Rumors Have Ritz-Carlton Downtown

Tongues are wagging in downtown Seattle about the possibility of a new Ritz-Carlton Hotel rising at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Union Street.

Sources say that preliminary plans call for Ritz-Carlton, a luxury chain headquartered in Atlanta, to build a 300- to 400-room hotel at the northwest corner of Rainier Square. Managed by Unico Properties, the space is currently occupied by Talbots and David Lawrence.

Unico President and CEO David Cortelyou would neither confirm nor deny talks with Ritz-Carlton.

"They are nice people," Cortelyou said coyly. "We'd like to do business with them at some point."

Ritz-Carlton, which operates 36 hotels worldwide, has no properties in the Pacific Northwest. Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Stephanie Platt also declined to discuss specifics, although she conceded that Seattle is an attractive market.

"We're always looking for cities where our travelers go," Platt said. Seattle is "a great city. It's a vibrant city. That's the sort of profile we're looking for." Many downtowners say Rainier Square must join the revitalization bandwagon if the city's resurgence is to continue. More to come.

Oililly, the Netherlands-based women and children's clothing chain scheduled to open a new store this spring at Westlake Center, has opted out.

"Somewhere along the line, it was decided they were not coming," said Westlake Marketing Director Debra Ray.

Oililly spokeswoman Annie Abbruzzese was much more specific. "We were interested, but that particular space at that particular time needed too many alterations."

All is not lost, however. Oililly, which opened its first Puget Sound-area store at Bellevue Square in 1997, still plans to open a store in downtown Seattle within the next 18 months. Acquiring space at Pacific Place is at the top of Oililly's wish list, Abbruzzese said. University Village will have a new tenant this spring. Ruby Garnet, a high-end women's fashion boutique, will take the 1,100-square-foot space previously occupied by Ecco, another women's clothing shop that closed last week.

Locally owned and operated, Ruby Garnet is scheduled to open by mid-April. And finally, remember Jeremy Dorosin? He's the disgruntled former Starbucks customer who in 1995 took out a series of advertisements in The Wall Street Journal criticizing the coffee company for refusing to give him a $2,500 espresso machine in exchange for one that cost $300.

Well, he's back. Dorosin has written a semi-autobiographical, semi-fictional book titled "Balance at Middlefork: An Adventure in Human Freedom."

The 320-page treatise, scheduled to hit bookshelves Feb. 15, purports to offer readers "an extraordinary breakthrough in human equality and the evolution of human freedom."

And that's not all. Dorosin says his dispute with Starbucks "is not over." When the company refused to sell the book in its stores, Dorosin vowed to resume running negative newspaper ads. The next round is scheduled to appear in the March 3 editions of The Wall Street Journal.

Not surprisingly, the company says it's time to move on.

"We believe we've explored all reasonable avenues to resolve the situation," Starbucks spokesman Alan Gulick said. "Customer service is very important to us. But he's rejected every reasonable offer."

Inside Retailing appears Thursdays in the Business section of The Seattle Times. You can contact Robert Wells by phone, 206-464-2412; fax, 206-382-8879; or e-mail, rwells@seattletimes.com