A waterfront restaurant is set to reopen, and a recycling business expands to Olympia
Popular waterfront restaurant Budd Bay Cafe is finally set to reopen at 11 a.m. March 1, business partners Dannielle Knutson and Pam Oates said.
What began as a plan for a reconfigured kitchen became a bit more than that after Knutson bought the building that houses the restaurant. She replaced the roof and siding, installed a new sprinkler system and is set to unveil a new maritime-themed decor, courtesy of the South Sound Maritime Heritage Association and past president Chuck Fowler.
Before there was a restaurant on that site, it was home to a business called Delta V. Smyth Tugs & Barges, including two tugs known to the area: Sandman, which is moored near the Oyster House, and Parthia, which will eventually be displayed on Port of Olympia property.
The maritime association doesn’t have its own museum, Fowler said, but by working with Budd Bay Cafe to display photos of ships and tugs and the maritime instruments of Olympia’s working waterfront, they now have the next best thing.
The eatery’s soft opening is March 1, followed by a grand opening March 4. For now, the business is focused on lunch and dinner and a return to its full menu, after offering a limited menu during the pandemic.
The business plans to eventually expand to weekend brunches and finally to bring back breakfast service, but there is no timetable for that.
The restaurant dropped breakfast service because of a lack of staff. Budd Bay Cafe is hiring, especially kitchen staff. Budd Bay operates a staff of 60 over the winter, but ramps up to 100 during the summer, Oates said.
Budd Bay’s winter hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
New recycling option
Ridwell, a Seattle-based recycling service, has expanded into Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater, the business announced in a news release.
Ridwell’s biweekly service offers pickup of four categories of household items not typically accepted in local curbside recycling bins. The four categories include batteries, light bulbs, plastic film (such as Ziploc bags, newspaper bags, Amazon envelopes and bubble wrap) and threads (clothes and shoes).
“Ridwell members care about the environment and want a way to more easily reuse and recycle items that are not included in the curbside recycling bin but shouldn’t go in the trash either,” said founder and CEO Ryan Metzger in a statement. “We do the legwork so they can keep these materials out of the trash with confidence.”
Monthly subscriptions range from $12-$16, depending on the length of commitment.
For more about Ridwell, go to https://www.ridwell.com/.
Real estate transactions
A number of commercial real estate transactions have recently transpired.
In what commercial real estate business Kidder Mathews described as one of the largest office transactions in the history of Thurston County, Eastside Plaza, a four-building, 129,000-square-foot property sold for $30.4 million to Boyd Watterson, an Ohio-based investment firm. The plaza is at 112 Quince St. SE in Olympia. It has several state government tenants and one vacancy.
The building and adjacent land at 521 Capitol Way South was purchased for $4.1 million by AM Global Capital in December for a mixed-use development.
Both transactions were handled by Kidder Mathews’ Evan Parker and Amy Evans.
Elsewhere, Matthews Real Estate Investment Services completed the sale of a DaVita health care property at 5180 Yelm Highway in Lacey, the business announced.
The $8.2 million transaction was handled by Associate Melanie Selleck and Director of Western U.S. Retail Devon Dykstra. Matthews represented the seller who was aiming to dispose of the property and reallocate capital into a Texas-based development project.
The undisclosed buyer acquired the property to diversify their portfolio and complete a 1031 Tax Exchange. The buyer was represented by Lee & Associates.
If you know of a retailer, restaurant, coffee shop or other business that is opening, closing, expanding, remodeling, or changing its focus, send an email to reporter Rolf Boone at rboone@theolympian.com.
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 5:45 AM.
