PORT ORCHARD — The Lacey, Wash., entrepreneur who owns the now-closed Cheers Bar & Grill property at 429 Bay Street submitted an application through an architectural firm to the City of Port Orchard for development of a mixed-use building on the site, which would include 39 residential units and 500 square feet of commercial space.
The property, which sits on 1.35 acres next to the waterfront on Sinclair Inlet, has been the longtime site of a 9,250-square-foot restaurant, which operated most recently as Cheers Bar & Grill. Previous to it being purchased by Ali Kashi’s Kashi 201 Williams LLC for $1.39 million in September 2016, the restaurant operated as Port Orchard’s Lighthouse.
According to the proposal, Fisk said the existing structure on site is to be demolished.
The City of Port Orchard’s community development department said Oct. 18 that Weddermann Architecture PLLC in Tacoma submitted plans for a four-story mixed-use building on property Kashi plans to improve with a 12-foot-wide sidewalk with trees and a parking lane for on-street parking. The application was initially submitted on May 13, with three addendums submitted to the city this summer and fall.
Jim Fisk, the city’s associate planner, said the site will be landscaped consistent with the requirements of the Port Orchard municipal code and Shoreline Master Program. He said the proposed four-story structure will be compliant with the adopted design standards found in the city’s code.
“Vehicular access to the site is provided at the westernmost portion of the property to access the enclosed ground-floor parking,” Fisk said in an email response to the Independent.
The applicant has requested from the city an administrative variance for parking. It would allow a reduction of minimum off-street parking requirements from 66 spaces to 41 off-street parking stalls. A public comment period will remain open until Nov. 1, according to the city.
When reached by phone Monday, the architectural firm Weddermann declined to comment and referred questions to Kashi. The property owner has not yet returned a phone call request for details about his site plans.
At the time of his purchase of the Lighthouse property, Kashi said he had plans to expand his Cheers restaurant chain to 10 locations in the Puget Sound area. The Port Orchard location, however, was beset by operational issues and was never able to generate sufficient traffic in order to stay in business. It closed its doors in January and the location has remained shuttered since then.
Five Cheers locations now operate in Tacoma, South Park Village, Puyallup, Renton and University Place.
Weddermann Architecture PLLC illustration Property owner Ali Kashi reportedly has plans to build a four-story mixed-use residential-commercial building on property that Cheers Bar & Grill restaurant now sits at 429 Bay Street. Property owner Ali Kashi reportedly has plans to build a four-story mixed-use residential-commercial building on the property that Cheers Bar & Grill restaurant now sits at 429 Bay Street. (Weddermann Architecture PLLC illustration)
