Ethan Stowell Returns Downtown, Affordable Housing & More News

The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today

By Jaclyn Norton March 27, 2015

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Ethan Stowell Returns Downtown. Five years after Seattle restaurateur Ethan Stowell left the downtown-core, he is back with a new restaurant set to open this May. The new spot will open inside the Four Seasons Hotel on First and Union, taking the place of Art Restaurant and Lounge, The Puget Sound Business Journal said. This incidentally is directly across the street from where his old restaurant, Union, used to be. Stowell told PSBJ we can expect Northwest-inspired fare, and likely a menu well represented by Pike Place-sourced ingredients. 

Affordable Housing By The Numbers. Mayor Ed Murray has “aggressive” goals towards increasing affordable housing in Seattle, and his announcement Thursday will certainly help achieve them. The Mayor said he plans to create 50,000 new housing units around Seattle in the next decade, 20,000 of which will be income restricted,The Capitol Hill Blog said. These low-income units will be reserved for families and individuals making 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) and below, with the remaining 30,000 units priced at market rate. The Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory Committee is set to come up with policy proposals for this project by May.

Filmless in Seattle. Despite all the big-screen attention Seattle’s received lately, it’s not an easy place for filmmakers to shoot a movie. Washington’s incentive program fund for filmmaking is currently $3.5 million, which is easily exhausted in the film industry. Film Director Lynn Shelton told The Stranger she pitched – and was accepted – a several million dollar budget series to be set in Seattle, but with the incentive cap, she has to move filming to Vancouver, B.C. “If the incentive is not there, we have to shoot elsewhere,” Shelton said. 

Busy Traffic Weekend. After a traffic-filled week, we are heading into an equally busy weekend on our state routes. For a quick recap, two lanes on SR 99 northbound and one lane SR 99 southbound will close from 7 p.m. tonight through 5 a.m. Monday. On Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. two lanes on SR 99 Aurora bridge will be closed. And Saturday and Sunday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed for inspection from Spokane Street to the Battery Street Tunnel. For more traffic-related news, check WSDOT for full details. 

 

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