Feb
1
Swedish Hospital Picks Issaquah Highlands to Build Medical Center
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development | Leave a Comment
Swedish Hospital recently executed its option to purchase 18 acres of land in Issaquah Highlands, further cementing their commitment and determination to bring better hospital services to the growing population of King County’s Eastside communities. The land that plan to build on is located at the South West of edge of the Issaquah Highlands.
While this is great news for the community, they are not out of the woods yet. Swedish has cleared all the state Department of Health’s red tape, so they have started the planning process. They still need to get a favorable ruling from the state Department of Health administrative judge in the joint appeal filed by Overlake, Evergreen, Snoqualmie Valley and Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center. Their argument is that the plans of Swedish concentrate too many beds in one location. I find that odd seeing that some of those participating in the appeal tried to be the hospital developer of choice in the first go-round. In fact, Overlake and Swedish both submitted applications that were rejected way back in 2004. Overlake gave up while Swedish filed for appeal after appeal until they finally were granted permission to build.
Maybe Overlake shouldn’t have given up…
Regardless on what happens with the current appeal by the competition, Swedish owns the land and will build some sort of medical facility; with or without beds.
To read the official press release, click here.
Jan
3
Attention All Issaquah Highlands Residents, Do You Have L’esprit de Cul du Sac?
Filed Under Blog, Events, Issaquah Highlands, Misc, Other Development, Real Estate, Restaurants, Retail Development | 2 Comments
Recently I ran across an interesting editorial piece - 72 hours in the Issaquah Highlands - about Issaquah Highlands. It talks about real estate, retail, entertainment, dining, overall community as well as the lifestyle. At first I thought it was somewhat amusing, but I am continually drawn back to it and each time I read it makes me fume (just a little).
Maybe it was all in good fun. Maybe there is a bit of truth to it. Maybe I have a grey hair or two. But does that give someone the right to point it out and rub it in? I can take a joke just as well as the next person, but I take a lot of pride in the community that I live in as well as the people that help define it. As a resident, I feel it is my privilege and obligation to share all the wonderful things about this great little place I call home.
Just to indulge the author, some of the more amusing quotes from the article include:
Unless accustomed to the intensely exciting pace of Highlands life, you should take a mild tranquilizer (Xanax or Valium) three times a day during your visit.
and
Amateurs often have difficulty identifying which of the 47 shades of grey have been used on the exterior of each home.
and
With hundreds of TV channels available via cable or satellite, Highlanders can choose among an almost infinite variety of nighttime entertainment.
So what’s the point you ask? Well as a resident of Issaquah Highlands, I know for a fact that several of the characterizations in the article are far from true; especially the ones about the sights and people. I’ll give the author credit for the retail comments and maybe even the ones about dining.
I propose a challenge/contest to the residents of Issaquah Highlands. For those that are up to it, I would like to see a “Visitors Guide To Issaquah Highlands” written by a resident. The guide should be written in similar fashion, travel guide style, and should cover the following categories.
- Events
- Dining/Nightlife
- Shopping
- Art and Music
- Activities
- Lifestyle
The guide should be informative and witty. The winner of the contest will be published on this site with full credit and receive 2 FREE MOVIE TICKETS to either Regal or Loews or a $15 Gift Certificate to Cafe Ladro. The deadline for submissions will be January 15th. Please email me all submissions or if you have any questions.
Aug
26
Issaquah Highlands Central Park Proposal
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development | 2 Comments
In case you hadn’t heard, we may be getting a new soccer field in central park. The cost to us…FREE…unless you count the clear-cutting of the forested area (est. 600 large trees) above the shopping center area and the building of a maintenance road to connect it to Pad 3, west of the Central Park pond. After this access road is built, PB will be allowed to truck and dump 250,000 cubic yards of fill onto pad 3, with work continuing through the end of summer 2009. In return for this, PB will assume the cost of installing a new soccer field.
So I am all for improving the drainage at Central Park in order to make the fields more usable for all outdoor enthusiasts, but why does the City of Issaquah feel the need to clear-cut that area in order to improve drainage?
In addition, there is another proposal on the table that would eliminate one of the propose tennis courts from the development plan in lieu of a covered picnic area. In the 3 years I have lived in Issaquah Highlands, I have rarely seen any of the covered picnic sites throughout the neighborhood used, conversely I have often seen the tennis courts filled while others are patiently waiting their turn to play.
While most of the amendment presented to us in the public notice was great, I strongly disagree with the removal of the tennis courts and the clear-cutting of 3 acres offorest. I must say though that I am happy with the proposal to create a Grand Ridge trail-head at Central Park. While I still don’t like the idea of a gated community within Issaquah Highlands, at least this mitigates my concerns about granting equal access to the trail.
For more information on the propsal you can visit the City of Issaquah website.
Jun
21
REI Is Coming To Issaquah
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development, Retail Development | 5 Comments
It is now official. Today REI announced they are opening a store in Issaquah. The store will be located in the Commons at Issaquah next to the Safeway where the Longs Drugs used to be located.
