CHS noticed the design renderings for the Chophouse Row mews sure were doggy back in 2013

Underdog? Play Under the Hill? Dog Play Afternoon?

The Central District’s Play Doggie Daycare is opening a second location in an underground space on Capitol Hill, but the owner has yet to settle on a name and she’s looking for ideas. Feel free to help her out in comments.

Sarah Slater, owner of the popular dog daycare at MLK and E Cherry, told CHS she hopes to be open in the space under Manhattan at 12th and E Pike by mid-January. The daycare will focus on small dogs for partial-day or full-day stays — the Capitol Hill location won’t be set up for overnight boardings. Slater said she expects most people to utilize the space by dropping their dogs off 2-5 times a week while they go to work or just for doggy socializing.

“There are so many apartments with dogs around (Pike/Pine)” Slater said. Downtown Dog Lounge on E Denny Way is the only other large-scale dog daycare currently servicing Capitol Hill.

While the new dog daycare will be located underneath Manhattan, it will also interact with the new Chophouse Row complex going up on the block, with connections to the “mews” storefronts and outdoor courtyard. According to Slater and Chophouse plans, a mezzanine “dog bar” will overlook part of the dog play area — an unfair-to-the-competition but ingenious way to keep bar patrons entertained for hours. Design plans say the bar “will allow for patrons to have a drink while their friends get their exercise in a separate doggy-daycare center below.”

If you aren’t already working on opening the first Capitol Hill cat cafe, you had better get working on it.

Slater opened Play in 2012 after operating a Seattle dog walking and boarding business for 12 years. A native of England, Slater has a background in marketing and design. Developer Liz Dunn, who is behind the Chophouse Row, the Piston Ring building and recently purchased the Baker Linen building at 11th and Pike, was a Play customer for years — Slater said that’s how she got involved with the project.

The backdrop of the dog daycare’s expansion also provides at least one illustration of a Central Seattle area in transformation. Play’s location at 2765 E Cherry was the longtime headquarters of The Facts newspaper, a weekly publication that covers African American life in the Pacific Northwest. In its new Capitol Hill home, Play will occupy a space that was once a car mechanic shop, and later became CrossFit Gym.

The future dog bar was once home to Garlick Upholstery, an auto upholstery business, and 12th Avenue Iron.

Chophouse Row envisioned

Meanwhile, slated for occupancy in November, construction continues on 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row development — it looks like the opening target might be a tight squeeze. The anchor restaurant for the development will be a new venture from Ericka Burke of Volunteer Park Cafe. Playing a smaller part but still expected to be a big draw is the Kurt Farm Shop, a cheese and dairy counter from farm to table champion Kurt Timmermeister. Also inside Chophouse Row, Amandine, a bakery project from Bruce and Sarah Naftaly, and Slate Coffee will share a two-story space and a project known only as “Bar Ferd’nand II” will create a 1,400 square-foot edition of the popular Melrose Market Euro-style bar, wine shop and cafe. In Chophouse, Developer Dunn is again bringing together her concepts in a Capitol Hill complex tying together like-minded small businesses, restaurants and shops. Niche Outside is the only retail element announced for the project. A 75-foot-tall office building with two penthouse living spaces on top will rise above. It’s likely to be another successful recipe for Dunn. And, of course, this time she’ll be unleashing the secret weapon that is Capitol Hill’s first dog bar.