Over the past few years north Broadway has had an interesting revival. First came the opening of Poppy. Then there was the remodel of the Lewis Building and the addition of Edgar. And who could forget the (in)famous introduction of the secret Starbucks, Roy Street Coffee and Tea. But among all this change, one thing has stayed constant: the neglected building at 606 Broadway, once home to the Chinese restaurant and dive bar Jade Pagoda, has remained a vacant blight on the block.
But alas, no longer! A few weeks ago Redside Partners, the owners of the building, received their permits for a full remodel of the building and work has already begun. According to Redside’s Craig Swanson the building could be ready as soon as July, of course he also notes that “these things have a tendency to take longer and be more expensive” then planned.
Rendering of the building after remodel
Swanson said Redside, which owns a number of buildings on Capitol Hill including the Poppy building and the Chester, home of Spinasse, has been pondering what to do with this building for a long time. They approached neighbors about a redevelopment but couldn’t work anything out. Finally they decided to restore the building to working order and try to bring in some new tenants.
This current remodel will undo much of the work done to the building in its last remodel in 1967. Swanson is hopeful that they can strip the interior back to something “raw” but admits it probably won’t be as nice as their remodel of the Poppy building. The new set-up will create room for up to three tenants with two retail spaces fronting the street and one more space in the back. “Everything that is brick becomes storefront” Swanson said of the building’s facade. They have been talking to one restaurant and one retail tenant but nothing is final yet. If you were hoping for a little more nightlife on the north end you may be out of luck, Swanson said they don’t want any bars or night clubs in the space because they are harder on the building.
Please if there is a God in Heaven do NOT put another Thai or Pho place in there. Enough already!
Your map is pointing to “606 Broadway” instead of “606 Broadway Ave E”.
Street view should snap it to Broadway E but maybe not working for everybody
Will be very high rent – look for a couple more eating places … oh well.
WAIT – Queer Youth Space. Someone post to them.
NO Drinking or smoking … no drugs … could be the perfect match.
Careful: The last time I posted something of this nature, I was accused of being racist.
Didn’t I see something on Twitter yesterday about an Ace Hardware possibly going in on that block?
The facade could really use an awning considering how often it rains here and that it’s facing West. A mural would also be a nice addition to the South facade and would probably cut down on graffiti while enlivening the streetscape. Transom windows would be a nice touch too to allow daylight to reach further into the space and create more desirable retail/restaurant spaces.
vegetarian options?
Oh Please Oh Please Oh Please!
Good I’m glad they are doing something about that eyesore! I’m also glad they are not letting any bars or nightclubs rent it out. There are too many condos and apartments right up next to it, so it would not be a good idea.
North end of Broadway is coming along..finally! Ive lived up here all my life and it was such a dump for so long. Hey, I even remember when Radio Shack was up here on the North end..not many of you can say that!
Really ???? Pre war????
West side of the street.
I’m glad they’re finally doing something with the building, but bummed that they’re excluding bars or nightclubs as potential tenants. Broadway needs more late night stuff to do. It’s like a ghost town after 10pm here!
Does there need to be?
Good to see something finally happening in this space.
Any news about the parking lot next door?
Am I the only person who kind of likes the building as it is?
I am somewhat partial to the pagoda. They should leave that there, in addition to restoring the storefront. It would be a good tie to the neighborhood’s past, and would make what would otherwise be a pretty ordinary (albeit well-built and well-restored) building a little more interesting and noteworthy.
I’m with you on leaving the pagoda. I’m always in favor of ANYTHING other than just another anonymous building… including leaving the Lamborghini on top of the old Club Lagoon which no one else seemed to agree with!
I really like the Lamborghini. It’s always something that catches the eye of folks from out of town.
The pagoda, eh. I could go either way. Its a nice piece of kitsch but with the rest of the character on that block (Poppy, Deluxe, Lewis Building) I always though it looked kind of out of place.
Perhaps we could move it to like the Federal/Republican park.
So, hard drinking queens, memories of the Jade.
God, fun to the max, tons of sex, and what a pour, pig drunk into the night.
There will never be another … the era is over … of course the food was vile.
I’m also a fan of the Lamborghini. I think it’s randomness fit’s the neighborhood well. I could care less about the facade of the Pagoda building though. That building was an eyesore.
shows that awesome tree removed?
the one that leans three feet to the east?
i love that tree. leave it alone.
do what you want to the building, to the facade, whatever… but leave that tree alone.
Oh that’d be great, we could use a proper hardware store.
Good God Mike! You weren’t supposed to eat the food! That was just so they could get their liquor license.
I’m pretty sure the tree will stay. They just used an upright tree for purposes of illustration. This image is most likely used for the marketing of the space, and a funky tree would have looked weird. Most tenants won’t even notice it.
I know that when the Joule was built (old QFC block) they had to protect/preserve the trees on Broadway as conditions of construction.
The landscaping is almost done, and I’ll say that I give the Joule a grade B. I hope there is some good retail going in that will make a lively streetscape.
The remodel as pictured in the illustration looks very, very boring…as if it was in some suburban office park. ( hope the developer/architect will come up with some ways to make the building more attractive and interesting…along the lines suggested by SemilyM in the above comment. Otherwise, it will be a lost opportunity.
I think this comment thread is a perfect sample of all possible CHS comments – no more pho, map problem, queer youth space, hardware, veggie options, Lamborghini, trees. Heck, even Mike With Curls is back!
Would have been a good one to end on and donate the archives to the Library of Congress but, alas, we already posted new stuff.
Blech! That rendering looks horrible. Seriously zzzzz. Keep the Hill weird or at least interersting. It is not Belletown and it is not the burbs.
yeah i noticed that too, removal of that old leaning tree (that was probably damaged by a vehicle and never fixed) will result in a younger tree with limbs that are easily and usually torn apart by the young hoodlums on the street, take a look at all the newish trees on pike.pine in particular, these new trees need to be bigger that what they are, and protected by tree guards. esp with the blowout coming that way of the cycletracks, probable trolleyline extension–nice trees are more important that ever.
The Pagoda is gone already!
I have a very good source that informed me there is a new Ace Hardware store going in the old La Panzanella Bakery location, 1314 East Union Street.
Oh, Come on! I worked at that “eyesore” for twelve years. Pearl Woo was one of the best bosses I have ever worked for…I’m currently stuck in the armpit of America: Dayton, Ohio, and I would do anything to go back to work for that woman…