Honey Bear May Lose Green Lake Location -- Multi-Use Project Will Rise In Bakery's Spot

The Honey Bear Bakery, a beloved landmark in Green Lake, might be going buns up.

The landlord plans to demolish the 80-year-old building and replace it with a multi-use project that will include apartments or condos, office space and retail shops. There might be room for the Honey Bear, too, but the bakery owner says it's too soon to tell.

"If we can, we want to work it out," said Ron Sher, Honey Bear owner. "It depends on what (the landlord) wants to do with the site and how long we'd be closed down."

David Sucher has owned the property, at North 55th Street and Meridian Avenue North, for 15 years. He said he wants to keep the Honey Bear in the new building and is considering some fun design elements related to the bakery.

"I thought of doing some sort of stylized cinnamon roll" on top of the building, he said, or perhaps a big bear. He has hired architect Dave Jarrell, who's working on a project in funky Fremont that will include a beanie on top of a building.

Such adornments might take some of the sting out of the disappointment now being expressed about the plan, which will be discussed tomorrow night at the city's preliminary design-review meeting.

"So where am I going to go for a year?" asked Honey Bear regular Evan Hundley, a teacher at University Prep School. "This is my second office. I come here and grade papers all the time."

The Honey Bear has anchored the corner for 15 years. It has become so popular that real-estate agents frequently mention it in their ads for nearby homes. Strollers from Green Lake often stop for coffee or pastries, quickly replenishing all the calories they used up while walking around the lake.

Word of the proposed demolition came this week, and some hoped it was a Halloween prank. After all, it was this time last year that someone stole the large, carved bear that stood on the sidewalk outside.

Now someone's about to take the whole building.

But Sher called Sucher "a responsible landlord" and hopes to keep the landmark bakery in Green Lake. He calls it "The Mothership," the first of three bakeries he owns, including one in Lake Forest Park and his recent purchase of Elliott Bay Book Co. and its cafe in Pioneer Square.

Sucher's plans for the building will be closely watched.

"Seattle doesn't have much history, so our icons can be as small as the Honey Bear Bakery or the Red Door," said Scott Surdyke, a local developer.

The Red Door Ale House will be moved from its anchor spot at Fremont's south entrance and replaced with a six-story mixed-use complex.

"The Red Door and Honey Bear Bakery are the living rooms of these neighborhoods," Surdyke said. ------------------------------- Design review

Preliminary plans for the Honey Bear Bakery site will be discussed at a design-review meeting at 8 p.m tomorrow in the auditorium at Eckstein Middle School, 3003 N.E. 75th St., Seattle.