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Posts published in “Day: April 17, 2009”

Bremerton v Seattle

April 17, 2009
bozeman

Cary Bozeman

Was in Bremerton last night, having dinner with a friend at Anthony's, which is right on the waterfront. A great view from there, but getting to Anthony's wasn't easy: Strategic parts of downtown Bremerton seem to be torn up to street repair, and there's a very concrete feel to a lot of what ought to be one of the city's major attractions.

And there's the matter of mediocre road signage in the Bremerton area, but we'll let that go.

Given that, Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman's recent hashing of Seattle's waterfront, and his recommendation that others do as Bremerton has done . . . well . . .

MORE ON BOZEMAN All right, this may have been a little unfair, because Bozeman has been something of a dynamo at Bremerton (probably more, in context, than Greg Nickels at Seattle). Tom Menzel, who lives not far from Bremerton (thursday night's dinner partner) offers this thought:

By the way, I meant to mention a political superstar who hangs around in Bremerton -- Mayor Cary Bozeman. This guy has been kicking ass and taking names in Bremerton for several years now. He is boldly taking a crappy town with no identity or direction into the 21st century. The guy is amazing. Everything you saw on the waterfront was due to his hard work and persistence. I wish you could have seen that area 5 or 6 years ago. It was a horrible disaster. Nearly all retail left downtown years ago for the mongo mall in Silverdale, leaving downtown in wretched shape. Since I had such a great experience working on downtown Boise redevelopment years ago, I have a real affinity for this guy.

Seattle, the cheaper alternative to Tacoma?

April 17, 2009

Any time a local paper reaches the conclusion that an important local business is likely to move away, that falls into man-bites-dog territory. But there's another bit more remarkable yet in today's story by Tacoma News Tribune reporter Dan Voelpel on the strategic planning, and potential move, of Tacoma's Russell Investments.

Russell is an unusual, maybe one of a kind thing in the Northwest - an investment company that is also a big employer, a direct major force in a local city's economy: Its employment base was 1,100 just at Tacoma, and it has offices around the globe. Note the "was", because the macro economy has led to scalebacks here too, by about 200 employees, a real hit at Tacoma.

But there could be more. Voelpel looked at the physical space and growth (or contraction) considerations Russell will have to be dealing with in the next few years, especially in the period right around 2013. Once-discussed plans for a Tacoma Russell tower probably have evaporated. But there was also this:

"In Seattle today, you can find a glut of vacant office space that could suit Russell’s needs and cost far less than paying the lease on a newly constructed office building. Most prominent of Seattle’s buildings? The former WaMu Center, a 55-story, 1.1 million-square-foot behemoth that became available with the demise of Washington Mutual Bank last year."