With recent news that Charlie Conner’s seven-story mixed use complex at the Alaska Junction is just a few steps from the City go-ahead to start building, the reality is setting in for businesses on the block that their time at that location is limited.

For more information on the Conner project progress, please check out the Herald story, Conner's mixed-use Junction project closer to reality.

Conner’s proposed complex, a mixture of nearly 200 residential units with retail and work/live spaces at street level, will take over to the north of Talarico’s on California Ave. s.w. and from California to 42nd Ave s.w. on s.w. Alaska St. The existing buildings will be demolished to make room for the two-building plan and businesses including Rubato Records, Super Supplements and Rocksport Bar and Grill will have to make new plans when Conner decides to move forward. West Seattle’s Neighborhood Service Center also resides in the existing buildings.

The Rocksport Bar and Grill at 4209 s.w. Alaska St. just celebrated their 16th year in operation at the Junction location, and majority owner Darren Ahlf said they have been renting from Charlie Conner for the past ten years.

The project has been in Conner’s sights since 2000 but was delayed by the defunct Seattle Monorail Project for some time, followed by a downturned economy. During that time Ahlf said there were a few contentious moments between the two.

“We went through a bunch of trials and tribulations over the course of the last ten years with Charlie in the fact that he bought adjacent buildings and he wanted to basically tear down and put up the complex … but I had an ironclad lease at that time so we went through a little lawyer bickering back and forth, basically, ‘You cannot move me’ and he wasn’t willing to pay the price that it would take for me to move …”

“We are currently in a month-to-month lease agreement with (Conner) and I guess in a nutshell our lease is extended through the end of the year,” Ahlf said. “How that affects us is that he doesn’t have plans for us to be part of his new projects – and we’ve actually inquired about that – and so we have continued to look at other options and will continue to run our business here as we have.”

Ahlf said Rocksport is actively looking at new options for relocation, including the old Chuck and Sally’s Tavern on the corner of California Ave and s.w. Graham.

“The bottom line is that we are not looking for another lease,” he said. “I’m looking, if we are going to stay in the community which is our preference, … to buy dirt and there are opportunities for us and it’s just a matter of finding the right location and making the right choices.”

The Conner Junction project has invoked lively debate with many West Seattleites and Junction business owners voicing concern over the aesthetic change a seven-story building would make to the area and concerns over losing access to the alley between the two proposed buildings during construction. In the April 26 presentation to the City Council Transportation Committee, Conner said he plans to detour alley traffic over the eastern plot of land while they construct an underground parking garage underneath the alley. The City Council votes on Conner’s petition to “vacate” the subterranean portion of the alley on Monday, May 2.

“I’m not picking any sides because he’s been a good landlord to me,” Ahlf said of the controversy.

“West Seattle is a small city within a city and it’s different from pretty much anything in that it was an island for so long that it’s old school and people don’t want to see it change.”