Restaurateur Carmine Smeraldo passed away peacefully Wednesday night (Jan. 11) at his home.

Blessings and prayers poured out to the Smeraldo family as they dealt with the illness of their beloved patriarch and iconic owner and operator of Il Terrazzo Carmine, a classic Italian restaurant in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Carmine’s, as it came to be known, has been a haven for a legion of loyal customers since 1984.

As neighborhood residents + business owners, if you have thoughts or stories to share with his family, you can go to CaringBridge.org to visit his personal page (log in required).

Hello to all of our fellow Sandwich Junkies (though this has nothing to do with sandwiches). We are proud to introduce Delicatus‘ first Tuesday Night Wine Tasting.

As some of you know and many of you may not, we have introduced wine retail here at the Deli and offer a simple, yet beautiful wine selection representing great values from far and near. We take the necessary time to focus on vineyards and winemakers that have the passion and understanding to produce small batch wines that promote quality at every value. We pride ourselves in offering a retail opportunity for the multitudes of wines that get overlooked simply due to their smaller production and an honest, informative retail experience for our customer.

See you soon and enjoy the Holiday Season

- Derek, Mike and Delicatus Crew

The DSA/MID,  Seattle Center and Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau are proud to announce the 2011 Holidays in the City seasonal campaign. Now in its third year, the annual campaign – geared toward helping promote downtown Seattle as an outstanding destination for holiday travel – offers an exciting assortment of holiday happenings from Pioneer Square to Seattle Center. The holiday season begins this November with season favorites like the Argosy Christmas Ship Festival, Macy’s Holiday Parade, the Holiday Carousel at Westlake Park and Winterfest. Visitors from near and far can begin mapping out their holiday plans on November 1 with the launch of the official Holidays in the City website, DowntownHolidays.com.

A must-have resource, DowntownHolidays.com is a one-stop shop for the 2011 holiday season featuring a comprehensive events calendar, maps, travel deals, visitor information, a downloadable holiday guide and more.  Find information on the city’s most popular holiday events, such as the Jingle Bell Run/Walk and Pacific Northwest Ballet’s beloved Nutcracker, as well as where to find the city’s best holiday light displays and festive attractions.

DowntownHolidays.com is also the place to enter for a chance to win the Holidays in the City grand prize giveaway. This year, the Holidays in the City grand prize is a Seattle Center 50^th Anniversary themed prize package including: a two-night stay at Seattle’s beautiful Pan Pacific Hotel, $250 Pacific Place gift card, $250 dining certificate to the Space Needle’s SkyCity restaurant, a commemorative 1962 World’s Fair coffee-table book and set of six retro 1962 World’s Fair tumblers, four exhibit-only tickets to the Pacific Science Center, four round-trip tickets for the Seattle Center Monorail, and two Seattle Center parking passes. The grand prize winner will be selected on December 31, 2011.

As the holiday season nears, visitors can pick up the official Holidays in the City guide at the Seattle Visitor Center and Market Information Center as well as various retailers throughout downtown and the greater Seattle area. The free guide – featuring 16 pages full of family fun events – can also be found inside the November issue of Seattle Metropolitan magazine. Many of Seattle’s favorite holiday traditions are highlighted in the guide, including Magic in the Market, Toyland Village at Waterfront Park, Black Nativity and more. For a full list of participating retailers carrying the 2011 Official Holiday Guide, visit DowntownHolidays.com.

In addition to the official Holiday in the City website, information about all of Downtown Seattle’s holiday happenings can be found on Facebook (www.facebook.com/seattleholidays), on Twitter (@seattleholidays) and the Holidays in the City app, which can be downloaded for free on iPhone, iPad or iTouch.

In a press conference on Wednesday, co-founder Sujal Patel said “he’s excited to be in Pioneer Square because the neighborhood has the energy the company looks for in new staffers. People want to be in a neighborhood where there’s life, Patel said, calling it an ‘ideal place.’” (source: GeekWire)

McGinn said the Isilon expansion was emblematic of a makeover of the Pioneer Square area, and the city government’s drive to provide a strong base for high-quality, innovative companies to locate and expand in the city.

Isilon has committed to this neighborhood for the long-term, even with plans to add 200 jobs to their current total of 430 local staff.

Now if only we had more market-rate housing to offer all of these new employees.

A part of Seattle since 1865, they show clips of the positive things that our neighborhood has to offer, and invites people to come and down, where they will park your car — free of charge. (love it!)

