MTV’s The Real World is returning to Seattle for its 32nd season with a new home on Capitol Hill. Producers for the reality show have already started building out the set at the 12th Ave Ballou Wright building between Pike and Pine.
The camera-saturated living quarters for a cast of 20-somethings will be inside a space recently vacated by the tech-savvy creative agency Creature. The company began subleasing the space to the show’s producers last month and has since moved its 15-member staff to a coworking space in Pioneer Square.
Creature’s offices will be home to the cast of The Real World. (Image: Creature)
Creature, which was founded in 2002 and moved to 12th Ave in 2011, was not intending to leave Capitol Hill. When The Real World came knocking it just so happened the company was looking to reduce its footprint inside the building.
“The opportunity came up to rent the the space, so we decided to vacate for present,” said Creature co-founder Matt Peterson. Creature plans to return to its Capitol Hill space in the fall when production wraps up, Peterson said.
Creature is creative agency focused on “design, advertising, and innovation,” with past clients including the Space Needle and Starbucks.
Creature’s Claire Penhale told CHS that when producers were scoping out the office space earlier this year they also inquired about the best bars in the neighborhood. “They seemed to have been out on the scene and knew that Capitol Hill was a popular area for the kids to go out,” she said.
Producers also liked the prospect of having Seattle Police as neighbors, Penhale said, as many of the problems they encounter when filming the show actually come from locals harassing cast members. Meanwhile, some local bars and restaurants are already gearing up for the incoming hype:
@jseattle @Axelkuehn I can tell you where they won't be filming – Comet, Lost Lake, Big Mario's, 5 Point
— David Meinert (@davidmeinert) May 31, 2016
R.W. Productions, a California-based company linked with the production outfit behind The Real World franchise, filed paperwork last week to create a “movie studio” and temporary residence on Capitol Hill. The Ballou Wright building is also home to new-era juice bar and cafe Juicebox. CHS wrote about the building’s overhaul and tech-savvy tenants here in 2011.
Good for Meinert for refusing to allow filming in his businesses.
Ugh
I’m glad some business owners are taking their patrons and the neighborhood into consideration. Nice to see that.
However it seems producers of the show don’t think the SPD have anything better to do. Sigh.
You mean the cops whose department is going to get a big fat from MTV for the hassle?
A bunch of kids from everywhere but here move into town, get drunk repeatedly and can’t stand their roommates. That is not Seattle. Okay, MTV that actually is eerily like Seattle.
On the positive side, with all the homelessness, drug use, pan handling and drunken fights that will be captured on film and broadcast – it may have others thinking twice about wanting to move here and help mitigate our housing crisis :P