Just an FYI that the fence around the vacant lot on Federal and Republican was removed yesterday. It would be nice if we could mow the grass and make this a nice little dog park until the actual park is built

Ask CHS readers what type of business Capitol Hill is missing and a hardware store is sure to be mentioned. Pacific Supply Co., located on 12th Avenue in Pike/Pine since 1995, wants to be the neighborhood-focused hardware store which some have said the Hill is lacking.

Pacific’s management is seeking to expand its product inventory to cater to the increasing residential population of Pike/Pine. The amount of walk-in traffic from homeowners doing basic repair work has increased dramatically, and homeowners are comprising a greater portion of Pacific’s customers than ever before, co-owner Michael Go said.

Pacific Supply was founded nearly 40 years ago in Queen Anne with a clientele consisting primarily of apartment buildings managers in need of off-white shades of wall paint, a doorknob, or perhaps basic plumbing. The store later relocated to Capitol Hill on Belmont Avenue East in the building currently occupied by Half-Price Books. In 1995, Pacific Supply set up shop at its current location at 1417 12th Avenue in a building constructed in 1920 as an auto showroom and repair facility.  The building is currently owned by local developer Liz Dunn.

Before and After

 Go, who has owned a stake in the store since 1986, said that as the neighborhood has changed in recent years, so too has the store’s range of customers.  “Before, it was a more male-oriented store, more construction workers and contractors,” Go said.  “It’s more diverse now.  There are people walking in now that weren’t here when we moved in.”

Go and store manager John Bowden are working to broaden the range of products available at Pacific Supply to keep up with the changes in clientele.  “For the last five years, we’ve steadily been trying to add to our product mix so we can still service apartments up here but also service homeowners,” Bowden said.  Recent additions to the store’s inventory include a broader range of paint colors, Oxo brand kitchen supplies, and a selection of nuts and bolts that extends for more than 20 feet.

Despite their efforts to promote Pacific Supply, they are surprised by how many neighbors are unfamiliar with the store.  “Every day we’re getting people walking in saying, ‘We didn’t even know you were here,” Bowden said.  Moving forward, they plan to continue modifying the store’s products to better accommodate changing demands in the neighborhood, and they invite customers to make suggestions.  “We need [customers’] input,” Bowden said, “because we’re not here for us. We’re here for them.”  However, even as the store continues to change with the times, Go and Bowden said the store’s primary focus will remain on hardware.

Go and Bowden said that the store’s nearest competitors are the Lowe’s in Mount Baker and the City Hardware in South Lake Union.  However, they admitted that there may be room in Capitol Hill for a second hardware-focused store, though its success would be far from guaranteed.  Recently, CHS covered the efforts by Essex Property Trust to bring a hardware store its mixed-use Joule development on Broadway between East Republican Street and East Mercer Street. Essex Property’s Bruce Knoblock said that hardware stores would be unlikely to afford the rents sought at Joule.

 “There’s a reason there’s not a lot of little hardware stores,” Bowden said.  “It’s the cost of renting space, the gross margins are lower, the cost of employees is expensive, and [predicting] the number of sales they would accurately do makes it hard to do business.”  However, he added that he is certain that every major hardware store chain has entertained the possibility of opening a store in Capitol Hill.

In fact, Go said that he himself even considered affiliating Pacific Supply with a national chain, as City Hardware did with Ace.  “We looked into going with Ace or True Value, but it required putting a giant sign over your building façade,” Go said.  Remaining independent also allows Pacific Supply to assert greater flexibility in determining its pricing than affiliating with a chain would have allowed. Bowden added, “You lose your identity as a small neighborhood store.”

CHS spoke with representatives of True Value about the factors that influence the company’s consideration of new locations.  Director of business development Eric Lane said that while True Value’s primary focus is on suburban and small town markets, the company does consider urban locations on a market-by-market basis.  And, while True Value receives hundreds of calls annually about potential opportunities, the company’s decision is influenced by a set of general requirements.  In an existing building, the company requires 10,000 to 20,000 square-foot or larger spaces which can be subdivided to meet the store’s needs.  Lane said True Value would also consider locating in an existing shopping complex with a strong anchor and/or a junior anchor tenants such as a grocery store, pharmacy, or auto parts store. The company is also open to locating in free-standing buildings or on undeveloped land, though such locations might not be ideal in an urban setting like Capitol Hill.

“If there is a perfect site (provided by a real estate developer) in the Seattle area or anywhere across the country for that matter, and a qualified investor, True Value would certainly be willing to open a store in the Seattle market and even offer incentives to assist the qualified entrepreneur/investor,” Lane said.

Pacific Supply is open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 6 pm, Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 10 am to 5 pm. You can find out more — and see a groovy zoomable display of all the nuts and bolts they offer — at http://www.pacsupply.com/

Actually, we rounded up. Donald Harris, acquisition manager for Seattle Parks, tells CHS that the acquisition of 12,000 square feet of empty land at the corner of Federal and Republican has cost the city $1.975 million. That’s $164.58 per square foot. That’s just under the median price per square foot you’ll pay for a single family home in Seattle — though a bargain compared to Capitol Hill averages. No homes in this deal though. And that’s partly why the price was higher than expected for the city.

Parks planners had said they expected to spend about $1.3 million on the acquisition. Harris says the investment group’s plans to create another townhome project for the space drove the 52% increase in cost compared to the original projections.

