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Capitol Hill Goodwill lined up for mixed-use development

Plans have been filed with the city to replace the Capitol Hill Goodwill with a mixed-use development that would add around 170 new apartment units to Belmont Ave E just off E Olive Way.

The Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce reports the planning could be part of the first steps in a sale of the 1926-built building by longtime ownership.

In the early filings, the development is being planned by VIA Architecture as a seven-story structure with 171 apartment units on the sloping lot.

CHS reported here on the 2013 closure of Half Price Books and real estate investor Jan Jarman’s efforts to find a new tenant for the 14,000-square-foot, two-level property.

In mid-2014, Goodwill debuted its Capitol Hill store in the building marking a brief golden age for Capitol Hill vintage and thrift shopping. In 2015, the neighborhood’s popular Value Village location shuttered after one last Halloween. Meanwhile, Lifelong Thrift replaced Red Light and continues to operate its store and donation center on Broadway.

Goodwill stores are operating again under retail restrictions during the ongoing pandemic and the Belmont Ave E location remains plywood-covered but open. If the 2014 deal with the nonprofit retail and jobs organization was a common ten-year lease, you might see a development plan and sale rounding into shape sometime around 2024.

Despite the impacts of COVID-19, Capitol Hill has continued to see small ripples of new development still moving through its neighborhoods. CHS reported here on plans to build an eight-story development on the block of E Pike currently home to Gay City and Kaladi Brothers. A huge round of construction is also wrapping up centered around the major development above Capitol Hill Station.

 

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judy
judy
3 years ago

no!!!!! if anything can be done to keep goodwill as the mixed-used spaced i would love to be apart of the fight

cat virus
cat virus
3 years ago

i work here currently and have since 2016: it would be a terrible loss for the area but as all things here : constantly torn down and erased

caphiller
caphiller
3 years ago

I’d love to see that lot used for something more intensive than a single goodwill store and parking lot. A midrise apartment building is perfect for the site. It would be fantastic if the goodwill could remain on the ground floor of the new building.

Moesby
Moesby
3 years ago

The kind of people that will be able to afford to live in the apartments they’ll build would never shop at a Goodwill anyways. If you want to push people of lesser means off the Hill, you can’t just focus on housing. You’ve got to make sure there’s nowhere they can afford to buy clothing or food either.

Brad
Brad
3 years ago
Reply to  Moesby

You know that Goodwill presses more charges than any other business in Seattle against shoplifters right? Maybe having them not be here will be a net positive.

judy
judy
3 years ago
Reply to  Brad

your comment makes me really sad. so just have expensive stores on the hill…great idea let’s make everything so expensive the “poor”
will have nothing they can purchase which includes some of the current residents of the area. I own a home in capitol hill and love shopping there because I am sick of fast fashion, like to save money and enjoy the experience of the hunt. guessing neither of you have been on the hill for very long

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
3 years ago
Reply to  Brad

Ummmmm…wut? Making Capitol Hill safer for shoplifters would be a GOOD thing? Is this Trumpian Logic or something?

Brad
Brad
3 years ago
Reply to  Brad

If you want to criminalize poverty that is your business.

everythingchangingfortheworst
everythingchangingfortheworst
3 years ago

Yeesh! I’m questioning what the heck is the point of living on the hill anymore. Anything cultured or interesting or affordable is finally pushed out with this pandemic. Tired of these insta aesthetics.