With relatively plentiful housing options, proximity to schools and parks, and plenty of access to a variety of public transit, Capitol Hill has become a home to many Seattle communities. A new community center being planned for Capitol Hill Station will create new resources and new connections for an important and growing part of the city.

Filed construction plans show that Summit Community Center, a Seattle nonprofit dedicated to creating a facility in the city for neurodiverse young adults to foster “independence through social and community engagement” and provide a place to hang out, recreate, and get connected to services and opportunities, is planning to join the mix of retailers, food and drink, and services in the new developments above the busy transit station.

The center is led by a board including founding executive director Alicia Nathan who previously led Seattle’s Academy for Precision Learning and other leaders from Seattle’s neurodiverse community including the current board president of the Down Syndrome Community of Puget Sound.

The group describes the new project as a typical community center:

Within this location we plan to have hangout spaces both indoor and outdoor, a kitchen for cooking and life skills development, and spaces to exercise and engage in the arts and other classes. Nothing is set in stone yet, we have to make sure the property and location are exactly what we are looking for. We really envision the SCC being “a hub” to foster independence through social and community engagement. Some members will come to hang-out with their peers in our hangout spaces, some will come to engage in our classes, some will come for leadership experiences and growth, while others will come to engage in their larger community.

The center is planning to open on Capitol Hill in fall of 2022.

The 6,500-square-foot space being planned for construction of the new Summit Community Center appears to be a berth in the Broadway development originally planned as a new daycare facility, a feature identified in early planning as a community priority for the project.

But the new center seems to meet other important community goals of supporting businesses and organizations that would help keep the station’s development lively and activated.

Summit Community Center says it is also planning to utilize Developmental Disabilities Administration funding to help keep access to the space affordable. While the center will initially be focused on neurodiverse young adults in the 18 to 29 range, Summit says it also hopes to “grow in age along with our initial population of members” and provide a growing set of services over the years.

The planned 6,500-square-foot addition to the Capitol Hill Station development will also join a group of new communities being planned for Broadway. Construction is underway between Pike and Pine on Pride Place, an affordable housing development dedicated to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer seniors that will be home to GenPride, a nonprofit serving LGBTQ older adults. Meanwhile, development at Broadway and Pine will create new housing and a new facility from YouthCare dedicated to “education and employment academy” for homeless youth.

Efforts around neurodiversity have grown in response to new understanding about variation in the human brain regarding how we socialize and learn. It can include people with ADHD and autism, Down syndrome, and some mental health conditions like being bipolar or obsessive-compulsive. Education and social efforts like Summit Community Center are designed to support opportunities for individuals to learn and grow together while understanding it is normal for people to have brains that function differently.

Summit Community Center will also join a diverse mix of new activity in the Capitol Hill Station development. Thanks to the pandemic, it’s been an achingly slow wait for the development’s residents excited for the new stores and restaurants. CHS most recently reported on the plans for Seasmith, a new cafe planned to join the station development and open later in 2022. There will also be a Capitol Hill classic in the mix as the beloved Glo’s moves up the Hill to its new home on the edge of the station’s plaza. And, yes, the 16,000-square-foot H Mart grocery at Broadway and John should open… soon.

Holy crap it’s happening 😍

HMARRRRRT pic.twitter.com/nHBNmqToxh

— Erin Fenner (@erinfenner) December 1, 2021

Summit Community Center is planned to open in fall 2022 at 1830 Broadway. You can learn more at summitcommunitycenter.org.

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