Yearly Archives: 2021

11th and Pine has had an interesting two years — ‘Fast casual’ salad joint Sweetgreen planning to call it home and join Pike/Pine’s shifting food, drink, and entertainment mix

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(Image: Sweetgreen)

The unusually large Capitol Hill commercial space at 11th and Pine that boarded up just before months of pandemic restrictions and missed some of the most intense clashes between police and demonstrators at the corner during the CHOP occupied protest is finally going back into motion — at about half the size.

A Seattle outlet of the “Fast-casual salad” chain Sweetgreen is being lined up for the corner with plans to transform the former pub into a 2,672-square-foot restaurant for the company that has made headlines for its big bet on robots, big hopes on Wall Street, and big controversy over comments from an executive about the big size of Americans.

Like other recent Hill food and drink construction projects, Sweetgreen Capitol Hill, the company’s first location in Seattle, could be a slow path to opening due to permit bottlenecks and contractor demand.

Turns out, Sweetgreen is also very busy right now. Continue reading →

With 7 of 10 expected Seattle voters still hanging onto their ballots, González and Harrell face off in final major debate

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The final major debate of Seattle’s 2021 election takes place Thursday night as candidates Lorena González and Bruce Harrell will face off in a forum carried across local television and radio, and streamed live online.

Thursday’s event is the second from Seattle CityClub and the Washington State Debate Coalition and is intended to focus on public health and safety. The first session two weeks ago is embedded below.

That focus could be a challenge as the final week of campaigning has been focused on attack ads after González was forced to pull her advertisement criticizing Harrell’s defense of former Mayor Ed Murray before Murray resigned in a sex abuse scandal.

Mayoral Debate with Lorena Gonzalez (Democrat) and Bruce Harrell (Democrat)

KFC Capitol Hill: Pelicana ready to perfect Korean Fried Chicken at Harvard and Pine

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Wings?

During the pandemic, we have all learned to adjust our expectations. But for owner J Hwang, there has been extra patience required to create his new Capitol Hill restaurant Pelicana Chicken out of the bones of the popular but dearly departed Bill’s Off Broadway.

First planned to debut before summer, the US offshoot of the popular South Korean chain is finally ready to open at the corner of Pine and Harvard.

“Finding perfect taste is the most challenging part,” Hwang told CHS about the delays. Korean fried chicken research and development may, indeed, have been part of the long wait though Pelicana Capitol Hill is starting from a strong base with recipes honed for thousands of locations across South Korea.

Hwang says bogged down city construction permits and hiring at $20 an hour — depending on experience — also took longer than expected in reopening-era Seattle. Continue reading →

Man shot and killed overnight in 23rd and Jackson parking lot

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(Image: SDOT)

A man was shot to death overnight in a parking lot at 23rd and Jackson in the Central District.

According to Seattle Police, and East Precinct and Seattle Fire scanner updates, gunfire was reported in the shopping center parking lot in front of the AutoZone and Starbucks at the corner just after 1 AM.

Arriving police and Seattle Fire found a man down in the parking lot who had been assaulted and shot multiple times. Continue reading →

Sawant’s latest battle targets landlord and property managers over conditions at Rainier Valley affordable senior housing complexes

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District 3 representative Kshama Sawant is standing up for seniors living in two Rainier Valley apartment communities who say their buildings are unsafe and poorly maintained.

Sawant’s office says the city council member was planning a Wednesday morning appearance at the 34th Ave S offices of COAST Property Management calling for the company that manages the complexes and property owner SouthEast Effective Development to respond to the complaints. Continue reading →

Commission adds affordable housing advocate as process to redraw Seattle City Council borders moves forward

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Powered by the latest Census data, the City of Seattle is redrawing its boundaries for its seven City Council districts. The volunteer board convened to lead this process meets Thursday for a special meeting to move forward on the process and introduce the fifth and final member selected to the body.

