As it battles Patrick Dempsey — of all people — for the dried husk of the Tully’s coffee chain, Starbucks is preparing to make its first full-bore entry into the Pike/Pine neighborhood by taking over a space the troubled chain recently left behind. (UPDATE: Done deal — Dempsey group wins bid for Tully’s)
CHS has learned that the new tenant sizing up and preparing a new buildout inside the former Tully’s at Broadway and E Pike is none other than the global coffee giant.
Starbucks has yet to respond to CHS’s inquiries about the project.
If confirmed, the new store will be the first new location for the Starbucks chain since its flirtation with unique, one-of-a-kind “indie styled” cafes like 15th Ave Coffee and Roy Street Coffee. Roy Street lives on and the E Olive Way cafe benefitted from the new Starbucks style but the experiment ended with 15th Ave’s rolling back to the standard Starbucks brand with the start of 2011.
Dempsey may win the chain but SBUX is already victorious at Pike at Broadway (Image: @PatrickDempsey)
Details of the new cafe are thin at this time. The building’s new owner Craig Swanson of Redside Partners purchased the old Broadway State Bank building for $1.45 million with plans to overhaul the space and bring in a new tenant.
The new Starbucks will neighbor the highly anticipated Capitol Cidercurrently under construction in the former art gallery next door and slated for a February debut on E Pike. Meanwhile, the overhauled cafe will neighbor Neighbours to the north along Broadway. The corner will also have a conveniently located streetcar stop when the line becomes operational in 2014.
Already apparently secure in its acquisition of the former Tully’s space, Starbucks is also among the bidders battling with investors including actor Patrick Dempsey for control of the financially troubled Tully’s coffee chain.
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I thought it was going to be an irish pub?
I am SO GLAD they are putting a Starbucks there! Sometimes when I am having MAJOR COFFEE WITHDRAWLS I can hardly walk the 20 steps over to the Starbucks stand in the QFC right across the street. Once, I almost PASSED OUT in the street crossing over Pike to get to it one awful latte deprived day. Thankfully that will never happen again.
Don’t they already have one in the QFC across the street? Would have been nice to see it turn into something more drinkable and friendly to the taste buds.
Well, further north on Broadway there is a Starbucks in the QFC, and directly across the street, yup, another starbucks. I believe they serve different markets ie. I want a quick coffee drink while shopping, vs. I want to look über cool with my expensive computer writing the next great ironic American Novel.
Can’t wait till they open up a Starbucks inside that Starbucks so I can get some Starbucks while I Starbucks
I’m sure there’s a pothole on Broadway, just past the Harvard Market, that has a Starbucks in it.
I miss having a coffee shop on that corner, so I’m glad about the Starbucks. The grocery store Starbucks across the street is not a relaxing place to lounge for many reasons and is not available later in the day. Most of the time I prefer Kaladi Brothers which is a few blocks down, but I like to mix it up once in a while so I’ll definitely go to the Sbux when it opens.
Judging from what we actually accomplish, our fondest aspiration as a species appears to be to turn everything we touch into McDonalds.
Haha. Funny.
I would REALLY like the good Mr. Dempsey to take over Tully’s and save the company. I love SBUX, but I think we have enough of them. Sorry, Starbucks lovers.
No need to be sorry. I also like Starbucks but I hope Tully’s survives. It’s good to have options, and different tastes appeal to different people. No reason they both can’t serve Seattle, there’s a market for both.
Another starbucks? Jeez, so tired of seeing them everywhere. Bauhaus should take that spot instead. Oh how I’m going to miss Bauhaus when they moved this summer.
Oh, the humanity!
The staff do a good job keeping up, but the place gets packed at peak times. There really isn’t much room to queue up and most people end up blocking the door. I’ve seen at least 15 people in line there before, and when that happens, the poor employees are extremely frazzled. I always wondered why Starbucks didn’t put a brick and mortar location in, and it looks like they finally noticed there’s demand for one.
It’s so easy to bash Starbucks and it’s become almost a cliche to do so. But I think it’s a great company and we should be proud that it originated in Seattle. Just because it’s big doesn’t make it evil.
There are plenty of options for those who don’t like Starbucks…..we are such a coffee-loving city that independents can do well even with Starbucks all over the place.
Well said. Couldn’t agree more.
Also, SBUX employee benefits are commendable, health coverage for part timers and more.
This will surely compliment the Chipotle and Mudbay pet store going in nearby! Goodnight sweet prince! Broadway, we hardly knew ye. Guess I’ll be going to Ballard to patronize all your small businesses that fled your corporatization.
Actually, that truly IS funny! Thanks for the giggle.
Seriously. The quality of the coffee at the QFC location is inconsistent at best, and sometimes downright terrible. The staff doesn’t care, but who would when you work for Kroger. At the very least the employees at the new location will have better benefits.
Yes, I like specialty shops, but there is something to be said for a consistent cup of coffee. McDonalds may not serve the best burgers, but the burger is generally consistent from store to store. That’s what Sbux has going for it.
Starbucks also owns Seattle’s Best Coffee and I heard that Starbucks has plans to reintroduce and build a retail presence for that brand. Starbucks also has stakes in Teavana and Evolution Fresh, just because Starbucks owns the place doesn’t necessarily mean another coffee shop is opening. People need to stop being so cynical.
[…] empire benefitted from facelifts inspired by the short-lived experiment. Its most recent project transformed a former Tully’s and long ago bank at Pike and Broadway into its sixth Capitol Hill […]