Bob Schoenfeld also wrote a letter to the editor of the Daily Journal of Commerce just last month in response to news regarding Masins’ departure from the neighborhood. In it, he states:

“I own a furniture store in Pioneer Square and we are doing just fine; in fact, we had a profitable year in 2010. As for the panhandling, I see more panhandling in front of the Nike store downtown than on Jackson in Pioneer Square. Everyone talks about parking, but I find parking on the street in front of my store seven out of 10 times. Pioneer Square is a unique asset to the city and can be a great place to start a business.”

Seattle, Pioneer Square
115 South Jackson St
Pioneer Square, Seattle Wa 98104
Mon-Sat 10-6 Sun 12-5
206.518.5944

King County Executive Dow Constantine was joined by developer Kevin Daniels, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark, and former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer yesterday to break ground on the long-awaited North Lot development next to CenturyLink Field – a project that is key to revitalization of Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood.

The Executive announced that the County’s sale of the property to North Lot Development LLC closed on Monday. He also credited the tenacity of developer Kevin Daniels for assembling the plan and financing over the past six years.

“We’re on the cusp of the greatest economic recovery for Pioneer Square since Gold Rush days, and I am thankful to be able to contribute to a rebirth in the community,” said Daniels, president of Daniels Real Estate, which also worked with the team that developed the nearby Starbucks Center and renovated Union Station. He is also co-chair of the Alliance for Pioneer Square.

The project to be built on the North Lot of the old Kingdome site is expected to create up to 2,700 construction jobs. Over the next decade, the development is projected to generate more than $727 million in economic activity.

The $180 million first phase of the project will become the largest transit-oriented development in the Pacific Northwest. The development is expected to include nearly 1.5 million square feet of uses, including up to 800 mixed-income residential units, a hotel, 400,000 square feet of office space, and 35,000 square feet of retail space.

The project will create an urban development in a walkable neighborhood near the downtown core. Its location near Amtrak at King Street Station and several major bus lines will provide residents and users with a number of transportation alternatives.

“This project will bring the most new construction to Pioneer Square since the rebuilding from the Great Seattle Fire of 1889,” said former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer, co-chair of the Alliance for Pioneer Square and host for today’s celebration. “The positive impacts on the neighborhood can’t be overstated.”

Under an agreement struck last week with the Washington State Public Stadium Authority, stadium replacement parking for the public will be made available at the King County Metro central campus employee parking garage at 6th Ave. S. and S. Royal Brougham Way

Under the agreement, the County will grant rights to the PSA detailing event use of available spaces at the Metro garage. In exchange for these rights, the County will receive $10.2 million for the parking from North Lot Development LLC. King County received another $10 million from the sale of the North Lot to the development firm, to be used by the County to honor long-standing commitments for affordable housing funding and for other one-time investments.

And then the neighborhood partied (photos by Doug Vann):

They should only be closed for a few weeks, but are hoping for a great renovation of the exterior, the seating area, and to get all new overhangs. I’ve always loved this bar + grill, but it’s hard to tell from the outside how neat it is.

I’m looking forward to the new changes!

From Crosscut:

Masins, a fine furniture store in Pioneer Square since 1946, has put its building up for lease and plans to close its store, says President Bob Masin.

Masin gave three reasons for pulling out of Pioneer Square, where the store occupies four stories at 220 Second Ave. S., one block east of Occidental Park. “Parking is very difficult,” he said, which is an important factor for a store drawing from a wide region. A second factor is the stadiums, which can flood the area with people seeking parking places, even more so with the huge crowds for the Sounders FC. “Pioneer Square is great for dot-coms and weekday businesses,” he said, “but the problems come on after hours and weekends,” when his store does much of its business and must compete with crowds or with a feeling of emptiness. The third factor is “safety issues,” on which Masin, as a strong supporter of Pioneer Square, did not want to elaborate.

She doesn’t have internet and I am way too lazy to send snail mail. According to Paul, it makes me a perfect customer for his new company.

Postcardly, helps you to “turn your emails into real-life postcards delivered by US Mail.” Their process is very simple and it seems that they have thought through all scenarios to make it as easy as possible to show your relatives how much you care.

It has received great reviews on both GeekWire and CNET, and starting today, they are featuring a new promotion: $19.99 for a 20 postcard pack.

You can also head to their website and sign up for a free trial, which will let you send 3 postcards for free.

Where:
Delicatus (103 1st Ave S)

What:
Socializing + Happy Hour

Join The Alliance for Pioneer Square, business owners, and managers to meet and mingle with our Pioneer Square business-types. Events are held quartlery in the square.

RSVP to sally@pioneersquare.org