As neighbors await the next round of design review for the four-story PCC mixed-use development destined to replace it, City People’s is heading into its final fall season in Madison Valley doing the kinds of things it has done to help connect Seattle to its dirt since its 1979 founding on Capitol Hill at 19th and Republican.
Sunday, CHS stopped by an old-fashioned cider pressing with a new-timey twist — the apples being squeezed were provided by City Fruit, the urban fruit gleaning community dedicated to putting the bounty of Seattle’s edible forests to good use. Visitors to City People’s got to help with the press and walked away with $5 growlers of fresh city apple cider.
City People’s landscaping and garden store, meanwhile, is enjoying its final season in Madison Valley with plans to close by the end of the year after the business’s longtime owners opted to sell the property and make way for the new housing and retail development. A second “early guidance” design review session is slated for later this month on October 26th.
The planned four-story development didn’t have a successful run through its first early review session in July as the board kicked the plans back and asked for more to be done to help the project mesh with the surrounding neighborhood.
Going to miss that place. I sometimes would go down there and wander around their outdoor plant area without any intent to buy, just reading the tags and taking in the astounding diversity of leafy things that can grow in our corner of the planet. I’ve seen a lot of interesting birds while there too, including hummingbirds doing mating flights, and just this week a pair of Steller’s Jays were scolding me, or maybe warning everyone of the pair of Bald Eagles (I think the same pair that nest in the Arboretum) that came soaring over a few minutes later.
Not going to get any of that at a PCC.