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After nearly 40 years, Pagliacci Pizza leaving Broadway

(Image: Gibraltar Investment Property Solutions)

A part of the street since 1983, Pagliacci Pizza is leaving Broadway.

The Capitol Hill-headquartered chain confirmed the planned closure which they are calling a “move” and said the plan is for the 400 block Broadway E shop to close next month.

While many pixels have been spilt discussing Seattle pizza restaurant closures and the city’s minimum wage, the Broadway closure is about Pagliacci’s new project on Capitol Hill:

In December, we are moving our Broadway location to Pike Street, next to our office. As you may know, our office, call center and support staff have been on Capitol Hill for over 20 years. We love the hill and as our neighborhood has grown, it has become clear that a Pagliacci would serve this community super well. We will offer slices, pickup and delivery out of our new location. We have had a great run on Broadway! Opening a location next to our newly remodeled offices and training center will be a great showcase for Pagliacci.

CHS reported here on the company’s 40th anniversary and coming slice bar and restaurant next to its headquarters on E Pike. Dorene Centioli-McTigue opened the pizzeria “Seattle came to know and love as Pagliacci” in 1979 in the U-District. That location closed last year as Pagliacci focused its 20 or so locations. In 2000, the company was purchased by business partners behind Torrefazione Italia who turned the sale of the high-end coffee brand to Starbucks into an investment in Seattle pizza. Pat McDonald and Matt Galvin remain owners of Pagliacci as it moves into its fifth decade.

Pagliacci’s history on Capitol Hill is shorter. The chain marked 30 years on Broadway in 2013.

The search is now on for a new tenant looking to create a retail shop or light weight food operation on the block willing to shell out Broadway 2020 prices — “Rental Rate $35/SF + NNN (est. $4.00) = $7,800 per month” — on a street where food and drink options are on the upswing including the arrival of Altura sibling Carrello, new owners at Lionhead, and an overhaul and new life at the old Broadway Grill in Witness cousin Olmstead on the way. The space can also be converted to full restaurant capability with some investment, the listing notes.

The new E Pike Pagliacci, meanwhile, is slated to debut December 14th.

UPDATE: Celebrate with free slices Saturday, February 1st:

Pagliacci: Free Slices at new Pike Street Location

 

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24 Comments
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Jack
Jack
4 years ago

Tragic… where will I get a cheap slice on North Broadway now?

Anastasia
Anastasia
4 years ago
Reply to  Jack

Duh, at Rocket Pizza at Broadway & Roy. Oh wait…

Capitol Hill Since 1990
Capitol Hill Since 1990
4 years ago

…Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…
It’s so weird to think that Broadway, between Roy & Olive Way USED to be the HOT SPOT for everything on the hill, back in the day late 1980’s through the 1990’s. Back then, the Pike/Pine corridor was just a very grungy, scary area of strange & abandoned warehouses, with Vita and the Comet… then, eventually Moe’s. Now, it’s just the reverse. Pike/Pine is THE hot spot AND growing!

Bummer the Broadway location is now moving. I’ve been hitting this spot since 1990. It was nice to have the consistency of Pizza & Salad in that part of the hill. Sigh.

Although, after they killed the Broadway Market with QFC, and then booted the Harvard Exit Theater, and finally the Roy Street Coffee (Starbucks) closed as well, so, i can see how not a lot of people are casually drawn to that area of town any longer.

Guess all i’m waiting for now is a huge developer to eventually buy the whole block (wait for it…), knock everything down, then build another mega-unit apartment & condo building with too pricey of retail in the bottom.

i love the density of New York City, and know that ALL major cities in the US are heading there, and i do get and support it, however it is hard to live through and see history erase itself.

Anastasia
Anastasia
4 years ago

Agreed. Though in some fantasy world, not all “development” has to be “destructive”.

James in the CD
James in the CD
4 years ago

Good riddance. Pizza sucked and atmosphere somehow worse.

Sea Side
Sea Side
4 years ago

I don’t think Pagliacci is that bad, but am I ever picking it over Hot Mama’s a couple blocks away? 0% chance.

