Deano's Rumor Mill & Public Records

Rarely a week goes by without someone reporting that Dean Falls' property on Madison is about to be knocked down and redeveloped. Two reports today:

Yesterday I noticed a fridge sitting on the sidewalk outside of the old Twilight Exit. Are they cleaning out the place in anticipation of demolition?

I was out for a walk & I stopped into Deano's Grocery yesterday and the place was almost totally empty of merchandise. I asked the clerk if they were closing down and he said they were closing next week and that the building would be demolished. Is this true?

I checked with a property developer whom I know to have been negotiating with Mr. Falls for over a year and he had no comment.

Mr. Falls received his Master Use Permit to redevelop the property on March 31st, 2005, but has not done so. Here and here are details of the development plans, and here is a photo album of the design.

So, if Mr. Falls is not going to develop it himself, we will know that something is happening when we can see, in King County records, that the property has been sold.

Open the King County Parcel Viewer and "search by address": enter "2040" and "Madison" and you'll get a map like this.
Select the "Identify" tool (right margin) and click on any property to identify it and then click on "property report" to see ownership. The red highlighted "Recorders Office: Excise Tax Affidavits Report" link produces actual copies of Real Estate Excise Tax Affadavits, signed by buyer and seller, if the property has been sold recently!

Note the parcel number and go to the King County Assessor's eReal Property System and enter the number to find out more about the property. The "Recorder's Office" link from the eReal record (upper window, scroll down a bit) also takes you to the Real Estate Excise Tax Affadavits.

The King County Property Tax web search lets you look up the name and address of the taxpayer for the property, and will show if they are behind in their taxes and (it appears) might even let you pay peoples' property taxes for them!

From these resources it's clear that Dean Falls' properties are still owned by his company, DEF Inc, so the demolition rumor may be premature (though County records may take a while to be updated).

But if you keep checking on the County records, you'll be the first to know if the property is sold!

I'd be intersested to learn of (and will pass on) any better, easier ways to get this information.