Juanita poised to become more than Kirkland corner

By JOHN IWASAKI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

As the lunch crowd fills Spud Fish and Chips, regular customers settle into the familiar blue-and-white booths and belly up to the faded aqua counter.

The Juanita icon is in its 30th year, but the spunky restaurant is hardly looking back, as its sign boldly proclaims: "OH-FISH-ALL SEAFOOD RESTAURANT OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM."

Meanwhile, much of the rest of this economically diverse Eastside neighborhood seems to be searching for a community identity.

With the notable exception of popular Juanita Beach Park across the street from Spud, Juanita has been largely known as "a place to pass through" on the way to somewhere else, says Jonathan Teeters, an 18-year-old who lives two blocks from the beach.

Now Juanita, considered more blue collar than trendsetter, appears poised to become more than just the northwest corner of Kirkland.

A proposed European-style "urban village" of 459 apartments and townhouses with street-level shops would replace a partly vacant site near Juanita's major intersection. The proposal has raised interest from those wanting to revitalize the area and alarm from those worried about worsening traffic.

"Juanita has no heart," says Kirkland City Councilwoman Nona Ganz, who has lived in south Juanita since 1974. "There's no central place for walking around, sitting, eating. There's Juanita Beach Park, which is fantastic. But this new development, should it go in, could give Juanita a focal point again."

Others cite heavy congestion near the site -- where Northeast Juanita Drive, 98th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 116th Street converge _ as the prime reason they oppose the $60 million urban village and its 57,000 square feet of retail space.

"I can't believe the city would consider a project of that magnitude in that area because of the traffic problems that exist," says Wendy DeLong, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association at Juanita High School.

Whatever the fate of the project, many local residents say they value their community, even if they can't easily specify its borders.

Kirkland annexed much of Juanita in 1988, including the area north of Northeast 112th Street, south of Northeast 132nd Street, east of 93rd Avenue Northeast and roughly west of 116th Avenue Northeast. Some residents north and south of that area also consider themselves to be part of Juanita. Others align more closely with Finn Hill or Forbes Valley.

"The defining characteristic of Juanita is its economic diversity," says the Rev. Michael Anderson of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, Juanita's largest congregation with nearly 1,000 members. "There's a tremendous difference. You can be living in a trailer for $40,000 and, within a half-mile, you can be paying a half-million dollars for a home."

Down the street from the church, amid the condominiums, apartments and small strip malls lining 100th Avenue Northeast, is a housing complex that caters to Eastern Europeans of all levels of income, he says.

"We have more of an urban feel than anyone in Seattle could imagine," says Anderson, who has lived in Juanita for 14 years. "It's wonderful to have connections across economic levels."

For that reason, he welcomes the proposed urban village, which would include a series of smaller living/shopping communities on an 11-acre site overlooking Juanita Bay. A book store, video rental shop, florist, gourmet grocer, restaurant and other businesses would be at street level, along with a Rite Aid drug store.

The urban village is a project of BRE Properties, a San Francisco-based developer with Northwest offices in Seattle.

If approved -- and the process is just beginning -- the project would eventually replace the existing Juanita Village, a 1950s-era shopping center.