On July 24 between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., the University Place Fire District, with the help of the City of University Place, will burn the former Dennys restaurant building and a small strip mall next door as part of a training exercise. Residents in the area are being notified of the activity and the Fire District will position additional equipment near the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant to ensure it does not sustain damage. Persons traveling through the vicinity during the time of the exercise should expect traffic delays.
After the buildings are burned, the debris will be cleared to make the land
ready for construction of the Town Center project. Demolition of three other buildings, including the old Round Table Pizza, in the near vicinity occurred between June 6 and June 20, leaving those sites prepared to accept new construction.
A schedule for grading the land and making it ready for the Town Center project to locate there has not been set. The city hopes to see new businesses open on the site as early as 2007. More extensive development of the entire Town Center Project site will take place in future phases.
The latest plans for the Town Center Project involve building mixed-use development on the northern quarter of the 11-acre Town Center project area on the east side of Bridgeport Way West between 37th and 35th streets.
The city is still waiting to hear back from Congressional representatives about a grant proposal that would provide up to $10 million to assist in building a regional transit parking garage that could be incorporated into a larger parking garage that would serve both shoppers and new residents moving into the condominiums and town homes scheduled to be built on the site.
