"After 45 years of service, Arnies Restaurant will close effective September 21, 2026. Unfortunately, the current business climate does not allow us to continue."
That notice went up on the door at 300 Admiral Way, and My Edmonds News reported the closure the next day. The sign went on to thank guests for "first dates, holidays, birthdays, proposals, and Anniversaries." The paper tried to reach management for comment and couldn't.
Most coverage stops at the farewell. The bigger question is what happens to the building, and that was mostly answered more than a year ago. The Port of Edmonds owns the land under The Landing. In 2025 the Port signed a new ground lease with the building's next owner, approved a teardown-and-rebuild concept, and set the plan on a long schedule. That schedule assumed Arnies would keep the lights on until construction started. The restaurant closed about three years early.
The decision that came first
The building has been in transition since early 2024. That's when Catspaw LLC, which owned The Landing, told the Port it would not renew its ground lease. The lease was set to run out at the end of 2029. A few months later, Catspaw brought in a buyer: 1010 Development, owned by father and son Mike and Ryan Appleby.
The Port could vet the buyer because it holds the land. In the Port's June 2025 announcement, staff said they gave the Commission a building condition study, a market analysis, a redevelopment feasibility report and a cash flow analysis. The proposal was "discussed at length in 11 public commission meetings throughout 2024 and 2025," and public comment "overwhelmingly supported the project." The Commission approved a new 50-year ground lease unanimously, effective June 6, 2025.
Acting Executive Director Brandon Baker summed up the Port's position: "There is only so much commercial waterfront property in Edmonds. We had to ensure it was the right fit for the community and the Port."
What the plan puts on the water
The concept is a boutique hotel, and it was designed to bring in locals as well as overnight guests. According to the Port, the proposed public amenities include:
- a full-service restaurant
- a sauna and spa
- a social club
- event space
- a first-floor café with coffee, smoothies and grab-and-go items
The building will be torn down completely and rebuilt on the same footprint. Appleby told My Edmonds News that a rendering would come out later, after a long permit process. He mentioned one specific group of locals. He has seen the Sunday morning cold-water plungers and said a ground-floor sauna would let them "come right in." The same article put the project among the few waterfront hotels on Puget Sound, alongside Mukilteo's Silver Cloud Hotel and Seattle's Edgewater Hotel.
No room count has been made public. Port minutes from May 2025 refer to a room count listed in an exhibit to the lease. They also set terms for parking talks if the project changes enough, or adds enough rooms, to need more parking under city code. The project still has to go through design review, with chances for public input.
The bridge that just closed
In 2025, the Port and the developer agreed on what would happen until the rebuild. Arnies would be the anchor.
| What was said in 2025 | Where things stand on Oct. 10, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Construction estimated to begin "sometime in 2029" | Still the only public estimate; no update has been released |
| "Arnie's Restaurant and other tenants will remain in place and open until construction begins" | Arnies closed Sept. 21, 2026 |
| The Landing to stay a retail and office building "for the foreseeable future, with Arnie's Restaurant as the flagship tenant" | The flagship space is empty, and no new tenant or interim use has been announced |
| Appleby: "My first order of business is to fill the building vacancies" | No public update on the building's tenants since the closure |
That gap is the real story. Through 2025 and most of 2026, the arrangement was simple: Arnies served dinner with a harbor view while the hotel moved through permits. Now there are roughly three years before the earliest estimated start, and the building's best-known space has no announced occupant. In June 2025, My Edmonds News counted 13 other tenants in The Landing alongside Arnies. No updated list has been published since the closure.
The Port hasn't put the building on its public agenda yet. Its Sept. 29, 2026 commission agenda had no item on The Landing. There has been no statement from 1010 Development either. Keep in mind that 2029 was always an estimate made in 2025, not a construction date.
The rest of Admiral Way this fall
The Landing is quiet, but the waterfront around it is not. Within a short walk of 300 Admiral Way:
Anthony's Beach Café, 456 Admiral Way, lists hours of 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily, with walk-in seating. Anthony's HomePort Edmonds is upstairs in the same building, open 4 to 9 p.m. daily, with bar happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays. Now that Arnies is gone, this building has the sit-down harbor-view dinners in this stretch of Admiral Way.
Salish Sea Brewing's Boathouse Taproom, 180 W. Dayton St., opens Wednesday and Thursday from 3 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. The downtown brewpub at 518 Dayton St. is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The brewery's events calendar lists a food bank fundraiser at the Boathouse on Thursday, Oct. 15, live music on Friday, Oct. 16, and more live music on Friday, Nov. 6.
The Edmonds Waterfront Center, 220 Railroad Ave., has a chamber concert on Oct. 13, the Legacy Ukulele Ensemble on Oct. 18, and flu and COVID shots on Oct. 27. Its Oktoberfest is Thursday, Oct. 22. Doors open and music starts at 5 p.m., and dinner is at 5:30. The CommonGrounds café inside is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. The center notes that hours depend on weather and that weekend venue rentals can affect them.
Olympic Beach, 200 Admiral Way, is right next to The Landing. It has a fishing pier, waterfront paths, picnic tables and restrooms. Brackett's Landing North, at Main Street and Railroad Avenue, and Brackett's Landing South, at 100 Railroad Ave. S., are farther along the shore. City parks are open sunrise to sunset.
The Port's Marina Cleanup Dive is Sunday, Nov. 8, from 9 a.m. to noon at 458 Admiral Way. Shore support is open to the public.
Operator hours shift with the season, so check the restaurant and taproom pages before you go.
The next construction project on the shoreline
The Landing isn't the only waterfront project with a long timeline. The Port's Portwalk runs from the public fishing pier through the marina and Mary Lou Block Public Plaza to Marina Beach Park. The Port's facility improvement page estimates that seawall and Portwalk construction will start in 2027 or 2028. Those estimates put two Port-led rebuilds on the same stretch of Admiral Way within roughly two years of each other. Both sit on Port land.
Downtown, one empty restaurant space has just been filled. Rooster Bagel Cafe Kitchen Bar opened Oct. 3 at 515 Main St., in the space The Loft used to occupy. It's open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily for now. Director of Operations Hilary Ness told My Edmonds News the longer-term plan is a "day-to-night neighborhood café, kitchen and bar."
For The Landing, the next real news will come from the Port: a commission agenda item, a tenant announcement or a design review filing. Port commission agendas are posted ahead of each meeting, and My Edmonds News republishes them.
At Hines Group, we follow waterfront projects like The Landing closely, because changes on public land shape everyday life near the water for years. If you'd like to talk through what the Port's plans for Admiral Way could mean for your own property, we'd be glad to help. Request a Complimentary Home Consultation.
