And this part:
“Note that the dates seem to note the initiation of an action, not the end of it.”
It’s possible that I missed something when I looked last week, but I don’t think so, since that’s what I was explicitly looking for.
As for DPD, I have no idea; just passing on roughly what the owner told me.
17 Tahomajim // Aug 23, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Ballardmike, It was not the G-Spot….. it was the G-Note.
Do you have a G-Spot?
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