The Parks Departmentannounced they had arrived at a deal for the land in early June after a protracted negotiation with the investment group that purchased the lots following a failed attempt to develop a townhome project. While it might not seem entirely logical for the department to be acquiring more land for parks when it is struggling to maintain the green spaces we already have in Seattle, the acquisition budget is powered by the parks levies voters have — so far — continued to approve.

As for what comes next, to give you some sense of the timeline, the first public presentation of design concepts for the Summit and John park happened in spring 2008. If construction schedules hold, that park will be completed this fall. Given that, we’ll meet you in FedRep Park in spring 2013.

The Hill can be a little lonely on the 4th of July. Many are out of town. Many others are starting detox regimens as part of Pride hangover recovery. But for those of you sticking around and with strong constitutions, surf’s up at Neumos Friday night. Celebrate America. Celebrate freedom and free parties and free… inflatable blow up things. There’s also Saturday’s community picnic in Cal Anderson Park, patriot.

Fri.Jul.02.10 NEUMOS FREE BEACH PARTY 2010 with FRESH ESPRESSO
Neumos Presents: NEUMOS FREE BEACH PARTY 2010 with FRESH ESPRESSO, Four Color Zack, DJ Sean Cee :: Doors at 9 pm :: FREE !! :: 21+ :: Competitions in: hoola hoop, sexy swim suits, flip cup, beer pong, corn hole, double dutch. Literally hundreds of beach balls, tiki torches, fake ray bans, jello shots, babes and boys in bikinis, prizes, block party tickets, tickets to neumos shows, tickets to hawaii, palm tress, chia pets, skateboards, body butter, tropical photo booth, drink specials, surf boards, sweaty dance parties, wet and wild make up counter, turf, baby pools, out door games, nerf ball, lots of blow up things, sailor jerry pirate bar… and you.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is out with a video simulation of what the Broadway streetcar route will look like when service begins in 2013 — if, as Seattle Transit Blog notes, the Capitol Hill Community Council’s Complete Streetcar Campaign’s vision for the segment is realized.

We’ve embedded the Slog’s generously uploaded version of the video here so as not to clog up teh Internets with the download from the city and then another upload of the same file. Note to SDOT: Put it on YouTube on your own next time.

In the simulation, you can see the pedestrian and bike features championed by the campaign — the “cycle track” is the double-lane green path that follows the streetcar route across Capitol Hill. However, you won’t see another campaign plank in the simulation — not surprisingly given how much study is still needed, but there’s no sign of a north extension to Aloha in the movie.

SDOT has also posted station ‘visualization’ PDFs to their streetcar site. We’ve included the Broadway at Pike station visualization on this post.

Does anyone have any guidence on tipping professional movers?  I am already paying them $90/hr and someone told me I needed to tip them too!  What is the ettiquette?  Thanks!

Phil Wright said it was a blow to the business that Bliss Soaps just couldn’t overcome. This fall’s $20,000 dispute over a soap business deal gone bad set a series of financial hurdles in place that make continuing Bliss at its 619 Broadway E location impossible, according to Wright.

Proprietor Originally uploaded by sea turtle

Today, the windows of the shop area already papered over and, inside, Wright is working to pack away years of small business detritus. Wright said he and co-owner Chuck Sapronetti had no choice but to shut Bliss down even though he says the business was successful in its arbitration following this fall’s financial dispute. “Business was fine,” Wright tells CHS. “Chase [Bank] closed our account just before Thanksgiving. They re-opened it and then closed it again. We ended up with no inventory. We had no choice.”

The closure marks another small, quirky, possibly not always well-run but interesting business leaving north Broadway. Earlier, we reported on Harem getting booted by a landlord and the Museum of the Mysteries has been scooted along by the success of (CHS advertiser) Metrix: Create. Yeah, even the Yeti is gone.

Wright said he told his landlord — who Wright said has been “very, very good to the business” — that Bliss just shouldn’t go on. Wright said he needs to get the financial side of things cleared up before continuing business.

He hasn’t given up on Broadway. “I have no clue what I’ll do next. Keep checking the web site and hopefully we’ll be back on Broadway,” Wright said. “I won’t open if we can’t be on Broadway. Or at least on the Hill.”

Thanks to Leedale and Sea Turtle for the tips that the shop had put the butcher paper up confirming rumors we started hearing earlier this month.

Does anybody know what is going on with Bliss Soaps on Broadway ?  Are they closing up or are they moving ?

We told you earlier this week about Saturday’s Capitol Hill Independence Day community picnic in Cal Anderson Park. Here is an opportunity to be part of the celebration in an even bigger way. The picnic needs your help. Below, find a note we received from the Cal Anderson Park Alliance’s Kay Rood:

We need a volunteer, hopefully someone with experience, to manage the CAPA-sponsored Root Beer Garden at the 8th Annual Independence Day Picnic, Saturday, July 3, 2010.

This person would coordinate 8-10 volunteers over a 5-hour period, Noon – 5 PM. The Garden is sponsored by CAPA. We hope to be scooping several hundred free root beer floats over the afternoon, with a couple of different root beer brands and Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream. It’s a ton of fun and makes everybody very happy.

The person would need to arrive at 11:20 AM for check-in and to help set up the tables, linens, cups and ice tubs, all of which will be supplied. (We could use a couple of ice cream scoops.) The volunteers are all signed up, we just need a volunteer to run the stand in an efficient, friendly way. All the root beer you can drink!

  Volunteers should contact CAPA at [email protected].