Daily Dim Sum - Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Shunpike on Entrepreneur.com
We just noticed that Entrepreneur Magazine has posted a great profile of Shunpike and its executive director Andy Fife. The Seattle-based Business of Art organization has been working in Tacoma since 2009 after setting up offices at our very own Suite133. If you aren’t in the arts world, you may know Shunpike best for their work to help establish the Spaceworks program in our city’s empty storefronts. Nice interview, Andy.

Link to Entrepreneur.com

Pacific Avenue Streetscape

Images of the Pacific Avenue Streetscape are available for your viewing pleasure. Or perhaps displeasure, if you’re not in to rain gardens and multimodal transportation accomodations. These images show the status of the planning process at 60% complete, which means they are the broad strokes of the design, with finer points of streetscape feng shui, like placement and types of plantings and street furniture, to be filled in over coming weeks.

The most recent images are available online. Information on the planning and public comment processes is available from the City of Tacoma website.

Cars in the LeMay

Yesterday cars began to roll into the LeMay Museum. The order of the day was to move in cars that prefer to avoid the rain, like a 1906 Cadillac Model M Tulip Tourer. The cars will be arranged into exhibits, along with the rest of the collection, which the museum plans to have in by the end of November. The museum isn’t scheduled to officially open until June 2012, but if you can’t wait to check out the contents of the big silver slug, it looks like snagging a ticket to the October 30th Northwest Sinfonietta Gala may be your best bet – assuming they don’t sell out.

Read more about cars arriving at the LeMay from The News Tribune

New Spaceworks Artists Announced

Last week Spaceworks announced the latest round of artists to be featured in Tacoma’s storefronts: Diane Hansen, Lance Kagey, Janette Ryan, Brian Hutcheson, RSVR, Kelly June Mitchell, and Mary Rothlisberger and Lauren McCleary. Works by these artists will be appearing in window displays in mid-November in downtown Tacoma. Congratulations to the artists; we’re looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store for Tacoma.

UP Mixed-Use Development Moving Forward: Retailers Wanted

The News Tribune reported yesterday that the University Place Town Center, a development just a stone’s throw from Tacoma, will be moving forward. After a lengthy struggle fraught with tension between UP residents, the City and developers, it appears the project will take another step forward. Tacoma-based developer and builder, SEB Inc hopes to break ground next spring, and complete construction within a year. The development, above the city-owned parking will include 100 apartments and accompanying amenities, and 12,000 square feet of retail space. Feeling optimistic?

Read more about this development from The News Tribune.