Popular West Seattle restaurant could have a date with a bulldozer
WEST SEATTLE - A West Seattle restaurant that's been in business for 17 years might have a meeting with a bulldozer.
Quite a few people are concerned about what will take its place, and there's an effort now to keep the Charlestown Street Cafe up and running.
A sign of the times in West Seattle reads "available" on "in-demand" buildings or screams out in bright yellow city notices about changing businesses.
They're out in front of Charlestown Street Cafe. It's planned to close, possibly replaced by a Petco store.
Janelle Luvgren has been a customer at the cafe for years. "Maybe that is evolution, but there's some of it we should save, this is one of them," she says.
The cafe collected awards for clam chowder, and hundreds of regulars like Eda Anthony through its 17 years. "Naturally the owner wants to make money, but there should be a compromise," Anthony said.
Compromise or not with the land owner, restaurant owner Larry Mellum, says West Seattle doesn't need another franchise business.
"Putting a large big box retail store such as Petco in this spot doesn't make sense," Mellum said. "It doesn't make a difference if my business is the one being bulldozed down or not."
He hopes nearly 4,000 signatures grows a grass-roots effort to stop any bulldozing.
"The city council can stop the project, the mayor's office can stop the project," he says.
Mellum says it might be another year before they're forced out with nowhere else for the cafe to go in West Seattle. If they can't stop the neighborhood restaurant from meeting the wrecking ball, it'd be an evolution others have seen before.
"We went to one restaurant occasionally. It's now a bank," Anthony said.
The restaurant owner says if things end up the worst and their business gets kicked out, they'll stay until demolition starts. Petco officials say they have not entered into a formal agreement for that site, and therefore cannot comment.
Quite a few people are concerned about what will take its place, and there's an effort now to keep the Charlestown Street Cafe up and running.
A sign of the times in West Seattle reads "available" on "in-demand" buildings or screams out in bright yellow city notices about changing businesses.
They're out in front of Charlestown Street Cafe. It's planned to close, possibly replaced by a Petco store.
Janelle Luvgren has been a customer at the cafe for years. "Maybe that is evolution, but there's some of it we should save, this is one of them," she says.
The cafe collected awards for clam chowder, and hundreds of regulars like Eda Anthony through its 17 years. "Naturally the owner wants to make money, but there should be a compromise," Anthony said.
Compromise or not with the land owner, restaurant owner Larry Mellum, says West Seattle doesn't need another franchise business.
"Putting a large big box retail store such as Petco in this spot doesn't make sense," Mellum said. "It doesn't make a difference if my business is the one being bulldozed down or not."
He hopes nearly 4,000 signatures grows a grass-roots effort to stop any bulldozing.
"The city council can stop the project, the mayor's office can stop the project," he says.
Mellum says it might be another year before they're forced out with nowhere else for the cafe to go in West Seattle. If they can't stop the neighborhood restaurant from meeting the wrecking ball, it'd be an evolution others have seen before.
"We went to one restaurant occasionally. It's now a bank," Anthony said.
The restaurant owner says if things end up the worst and their business gets kicked out, they'll stay until demolition starts. Petco officials say they have not entered into a formal agreement for that site, and therefore cannot comment.