& A different business model QueenAnne&Magnolia news QueenAnne&Magnolia news facebook.com/QueenAnneMagnoliaNews
Serving Queen Anne & Magnolia Since 1919
QueenAnne
@qamagnews
Magnolia news
www.QueenAnneNews.com
JANUARY 19, 2022
VOL. 103, NO. 3
FEATURED STORIES
New gym will open in Uptown, in February
DR. UNIVERSE
PAGE 4
GET GROWING
PAGE 4
By Jessica Keller
QA&Mag News editor
Like many people during quarantine, gym owner Glen Swain had a lot of time to think. After he had to close his gym in north Queen Anne after 20 years because of COVID, Swain said he thought a lot during quarantine about his personal and work philosophies, what things were important to him and how he could incorporate those in a new gym. “COVID has been a game changer for everybody,” Swain said, adding it made him reevaluate what is important to him. Although he has worked in the fitness industry for 30 years, Swain said he realized a new gymnasium would require a new business mode It was no longer enough to just run a successful gym like he had
BALLET
PAGE 8
Photo by Jessica Keller Henry’s Gymnasium owner Glen Swain, right, talks with a subcontractor while standing behind the bar of the gym, last week. The bar is one of the features that makes the facility different from others, as patrons will be able to buy, among other things, a beer or glass of wine. for so many years. He wanted it to mean more. “I want to make a difference,” Swain said. “I want to make a difference in the community. I want to make a difference in people’s lives.”
From those ideas, and a vacant building space in Uptown, Henry’s Gymnasium was born and is set to open Feb. 1. One of the first things that attracted to Swain to his new building, 14 Mercer St., was its history,
QA&Mag News editor If a new Seattle School District capital levy included on the special election ballot is approved by voters next month, it could pave the way for big changes to Memorial Stadium and the Seattle Center campus in the future. Two members of the Seattle Center Foundation, foundation board member Sung Yang and Executive Director Jane Zalutsky spoke to the Uptown Alliance at its meeting last week to ask for support and to encourage people to vote in favor of the capital levy on the upcoming special election Feb. 8 election. If approved, the six-year levy would give the school district approximately $783 million over to fund district buildings, technology and academic/athletic capital projects. The proposed BTA levy
will replace an expiring capital levy. Of special interest to the Seattle Center Foundation, is the $66.5 million Seattle Public Schools would use to make improvements to the over 70-year-old Memorial Stadium, including investing in new grandstands; upgrading the water distribution system; upgrading the field lights; and replacing the athletic field synthetic turf. While that is a good start, Yang and Zalutsky are hopeful the $66.5 million contributed by the school district will be just the beginning. Yang said the Seattle Center Foundation and other interested parties have tried nearly two decades to get the district and city to partner together to address the dilapidated facility, which is used for graduation ceremonies, high school athletics and adult recreational athletics, as well as create
other opportunities at the facility. Should the BTA levy pass, the district and city are poised to put into motion that partnership, which entails the district turning over operations and maintenance of the stadium and combining resources with the City of Seattle and additional private donations to make improvements on a bigger scale and develop a “more significant and enhanced vision” for Memorial Stadium and Seattle Center. Because the $66.5 million, marking the school district’s investment into Memorial Stadium has not been secured yet, Zalutsky said they can only speculate what the size, scale and scope of an expanded project would look like with district, city and private funds put to use. “This is really a place of great potential because it is a place of so much need,” Zalutsky said.
ED
LIST
which Swain said has always been an interest of his. It was built in 1909, he said, and at one point served as the garage for the nearby Seattle En-
SEE GYMNASIUM, PAGE 2
School district levy success could mean big changes at Seattle Center, Memorial Stadium
By Jessica Keller
T JUS
Zalutsky said Seattle Center has seen many improvements and additions to its campus in the past, the most recent of which being the opening of Climate Pledge Arena last fall, but the public grounds have not received the same level of investment. “So these projects have really helped to propel Seattle Center forward, but … the stadium continues to drag Seattle Center down from what it can ultimately become in my opinion,” Zalutsky said. She said benefits of a partnership between the city and school district will exceed just aesthetic improvements and nicer facilities. She said a joint partnership would also mean more opportunities for arts, culture and career development programs for students and
SEE STADIUM, PAGE 7
Have a New Listing You would like to get Front & Center Exposure? For only
$150
each week! (Reg $200) You can be on the front page in this space!! Contact
Tammy
for availability & reservation 206-461-1322