2021 will bring a massive burst of activity to the area around Capitol Hill Station. The newest location of Eastside-born Brazilian coffee chain Kitanda will put a corner space across from it into motion just in time to be part of the changes.

While your favorite Brazilian might be excited about a coffee shop dedicated to a South American focus on darker, stronger flavors and Kitanda’s acai selections, let’s be real. What they’re really going to be excited about, general manager Laura Alves Ferreira  admits, is the cheese bread, a staple of the culture’s breakfast and morning snacks.

Though the Brazilian lattes with sweet condensed milk will also hold their own, Alves Ferreira says.

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Kitanda is planned to open in January in the ground floor, corner retail space of the Capitol Building at Broadway and John across from Capitol Hill Station’s main entrance. The commercial space has been without a permanent tenant since American apparel disintegrated there in 2017. In spring of 2019, with “live plants, flowers, and rolling hills” a Glossier pop-up shop briefly called the corner home. Despite its location across from the busy transit station — so proximate, the property was at one time lined up for a full redevelopment along with a massive underground parking garage for commuters — it has remained empty since.

That will change by January, Alves Ferreira hopes, as the new Kitanda cafe opens. She says the plan is to create a comfortable shop space for when COVID-19 restrictions lift and customers can return to inside service. In the meantime, they’re planning to add a walk-up counter to the space’s John facing side with hopes the feature becomes a long-term part of the street scene around Broadway.

Kitanda will also join another new neighbor on the block. The Post Pike Bar and Cafe opened next to the post office earlier this month.

Meanwhile, across John, hundreds of new apartments are opening above Capitol Hill Station and retail and businesses planned to open in the project include grocer H-Mart and The Exploration Academy daycare.

@jseattle coming soon? pic.twitter.com/8yrJ2nZGNe

— Mariel Dunietz (@kitsaber691) December 13, 2020

For Kitanda, started as a family-run shop and now grown into an investor-fueled company with plans for healthy expansion, the move onto Capitol Hill makes sense given the area’s dense population core and transit resources. The neighborhood’s appetite for new things also helps, Alves Ferreira said.

“I feel like what we do is current,” Alves Ferreira. “Capitol Hill really represents that.”

Kitanda is planned to open in January at 200 Broadway E. You can learn more at kitanda.com.

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