According to meeting materials for the Wednesday morning session (PDF), affordable housing advocate Patience Malaba is set to join the commission. Rules for the redistricting require two members appointed by the mayor, and two by the City Council. The fifth is selected by the board. Continue reading →

On the List — Hilloween 2021 edition: Trick or treating on Capitol Hill, Seattle Weavers’ Guild Show and Sale, Hotel Sorrento Zombie Soiree

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Yes, there will be trick or treating on Capitol Hill in 2021. And, yes, Pike/Pine’s bars will be vaxed, masked, and packed. Here are this week’s special Halloween edition highlights from the CHS Calendar. You can also Add Your Event here.

Wear your mask… and your Hilloween mask and don’t forget your proof of vax.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28TH

Continue reading →

SPD busts school bus thief after chase through CD, Wood Technology Center crash

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture from the scene

The driver of a stolen school bus was arrested Tuesday morning after crashing into the parking lot of 23rd Ave’s Wood Technology Center after a 15-minute police chase that included the empty bus smashing into parked cars, a Metro bus, and the Judkins Station construction site along the way.

Seattle Police says the man, believed to be a bus service employee not authorized to drive the vehicles, stole the bus just before 8 AM near S Horton and Colorado Ave S:

The suspect then drove through SODO, swerving across traffic, running red lights, and appeared to purposefully ram other vehicles. The suspect headed east, reaching Rainier and McClellan, ramming additional vehicles along the way. Because of the ongoing risk to the public, police pursued the suspect, who reached speeds upwards of 50 miles an hour. The suspect continued north on Rainier, turning onto 23rd Avenue, where he struck a King County Metro Bus and later crashed into a light rail station construction site at 23rd Avenue and Judkins Street.

Continue reading →

Why this Central District development will have a new Black arts center — not a Bartell’s — at its 23rd and Union core

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The seven stories of Midtown Square along E Union (Image: CHS)

A new Arté Noir arts center will anchor the development’s 23rd and Union corner

Lake Union Partners has made a $70 million deal to sell two of the buildings it created around 23rd and Union just as the firm’s key development project at the corner is nearing the end of construction and will open with a challenging mission as a for-profit development shaped to try to address displacement and affordability concerns in the Central District. A new Black arts center now envisioned as the centerpiece commercial tenant in the building will help.

“My hope is that Midtown Square will be viewed as a project that was done with sincerity and purpose, and took an incremental step in helping to curb the affordability issue in the area and was the catalyst to welcome back people to the neighborhood who moved away years ago,” Patrick Foley of Lake Union Partners tells CHS. “At a minimum we want all people to feel welcome at Midtown Square.”

Construction is wrapping up on the project that now fills the site of the former Midtown Center shopping strip with a three-piece, seven-story mixed-use apartment development and plans for 428 market-rate and affordable apartment units, a quasi-public central plaza, and a huge underground parking garage.

Foley said the progress on Midtown Center is unrelated to the huge deal for LUP to sell off two of its four properties around the corner as it sheds both the 42-unit Stencil development at 24th and Union and 23rd and Union’s southwest corner The Central in a $440,000 per unit agreement with developer Prometheus, the largest private owner of apartment properties in the Bay Area, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal who broke the news.

Prometheus was originally lined up to acquire only The Central, Foley says, but made a strong offer for the smaller Stencil, too. The cash will help Lake Union Partners with a “philanthropy opportunity,” and other projects Lake Union is “working on in Seattle that have capital investment needs.” Continue reading →

City launches $16M Seattle Relief Fund — Meanwhile, ‘Guaranteed Basic Income’ program plan proposed for 2022

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The city is launching a new $16 million Seattle Relief Fund designed to provide households during the pandemic from $1,000 to $3,000 in financial support. Meanwhile, a program to set the groundwork for a larger Universal Basic Income system in the city could move forward during the ongoing 2022 budget process.

Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office announced the new relief fund Monday for “households that were unable to access state unemployment, had no health insurance, didn’t receive federal stimulus payments, or experienced housing instability or mental health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic” — Continue reading →