Little Hollywood: Downtown Olympia Building Demolition Scheduled

About The Name

People ask me all the time about the name of my blog, Little Hollywood. Little Hollywood was the name of the shantytown down along the shores of what is now Capitol Lake, a place where some lively characters of Olympia lived. It was our "Hooverville" from the 1920s through the early 1950s. Well, as we know, our area has a lot of interesting, talented, educated characters, and the point of this blog is to help shine the light on some of our "stars" that might not ordinarily be heard through corporate media outlets. So, the name has a double meaning. And since it's my blog, it's Janine's Little Hollywood. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Downtown Olympia Building Demolition Scheduled

Above: City demolition has begun of the former GHB Insurance office building and the Little Da Nang Restaurant, seen here, on the corner of 4th and Water Street in downtown Olympia. The building is adjacent to the popular Heritage Fountain. Photo taken December 5, 2015.

Draft City Parks Plan Deadline For Public Comment on Friday

By Janine Gates

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

The fences are up, the equipment is in place, and building demolition has begun on the southwest corner of 4th and Water Street in downtown Olympia across from Percival Landing.

The buildings housed the former GHB Insurance business and Little Da Nang Restaurant. The city cleared vacant buildings on two acres of the west part of the isthmus in late November.

“The Heritage Fountain was envisioned to encompass the entire block, so the city acquired these two sites as they became available,” Kip Summers, City of Olympia’s Parks, Arts and Recreation project manager told Little Hollywood on Wednesday.

“The city purchased the GHB Insurance site in 1997, which was the same time it purchased the properties that are now Heritage Fountain. The city purchased the Little Da Nang restaurant site in 2007,” he said.

“The intent was to continue renting the buildings until major repairs were needed. That time has come and the buildings were in need of new roofs, heating systems, and other miscellaneous repairs. Therefore, we decided it best to remove the buildings, rather than invest money into structures that are ultimately slated for demolition,” said Summers.

Building demolition is expected to take two weeks.

The next development for the site is still in question. The site is part of the City’s Community Renewal Area (CRA) Water Street Redevelopment Request for Proposals. That request is on the city’s website at http://olympiawa.gov/city-government/rfp-and-rfq.aspx

For more information about the project, contact Kip Summers, City of Olympia, (360) 570-5834 or ksummers@ci.olympia.wa.us

Above: Demolition equipment appeared to be ready on Saturday to take down the vacant, nine story Mistake on the Lake, also known as the Capitol Center Building in downtown Olympia. Equipment was instead ready to demolish the buildings on the corner of 4th and Water Street.

Park Plan Public Comment Deadline

The public comment deadline for the city’s 2016 draft Parks, Arts, and Recreation plan is Friday, Dec 11th at 5:00 p.m. The Plan is available at www.olympiawa.gov/parksplan.

Public comments can be made in the following ways: e-mail comments to jturlove@ci.olympia.wa.us or olympiaparks@ci.olympia.wa.us or at www.olyspeaks.org.

The Parks, Arts and Recreation Plan provides a 20-year vision for parks, arts and recreation. The plan identifies the general location of future parks and open space, and includes a capital investment strategy. The draft 2016 Parks, Arts and Recreation Plan proposes acquisition of 417 acres of new park land, an increase of more than 25 percent to Olympia’s existing 16-mile trail inventory; elimination of the existing four million major maintenance backlog and more.

For more information about the Plan, contact Jonathon Turlove, Associate Planner, City of Olympia, at jturlove@ci.olympia.wa.us or (360) 753 - 8068.

Little Hollywood