Conklin in 2010 (Image: CHS)
The central core of Pike/Pine is undergoing some changes big and small as the holidays roll onto Capitol Hill. Here is a rundown of the moves, overhauls, developments and demolitions underway on a two-block stretch of E Pike. We’ll let you decide if each is yet another harbinger of “the death of Capitol Hill” or merely part of the ebb and flow of a neighborhood.
- Super Genius Tattoo: A key component of the E Pike scene since 2003, Seattle tattoo super daddy Damon Conklin is moving his shop around the corner onto 10th Ave into the former Atlas Clothing space. The word was on the street in recent weeks — the signs announcing the move (“next to Moe Bar“) are now up. We’re checking in with Conklin to learn more about his decision to move the tattoo parlor. In 2010, CHS talked with him about his work and his planned overhaul of the E Pike shop.
We’re also checking in with Conklin’s (soon to be former) landlords. A local real estate investment company bought the Winston Apartments building home to Super Genius, several residents, the Hot House and the Wildrose in early 2012 for $4.6 million. The new owners said at the time their intention was to continue to manage the building as its previous, longtime owner had while making some cosmetic and infrastructure improvements to the 1905-era structure. -
(Image: Blue C)
Boom Noodle turning Blue C Pike: In February, CHS reported on the corporation behind the Boom Noodle and Blue C restaurant chains putting its energy behind the sushi and not the noodle end of their equation. At the time, the plan was for 12th/Pike’s Boom to carry on while the company set out to make Blue C the next big thing. But a big construction project permitted for the 12/Pike restaurant had us speculating that the company may have pulled the plug on the Boom idea altogether in favor of its newfangled Kaisho izakaya concept.
Instead, CHS has learned that the planned $200,000+ overhaul planned for the space will transform the restaurant into Blue C Pike, another outlet for the company’s successful conveyor belt sushi chain. There are also Blue C belts running downtown and in U Village. Meanwhile, the family friendly Blue C will join Broadway’s Genki in offering keitan-style sushi to Capitol Hill diners. No word from Madison Holdings on when the 12th and Pike restaurant will re-open. 
Comet overhaul: The missing dollar bills have yet to be recovered but work continues to clean up years of what the Comet’s new owners say has been serious neglect of the old tavern.
We are in the process of gutting [a lot] of the moisture damage in the space. a very large majority of the space as you can see in the pictures below has much needed repair work. All the bones are in tact, and nothing structural in changing. Just pulling up rotted materials, cleaning, rebuilding the built in back bar, coolers etc.
The bar is planned to be re-opened in “early 2014.”
12th/Pike teardown: Demolition appears to still be weeks away but the wood panels went up Monday around the emptied street-level shops in the turn-of-the-20th Century building on the northeast corner of 12th and Pike. A six-story project with 88 apartments, 3,000 square feet of retail and underground parking for 38 vehicles is slated to replace it all over the next two years.- Dunn project underway: With The Chophouse moved on, a mix of careful demolition, preservation and construction is underway on 11th Ave as Liz Dunn’s planned office+mews development project digs in.
- Construction challenges: All of this preparation for the future can mean a rough go for the present. Here is a video sent to us by the folks at Moe Bar showing some of the challenges for pedestrians and everybody else in the area thanks to some underground infrastructure work related to the two new apartment projects under construction along Union — this nearly-completed building from Seawest and this just-started project from Alliance. On the one hand, disruptive for residents and businesses. On the other, here comes a new wave of neighbors and, yes, paying customers.
