Two buildings in Fremont share the street number 3400, and this fall both are going through the same change. At 3400 Stone Way N, a single wine-bar restaurant has become four counters, a pool table and a dartboard. At 3400 Phinney Ave N, a red brick landmark had one big occupant at a time for most of a century. Now it is being divided among several smaller businesses.
Stone Way went from one restaurant to four counters in about ten weeks
Heavy Restaurant Group opened a Purple Cafe & Wine Bar at 3400 Stone Way N in October 2024. It took over the former Fiasco space, according to the Daily Journal of Commerce. It lasted about 22 months. What Now Seattle reported that Purple closed the Stone Way location on August 1, 2026, after the company said it wasn't bringing in enough sales to stay viable. The company planned to put a new concept in the space that fall. The Purple name lives on elsewhere. The brand started in Woodinville in 2001 and still runs that restaurant and one at 1225 4th Ave. downtown.
Nolu Hall, the replacement, was open by October 14, a little over ten weeks after Purple closed. It isn't one restaurant. Seattle Met's November 6 food roundup says Heavy "changed up its Stone Way location of Purple into a quartet of concepts." The same roundup says all four are open now.
Here is what's in the room, per Nolu Hall's own menus:
- Mallard Smash Burgers serves double-patty burgers and fried chicken.
- Corners Tavern Style Pizza makes 14-inch thin-crust tavern-style pies, which Seattle Met describes as the hall's nod to the Midwest.
- Parcel Grain Bowls builds bowls on a base of rice, quinoa or lentils.
- Bad Mouse Wine Bar is the drinks counter.
Nolu Hall's homepage also lists pool, darts, games and TVs. That changes what the room is for. Purple was a sit-down place where a table ordered off one menu. Nolu Hall lets a table order burgers, pizza and grain bowls from three kitchens and then stay for a game of pool. The hours listed on third-party sites may not be current, so check noluhall.com before you go.
The trolley barn has had one occupant at a time for 121 years
The building at 3400 Phinney Ave N went up as the Fremont trolley barn. It stored roughly 60 of Seattle's streetcars at one point, until the city's system ended in 1941. That's according to KIRO 7's August report. The city's landmarks staff report and news coverage give the building's main uses in order:
| Era | Occupant | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 1905–1941 | Seattle streetcar system | Trolley barn |
| 1988–2000 | Redhook Brewery | Brewery, home of the Trolleyman Pub |
| Nearly two decades, ending with the factory in 2023 and the storefront after | Theo Chocolate | Chocolate production and retail |
Each era had one main occupant. KIRO puts the building at roughly 32,000 square feet, and for decades a single operator filled it. Axios Seattle notes that Theo ran there for nearly two decades. Its factory shut down in 2023, and its storefront closed after that.
The new plan divides the building among as many as six tenants. Richard Leider of Trinity Real Estate represents the owners on the project. KIRO, citing the Puget Sound Business Journal, quoted his description of the building:
"The building itself always lent itself to fitting in with the community and being flexible, meaning it had multiple entries, multiple storefronts. So, it was a good candidate for accommodating different tenancies."
So the building had multiple doors and storefronts all along. For most of its life, each occupant used them as entrances to one business. The new plan gives each one its own tenant.
What's planned inside 3400 Phinney
Here Today Brewery & Kitchen announced three concepts for the building in August. According to Axios, they are:
- Good Bones Coffee, which Here Today said will pay homage to Seattle's "many contributions to the coffee world."
- Glitter Paw Lounge, described as "a tap room and bar serving cheeky and approachable cocktails and snacks."
- Marigolds, an upstairs "pint-sized cocktail and oyster den."
Here Today has run its brewery taproom at 2815 Elliott Avenue near the waterfront since 2022. KIRO notes the taproom's regular weekday lineup: Monday trivia, Tuesday bingo and a Wednesday run club. Here Today's own site still lists the Elliott Avenue taproom with hours for every day of the week.
The fourth tenant is not a bar. The Muddy Goose, a community pottery studio, leased about 5,100 square feet of the building. What Now Seattle described the plan as monthly memberships covering wheels, kiln firing, glazing and independent studio time, plus classes that include date nights and six- and eight-week courses. The studio's site lists two memberships, The Unlimited and The Weekday. It says the studio will open in stages, with a limited number of memberships at first, and points people to a waitlist for opening dates and founding-member spots.
The two 3400s side by side
| 3400 Stone Way N | 3400 Phinney Ave N | |
|---|---|---|
| Previous occupant | Purple Cafe & Wine Bar, Oct. 2024 to Aug. 1, 2026 | Theo Chocolate, for nearly two decades |
| New format | Four counters under the Nolu Hall name | Up to six separate tenants |
| Named businesses | Mallard, Corners, Parcel, Bad Mouse | Good Bones Coffee, Glitter Paw Lounge, Marigolds, The Muddy Goose |
| Operators | Heavy Restaurant Group | Here Today Brewery & Kitchen and The Muddy Goose |
The difference in speed fits the difference in scale. Nolu Hall had one operator dividing a room it already ran. Heavy also runs Pablo y Pablo, Hal's Sports Bar and Hushy's Sandwiches, so it had other concepts to draw on. The trolley barn is a 121-year-old landmark being divided among several businesses, one of them a pottery studio that needs kilns.
The rest of Fremont's holiday calendar
A couple of fixed dates fill out the season around both addresses.
The Fremont Chamber's second annual Mingle and Jingle is Thursday, December 3, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Fremont Social, 127 N 35th St. The Chamber's listing promises a DJ, food, seasonal drinks, a raffle and Santa.
The Fremont Sunday Market runs every week, year-round. From November through March it sets up at its fall and winter location, 701 N Northlake Way, according to the market's site.
Getting around has also changed. King County Metro reported on October 30 that the Route 40 project is complete. It added bus-priority lanes, sidewalk and curb-ramp fixes, new crossings and two blocks of protected bike lanes in Fremont.
Both 3400s show what owners of large Fremont spaces are doing right now. If you own a building, a storefront or a larger lot in North Seattle and want to know whether it would work better as one use or several, Chris Haynes at Seattle Home Guide can walk you through the options with local market data. You can start with a free valuation of your property as it stands today.
