Belltown Messenger

Medusa rising? That's what some residents of the Pomeroy condos on upper First Avenue fear. The ground-floor restaurant space in that building, most recently home to a now-shuttered branch of the Torero Mexican chain, has been leased by three former employees of Club Medusa, a particularly loud-n'-rowdy nightclub that closed late last year at 2218 Western Avenue. (Club Venom has taken over the old Medusa space.)

"Venom" could describe the reaction of some Pomeroy residents, who started an email campaign to the city and the Liquor Board expressing fears that Twist (the new venture of Dave Lyon, Ted Rodermeyer, and Lisa Martin) would become Medusa under another name.

The residents took their concerns to a packed-to-overflowing Belltown Community Council meeting on Jan. 25. At the meeting, Twist co-owner Dave Lyon claimed it would be primarily a restaurant, not a music/dance spot. In a subsequent email, Lyon said: "Our goal for Twist is to provide a much needed escape in the heart of Belltown for the urban professionals. Twist will uniquely combine food, spirits, art and philanthropy in a contemporary restaurant and lounge setting.... Our format will rely heavily on tapas and large "sharing" platters with our goal being for groups of guests to order several items which would then be shared "family-style".... Plain square tables and stiff wooden chairs will give way to comfortable couches and elegant booths. Our color scheme revolves around velvety purples and pearlescent lilacs; transforming a tired room into a truly vibrant, non-traditional space."

John Cook and Gary Kunis, co-leaders of the condo residents' protest, hope to next express their concerns at a private meeting in early February with city and Liquor Board officials.

Something cryptically titled "Space" is set to open later this month or early next in the Second Avenue storefront previously occupied by the sample-clothing outlet store Planet Lulu. Lulu's sudden closure coincided with a public rift between its L.A.-based owner Noah Soltes and its local manager Heather Joy. Joy accused Soltes of skipping out on back rent and pay; Soltes responded by threatening to sue if Joy refused to ship remaining merchandise back to him. No word yet on whether or how the dispute was resolved.

In a recent P-I story about city attempts to force more affordable-housing subsidies from luxury condo developers, a Downtown Seattle Association spokesperson claimed some 54,000 people lived downtown. That contradicts the city's own stats showing 20,000 downtown residents, half of whom are in Belltown.

The discrepancy turns out to be based on definitions. The city defines downtown as bordered on the east by Interstate 5. The DSA's State of Downtown Seattle brochure, available through downtownseattle.com, includes big swaths of First and Capitol hills in its territory. - Clark Humphrey