Madison Pub and Chop Suey are getting a new neighbor

Capitol Hill’s auto row may never truly fade away. CHS has learned that the people behind the neighborhood’s lone remaining automobile showroom now have plans to open another in a 1920-built garage just up the street.

A new Alfa Romeo Seattle showroom and sales offices have begun permitting for a project set to transform the Talbot Building neighboring Chop Suey and the Madison Pub in the 1300 block of E Madison. 

While still awaiting its construction permit, the planned facility would open up the auto row-era garage for customer parking inside with a showroom of the latest Alfa Romeo models behind large glass walls. A row of sales offices would line the back of the former auto garage.

The project will be a spinoff from the nearby 12th/Union/Madison Ferrari and Maserati of Seattle showroom.

In 2013, CHS reported on general manager Tino Perrina’s plans for the E Madison property after purchasing the 15,000 square-foot garage for $2.25 million.

Earlier that year, CHS wrote about the shuttering of Callahan’s Auto as ownership balked at the cost of seismically updating the building. At the time, Perrina told CHS his hopes were to keep the structure’s auto row bones intact. “We want to keep the look and feel of the building how it is now,” Perrina said.

The two-story Talbot Building still has its original solid wood supports and beams, each measuring about one-foot in diameter.

A 2007 survey ranked the 1920-built structure as one of Capitol Hill’s highest seismic risk buildings. FEMA regulations that require seismic rework are only triggered if the building undergoes major reconstruction or changes use. Its future as a car sales showroom falls under the same “service” category of use as the automobile repair business that previously took place in the building.

Currently, permit paperwork doesn’t indicate if any seismic work is planned during the construction process to build the new Alfa Romeo Seattle showroom.

Perrina confirmed the project with CHS but said it is too early to say more about the plans at this time.

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The 12th Ave showroom is only a few blocks away

The expansion from Perrina marks further investment in the neighborhood even as most other vestiges of the area’s auto row past have faded away. The 12th Ave showroom underwent an overhaul of its own to better show off its shiny luxury cars.

Meanwhile, other Capitol Hill dealerships that survived into the 2010s pulled up stakes and sold off their properties. The Smart family cashed in its E Pike holdings after decades on the Hill where the AVA Capitol Hill building now stands. Bob Byers Volvo left the Hill in 2013. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery moved in. The BMW dealership on E Pike became Pike Motorworks.

The Perrina family still owns the land its 12th Ave dealership calls home, acquiring the parcels in 1999 for $3.5 million. The dealership encompasses 33,000 square feet in warehouse and garage space, a 600 square-foot office and the 2,100 square-foot showroom. It also includes a small 135 square-foot parking lot that exits onto 11th Ave and is a good place to see the high performance cars heading out for a run in Pike/Pine. The single-story buildings the dealership call home date to 1913, according to county records.

The new Alfa Romeo Seattle showroom will likely represent a small change of pace for the Perrinas who have already been offering the Chrysler-owned brand at their 12th Ave showroom. The new space will focus on the brand which is still considered “luxury” but doesn’t boast the “oh my gosh” price tags of Ferrari and Maserati. Perrina called the Alfa Romeos “a much more accessible” option for his customers.

Alfa Romeo Seattle is planned to open in the 1300 block of E Madison. You can learn more at alfaromeoofseattle.com.