It is a season of renewal and expansion for Capitol Hill nightlife classics. Earlier this month, CHS reported on a multimillion dollar deal for gay dance club Neighbours and planned overhaul of the 1911-era Broadway building it calls home.

The Comet, another of the Hill’s longest running, most well known nightlife draws, is also in line for a major overhaul — but this change won’t come with new ownership.

Permits filed with the city show plans moving forward for the addition of a Comet “speakeasy,” an expansion of the bar that dates back to the 1950s on a corner that has been home to a tavern for more than 100 years. Legend tells of tunnels once used for smuggling liquor during prohibition still below The Bluff Building, the 113-year-old three-story the Comet calls home.

While there’s no need to be sneaky about it, the speakeasy concept of bars within bars has been a popular template to add new ways to entertain guests and generate new revenue streams. Another Capitol Hill classic, The Canterbury, added The Apothecary in 2021. The Cant, by the way, will be the next Capitol Hill classic to disappear — it is being lined up for a sale and overhaul as a new restaurant.

A Google Street View look at the block over recent years

The Comet as we know it today dates back to 2014 as new owners from the Capitol Hill Block Party and Neumos family of Pike/Pine joints acquired and renovated the much-loved dive. Dave Meinert has since left the ownership in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations leaving Jason Lajeunesse in charge of the company that also opened diner Lost Lake around the corner in 2013.

The new work will put one space left empty from the pandemic back into motion. The Comet speakeasy is planned to fill the space formerly home to Ikina Sushi ending the run of the restaurant opened in 2016 by Gourmet Dog Japon hot dog king Shinsuke Nikaido. Also 2016 born, the Capitol Lounge is also reportedly permanently closed but its space will not be part of the Comet expansion.

According to the Comet permits, the work will focus on improving the areas between the bar with its Lost Lake neighbor plus an overhaul of the former sushi restaurant to transform the space into the new speakeasy.

When CHS talked with the Comet about the project last year, ownership said it was exploring the feasibility of the expansion but that the project was paused. This spring, the paperwork has gone back into motion and early work on elements like fire inspections is moving forward.

There’s no word, yet, on timing for the project. Plans for a 2022 restart of the annual Capitol Hill Block Party call for a return of the three-day music festival to E Pike in front of the bar this June. UPDATE: A person familiar with the project said the work isn’t expected to begin until after Block Party in July.

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