Spud Fish & Chips’ old neon sign will stay with replacement building, but move indoors

All eyes are on Spud.

Redevelopment of the iconic Green Lake fish and chips shop, at 6860 E. Green Lake Way N., has been slow since the corner property sold two years ago for a little over $3 million to Blueprint Capital.

The plan has always been for the sellers, who owned that Spud land and business, to return their restaurant to the new apartment building. However, the plan has been delayed first by unsuccessful landmarking of the old “Googie”-style building, and then by the recent Mandatory Housing Affordability upzone.

Thus, the project has now increased in size to six stories and 88 units, plus the new Spud restaurant. It’ll be the tallest new building facing Green Lake since the 10-story Hearthstone retirement community was developed in 1965 — before modern zoning.

That plan, by Cone Architecture, will have its third design meeting at 6:30 p.m. today at Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.

The new Spud will have about 1,400 square feet facing Green Lake Park. Tenants will enter on the corner of Fourth Avenue Northeast.

The 88 apartments will include one live-work unit at grade; and a mix of sizes from small efficiency dwelling units (SEDUs), with around 280 square feet, to about 750 square feet. Eight units will be affordable under MHA.

The project includes no parking. Two bike rooms with 88 stalls will have a roll-in entrance on the alley to the south. A roof deck will have about 2,600 square feet. Total project size is around 49,600 square feet.

The team also includes Root of Design, landscape architect; Riley Group, geotechnical engineer; and Terrane, surveyor. Blueprint says it will act as its own general contractor.

Blueprint says that Spud has been in the neighborhood since 1940. The married couple who acquired the Green Lake property and restaurant in 2001 sold to Blueprint with the agreement they’d have a 20-year lease when the new building and restaurant open. Spud Fish & Chips may operate with a nearby food truck during construction. The old building dates to 1959.

The new building has the working title of Spud Apartments, which may change. Cone indicates that the neon rooftop Spud sign will be relocated inside the restaurant — not affixed to the facade.

Though no plans have been filed for the Peet’s Coffee building next door to the west on the same block, Cone is planning a blank wall — with a light well — to face likely future construction there. The two-story Peet’s building, which has other tenants, dates to 1994; the property has long been owned by Panos Properties, which also has its offices there. Cone says the new Spud building will create “a strong precedent for future development on the block.”

And on the next block to the west, the two-story Tacos Guaymas/Nell’s building (aka Greenlake Place) dates to 1982; it’s been owned for decades by a trust for the Strickland family, which once owned many Texaco stations in our region.

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