While I personally feel the Issaquah Highlands Lifestyle Center would have been a better fit for several reasons - easier access to I-90, easier access for Sammamish Plateau residents and potential for a larger store with closer access to trails for testing gear to name a few - I am happy to see that REI is puting a store in a location that is really Washington?s front door to outdoors (in my opinion).
So now that REI is out for the Issaquah Highlands, what outdoor company could possibly be next in the consideration set?
Jun
19
A Pool in Issauqah Highlands???
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development | 4 Comments
As the lazy and warm days of summer approach us, I have to ask myself, where?s the pool?
I love Issaquah Highlands and am proud to make it my home. I am however, disappointed about the fact that there is no community swimming pool and I have always wondered why there isn?t one. Klahanie has two. Some say it?s impractical. Some say it?s uneconomical. Some say it?s a waste of space. The biggest concern I have heard from the folks in charge is the cost.
So what does it cost to have a pool in the community? There are two factors; initial development and annual operating cost.
I am going to pass on the initial development part for a minute and move straight to operating budget. Below is an example of what the annual operating budget of a similar type of amenity costs to maintain:
Expense Annual Cost
| Expenses |
Annual Cost |
| Operating Expenses |
Annual Cost |
| Utilities | $121,000 |
| Licenses and Insurance | $24,000 |
| Maintenance and Repairs | $12,000 |
| Chemicals | $8,500 |
| Janitorial Services | $3,500 |
| Misc | $41,000 |
| Operating Expense Total | $210,000 |
| Staff | Annual Cost |
| Pool Manager (3) | $105,000 |
| Lifeguards/Swim Instructors (4) | $75,500 |
| Pool Attendant (1) | $9,500 |
| Staff Total | $190,000 |
| Grand Total | $400,000 |
Couple of thoughts here about this budget. Three managers?!? Are you kidding me? How about just having one. That could save a ton right there. The lifeguards and pool attendant are all really interchangeable. At any given time there only needs to be two people working the facility. If the facility would offer swim lessons that would require more but we will get there in a second. As far as operating expenses go, the maintenance and repairs are higher than normal because this facility has older equipment that needs more frequent servicing. That old equipment also causes the utilities to be a bit higher than needed.
So based on some simple math, if there are 4000 houses in the Issaquah Highlands, that would equate to roughly $100 per year to staff and maintain and give free access. Most likely even less if we eliminated some of the overhead. That is still a bit high but this isn?t even accounting for any revenue opportunities from swim lessons, special events, renting out the facility to clubs or advertising.
The pool in comparison makes an additional $50,000 per year in revenue by having a vending machine, creating advertising opportunities and renting out the pool to clubs like WaterBabies.
Just with that small amount of revenue alone, we could reduce the cost down to $87.00 per year per household. Now factor in swim lessons (which all of the staff above can give) and other potential revenue opportunities I haven?t thought about and you could practically pay for the cost of the pool with almost no subsidy from the homeowners.
I would be surprised if our community was not able to support a pool. I would be even more surprised if there wasn?t an interest in having a pool here in the community. With so many children, I am sure there are a number of families that would love the easy access to swim lessons and splashing around.
In the meantime, Julies Bohem Pool is a good alternative, even if it is indoors.
I personally have taken the water aerobics class there and had tons of fun.
Happy swimming.
Jun
14
Have You Had Your Fiber Today?
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development | 6 Comments
On July 1st, 2007 Highlands Fiber Network (HFN) will be launching a new level of services for the customers of Issaquah Highlands.
One of the biggest changes is that the HFN has decided to select ISOMEDIA as our vendor of choice for the long term.
“ISOMEDIA will now be empowered through end to end network access to provide high-value customer service to the entire community.”
Plans are already underway for a brand new customer service center located in the Issaquah Highlands.
Some existing service options will be getting an uprgrade.
- A myriad of “always on” connections that are less expensive than DSL or cable services or you can upgrade to an even faster package that is suitable for running an a home business.
- E-mail service with built in spam and virus filters that can accommodate private domain names.
With this change, HFN will now have the capabilty to offer additional services to the residents of Issaquah Highlands:
If we want these service we need to make the demand known. The potential is there. We just need to demonstrate we want it.
Just another great reason to live in the Issaquah Highlands. What other community owns and operates their own technology company.
Jun
4
Issaquah Highlands Gets Some Healthy News…maybe…
Filed Under Blog, Issaquah Highlands, Other Development, Retail Development | 4 Comments
A while back I posted an article discussing the retail development in Issaquah Highlands and the possibility of a hospital coming to our neighborhood. Specifically, I mentioned that Judd Kirk thought it was highly unlikely that ahospital would be built in that space because both applications from Swedish and Overlake were rejected in 2005 because the state Department of Health said there were enough beds on the Eastside to serve residents’ health-care needs for 10 years. In addition he thought it would take too long to develop.
My how things can change in two years. Swedish Medical Center received an approval Friday from the state to build a $207 million hospital in the Issaquah Highlands Area.
It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Nothing is set in stone yet and the article is still intentionally vague; referring to the “Issaquah Highlands area”. This could mean that Port Blakely might have changed its mind on how it plans to develop the space originally allocated for a hospital and that they will need to find an alternate location.
Stay tuned as this story unfolds…
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