Mosie
Mosie
4 years ago

It’s always hard to see a business close after a long time. Frankly, I never went there so I cannot say I will miss it as a go-to for me. Glad we still have many food options along Broadway. I’m eager to see what Witness can do with the old Broadway Grill.

Frank
4 years ago

It’s funny how none of the commenters understand this situation. They are moving because of the homeless filth, junkies shooting up directly outside their business, and the high cost of minimum wage. Who do think pays all the taxes in your socialist utopia? LOCAL BUSINESSES. Not the grungy morons who seemed to all have moved here in the past 20 – 30 years. A bunch of losers suckling off the success of others.

Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Uh, they are adding a restaurant to a property they already own and consolidating delivery ops there.

Anastasia
Anastasia
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank

How’s your day going, sweetheart?

jonc
jonc
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank

You didn’t read the article, did you Frank? Happy holidays.

LeonT
LeonT
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Okay, boomer.

RWK
RWK
4 years ago
Reply to  LeonT

Isn’t that expression a little trite by now?

zeebleoop
zeebleoop
4 years ago
Reply to  LeonT

But it’s so easy to use and requires very little thinking. Just perfect for our hit-and-run, social media driven society.

CD Rez
CD Rez
4 years ago
Reply to  Frank

Low level trolling

SpeakingTruth
SpeakingTruth
4 years ago

OK Boomer is ageist and empty. It needs to be retired like racist and sexist epithets.

O’Kay Beaumur
O’Kay Beaumur
4 years ago
Reply to  SpeakingTruth

Y’all gave us Donald Trump, f’d the housing market, let the minimum wage stagnate, destroyed the social safety net, grossly inflated the cost of college and healthcare, have done nothing to address climate change, and invaded Iraq, but yeah, sorry your feelings are hurt.

James in the CD
James in the CD
4 years ago
Reply to  SpeakingTruth

Ageist…kind of. More of a mentality than age related. NIMBY white dumbass works just as well.

RWK
RWK
4 years ago

Sure, James, throw around the name-calling. That’s a really effective way to contribute to the dialogue here.

John Whittier Treat
John Whittier Treat
4 years ago

Never sorry to see bad pizza go.

RWK
RWK
4 years ago

I love their “Pagliacci salad”, but the pizza is mediocre.

WorkersRights
WorkersRights
4 years ago

Good riddance. Pagliacci Pizza FORCES employees to sign arbitration agreements before they are allowed to work. That means if PP breaks the law and denies you rest or meal breaks or discriminates against you because you are trans, you give up your right to sue in court and are forced to submit to an employer-friendly mediator.

F-ck small businesses that screw workers and the Chamber of Commerce that supports them.

Glenn
Glenn
4 years ago

Wow. So much anger here on Thanksgiving eve over a pizza restaurant closing. Looks like it’s going to be one hell of a fight over the drumsticks.

paganbuddha
4 years ago

All Of broadway is owned by the Aldeheff family.

I lost my ice cream shop, which was right next to Pag’s.

When I told Mr. A, at the top floor of his huge building on the lake, “I sell ice cream on broadway, I don’t make that much, I have to have some money leftover to live on, I’ll have to look somewhere else if you can’t lower the rent.”

He said, “good luck, my brothers and sister own the whole strip, thanks to my parents, and unless you pay me what I want, you’ll never do business on Capitol Hill again.”

So I shut down, had to clear everything out on Christmas 2001. No more neighborhood store.

It’s greed, the real estate agents told me, at times business to apartments, most are left vacant till they get what the owners think they deserve.

Old money and offshore owners are killing Broadway, this has been a plan since the eighties.

Glad I don’t do business in Seattle anymore. Use what slang term you will for the landlords because you’re right, it’s a fix, and Broadway is a shiny pinky ring for the rich or their children. Whom now overpay for apartments and run Airbnb’s out of them, so they can brag about having a place in Seattle.

well all that and the tech money…

I still love Seattle and broadway, and after this year hiatus, I honestly don’t care if I live in my car or a tent- I’m moving back to broadway!