The still new Admiral District business association took further steps on Monday Feb. 13 to get better organized as they elected their first official slate of officers and heard a presentation about visitors to the area from the Office of Economic Development, SDOT and EMC Research.

The new officers for the business association now formally called Admiral District are Parris Sadow of Atomic Boys as President, Kirk Mead of Umpqua Bank as Vice-President, Eric Renn of Crossfit Gym and Krystal Kelley of Mind Unwind sharing the duties of Secretary, and Jay Wergin of the Heartland Cafe as Treasurer.

Following the election the visitor survey presentation began. Andrés Mantilla of the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, Ann Sutphin AICP for the Seattle Department of Transportation and Brian Vines, Research Analyst for EMC Research took part in a survey of visitors to six Seattle neighborhoods last year including the Admiral area. The survey, conducted from Sept. 29 to Oct. 16, produced a few surprises, all of them positive.

Vines, in a Powerpoint presentation showed the results of 200 interviews conducted with people in the area over an average day from 9 am to 9 pm, Sunday through Thursday. They spoke to both residents and non residents.

The data showed a very steady group of people visiting regardless of season with 91% visiting regularly. Most visitors stayed 2 to 4 hours and the biggest draw to the area, unsurprisingly are the grocery stores with 64% stating that was the purpose of their visit. Dining as a reason was second but down at 26% as the primary reason.

The percentage of non resident visitors was higher the presenters noted than other areas of the city they surveyed.

Convenience was high on the list for residents but one survey highlight was 50% of the people visiting who walked to the area, with 20% stating that exercise was the main reason for getting there. In fact 39% typically walk to the district.

60% of those surveyed live in the area with 56% of them female and 52% less than five blocks away.

53% of the people were between 40 and 64 years old and 78% had no children.

The full survey results will be available in the future on the website for the Admiral District, once it's built.

In other business, a new logo, or rather a set of potential logos was brought in by Blue of Royal Blue Tattoo that will be reviewed by the Marketing and Advertising Committee before one can be chosen by the larger organization.

If you'd like more information or have questions about the organization you can contact them at info@theadmiraldistrict.com or via their Facebook page.