Renton is going to be seeing some BIG changes over the next few years. Your town will become fancier and cleaner, while keeping its cool and historic heritage. Think Fremont in Seattle, with some Kirkland Carillon Point stuff thrown in for those special occasions.

Here are some of the things you are not yet hearing much about, but are on the way.

The Seahawks training facility has broken ground, and unlike the current Kirkland site, it will offer fans an opportunity to watch the Hawks play.

The Sonics are still seriously looking at Renton…the team’s new owners say they want to keep the team in the Seattle area. They are looking at over twenty sites, and three or four of them are here in Renton.

The Landing Urban Villiage is really coming along fast, and tenants (businesses, restauraunts, etc) are getting really excited about it. The first stores will be open in less than a year.

The Landing bumps right into a growing residential/restaurant/business/hotel development project on the Lakefront, known as Southport, which is in a new building phase.
Between Southport, the Landing, and Coulon Park we will have one of the coolest beach recreation areas/gathering spots in the Northwest, second only to Alki in the summer time.

The new Logan Avenue, which will run through the heart of the Landing, will provide a brand new four lane boulevard directly from Renton Highlands (I405 Exit 5) to the historic downtown, and will be lined with new businesses and hang-outs. Logan will enable you to get off the freeway and head straight for downtown without the rats-maze of streets we deal with now.

On the other end of the downtown, near the Fred Meyer, we will be spending 50 MILLION DOLLARS of Sound Transit money (That’s 1000 dollars per city resident ) on street improvements to FINALLY make Rainier Avenue wider and prettier, and to widen and realign Hardie Avenue which runs behind Fred Meyer. Hardie will no longer do a goofy loop-te-do behind Fred Meyer, with the crazy three way stop-yield thing, and will instead go stright to a new intersection onto Martin Luther King Way. This will shift mucho traffic from Rainier onto Hardie, and make Rainier a nicer business street. We are even considering doing away with some of the one-way street confusion.

All the transportation improvements in downtown, combined with zoning that allows multi story buildings with stores on the ground floor and apartments above, mean lots of new business, restaurants, and residents in our downtown. And lots of cool new people to make friends with. Maybe downtown will finally be open after five o’clock again, like it was in its Renton-loop era heyday of the 60s (but without the cruising). In 2007 the city council will be studying ways to improve the pedestrian and business connection between the Landing and downtown…so very cool.

We are already seeing land values increasing and big new projects coming in for permits downtown, and builders have more enthusiasm than we have seen in many years. There will be lots of condominums available to those of you that are looking for buying opportuinties. Many new condos are in planning right now, and several of the newer apartment buildings in downtown are undergoing conversion to condominiums (from apartments). This is a postive change, because it reflects that more people want to buy property in downtown Renton.

And yay! The old parts of Renton Highlands are finally getting the renovation thay have long needed. Land values under the World War II duplex units have increased to ONE MILLION DOLLARS PER ACRE, about four or five times what the land was worth in the mid 90s. Thanks to this increase in value, we are about to see significant revitalization in the Renton Highlands, with many new homes, shops, restaurants, and other great places to visit, meet friends, and hangout. The development pressure is so great in this area that we are rushing to get new zoning in place before the end of 2006, and we have a citizens committee meeting twice per week to make sure we get the nicest redevelopment possible without pushing you out of your current homes! Overall, this will give us a much safer, prettier, and more fun Renton Highlands.

There are many, many other projects in work right now, but I can’t name them all. For instance, there is an all-new neighborhood park in the highlands, a new 100 acre wetland/bird sanctuary in the valley with a two-mile paved nature trail, the Jimi Hendrix House/Museum, and many other cool businesses that are still in the planning stages.

Builders and investers are so confident in our little town, that Conner Homes development just broke ground on a new housing project near Coulon Beach where they will build 147 houses, ranging in price from one to three million dollars! It is expected that several of the Seattle Seahawks will be buying homes here.

So, be proud to live here. Renton is a happening place, and we are about to get more than our fair share of prosperity. My advice to you, my Renton friends, is to consider buying some real estate in our blossoming town, so you can enjoy your environment AND cash-in! We have a bright future!