An early massing concept for the 517 E Pike project
The city-required early outreach process is underway for the eight-story development planned to replace the corner of E Pike currently home to the Gay City nonprofit and Capitol Hill coffee shop Kaladi Brothers.
An overview of the plans for the development have been posted to 517epikeproject.com. There are also opportunities to provide early, informal feedback on the plans as the developers and their architects prepare the project for its official design review. The review has not yet been added to the city’s East Review Board calendar.
CHS broke the news on the plans in August that will transform the rest of the 500 block of E Pike as Capitol Hill-based Hunters Capital entered into an agreement to develop the property owned by the Ragen family and the Ragen and Associates landscaping business that calls the top floor of the building home. Gay City executive director Fred Swanson told cHS his organization had already started its search for a new home.
One early design concept
The developers say the new “mixed-use residential building will be designed with the history of E Pike St. in mind through cohesive architectural elements and appropriate scale at the street level.”
“The two-story facades facing E Pike St. and Belmont Ave. will be preserved,” they write. “The ground-floor will include about 9,000 square-feet of retail/commercial space and the building will include about 53 below-grade parking areas.”
The exiting building’s location and age qualifies it for the Pike/Pine Conservation District’s preservation incentive program which allows taller developments in exchange for preserving the facade of historical, auto row-era structures.
Hunters Capital and developer Michael Malone have already been active on the block. They developed the eight-story, preservation incentive-boosted Dunn Automotive building next to the current home of Gay City and Kaladi. The architects at Studio Meng Strazzara will also design the new project.
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awesome!
Fuck. Gay City will probably have to move off the hill. Another great coffee shop will go missing (like Bauhaus before it). With gay city being pushed off, maybe it’s time for me to find a new neighborhood.
This is good news. I trust Hunter’s Capital/Mike Malone to do a high-quality development, in harmony with the neighborhood.
Fuck you get the fuck out quit destroying what little is left of Capitol Hill for bullshit.
I hope they include some rolldown shutters or at least lexan windows to protect against the future ‘protestors.’
(wagging finger at Mr. Justin) Not to be pedantic but the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce “broke” the story on August 13th. After someone tipped me off about that story, Seattle Gay Scene reported it later that same day.
#YouHaveToTootYourOwnHornOnceInAwhile