Two New Restaurants Coming to Old Bill The Butcher Space In Partnership With Skillet Street Foods Founder

Construction on two new restaurants, called "The Trailhouse" has started at the previous site of a 2-story wood frame building that housed Bill the Butcher as well as two 1-story wood frame buildings where Violet Sweet Shop, Bakker Dry Cleaning, and Chelsea Estate Services were, at 3600 NE 45th Street.

The property is owned by Seattle and Bellevue developer Ron Sher, an avid cyclist and owner of Third Place Books in Bryant and Lake Forest Park. He also owns and was involved in revitalizing the Lake Forest Park Shopping Center and Bellevue's Crossroads Mall in the late 1980's. Sher is also Director of Cascade Bicycle Club.  

Ron recently announced to the Laurelhurst Blog Staff that he signed a deal with restaurateur Josh Henderson, founder of Skillet Street Foods, who will open two restaurants.

Here is information from Seattle Met Magazine:

The former Bill the Butcher space will be home to two restaurants. The top floor will be an all-day cafe in the European model: juices and pastry in the morning, salads and plates of charcuterie with cheese and crusty bread by day, and bistro fare at night.  

The back faces the Burke-Gilman Trail; Henderson's planning an outdoor fireplace here (the combo of alfresco fire and Burke-Gilman proximity certainly works over at Westward).  

Downstairs will be the first location of Henderson's forthcoming string of burger shacks. If you've been to any of the culty burger chains—In-N-Out, Shake Shack, Little Big Burger—you'll know what to expect: a simple menu with double and single burgers, onion rings, shakes, and fries.  

Henderson has an app in the works for quick and easy ordering; there's parking out front and he's envisioning minivans pulling up to grab sacks of burgers on the way home from little league.

 

Ron cancelled his original plan last May, for a small European style bike hotel, which was to be called the Country Inn.   Ron's goal "was to create a bicycle oriented community hub to stimulate cycling tourism, provide an amenity for all users of the Burke Gilman Trail, encourage greater use of bicycles as a mode of urban transport, provide a prototype example of cycle-oriented development and create a sustainable neighborhood commercial project."
 
And in June  another application was submitted, Project # 6414474, which states "Remodeling and expansion of (2) existing commercial buildings for future restaurant use."
 
Michael Whalen, an architectural consultant. told the Blog Staff in November that a number of improvements would be made to bring the buildings into conformance with current building codes, so the look would be changed, but the basic building massing will be much the same as it was. 

Michael also said that a new deck would be added over the parking area west of the original Bill the Butcher space.

Ron recently told the Blog Staff: "We are very excited about the project and feel it will be a great addition to the neighborhood."











  

 Buildings under construction

 

 

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