Monthly Archives: November 2023

New owner leaves Capitol Hill’s HoneyHole shuttered — and employees in the lurch

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(Image: CHS)

The HoneyHole’s nearly 25-year reputation for affordable good eats and good times on Capitol Hill may very well be worth saving.

But the sandwich shop’s latest new owner may not be up for the job.

Former employee turned owner Evan Bramer hasn’t responded to CHS’s inquires as the E Pike sandwich joint and bar shuttered last week and remained dark Halloween.

On the door, hastily written paper signs hang. “Closed — Sorry for the inconvenience,” one reads.

“We are closed because he won’t pay us. Sorry,” reads the other, signed by “HoneyHole employees.”

There are more complaints. Here, an employee describes receiving a bad check and being unable to contact Bramer in a social media post created last week: Continue reading →

‘To see what they can build’ — Developer sizing up Bait Shop property for 6-story mixed-use project on Broadway

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(Image: Bait Shop)

The north end of Capitol Hill’s commercial core will reach to six stories and change will come for a favorite neighborhood watering hole if plans take shape for a new mixed-use development on the northeast corner of Broadway and Mercer.

The planning could be the latest effort on northern Broadway to extend the street’s redevelopment wave — or part of packaging property along the street for potential sale.

The development team says there is no planned start date for construction and that they are very early in what would be a multi-year process of public design and review.

A representative for Mark Craig and Cascade Ridge Partners says the developer has begun planning for Broadway North, a proposed five-story, 90,575 square-foot mixed-use building with around 121 apartment units, underground parking for 127 vehicles, “123 bike stalls and conveniences,” a rooftop deck, and “other residential amenities.” Street-level will include 10,000 square feet of street-level space for retail, services, and food and drink establishments. UPDATE: The developers say the planned building would rise five stories, not eight as CHS originally reported. The construction details include “5 levels type VA apartments over 3 levels of type IA base” but those levels include the underground parking and the project team says the resulting building would be a five-story structure. Sorry for the confusion. UPDATE x2: The development team has gotten back to us after we questioned the five story count. They have now clarified the project won’t be eight stories and it won’t be five, either. The project nets out at six total stories:

New construction of 5 levels type VA apartments over 3 levels of type IA base, commercial ground level and 2 levels of subterranean parking garage. The project consists of 118 apartment units, 3 live work units, 10,000 SF commercial space and 127 parking stalls.

It is possible someday existing commercial tenants Bait Shop and TRIBE Fitness could move back onto the block in the new project but the 1920s-era building they call home will be demolished to make way for the new development. Landlord and prolific Capitol Hill area property owner Redside Partners has informed its commercial tenants of the early plans.
Continue reading →

Seattle, want to hire more cops? Federal recommendations suggest adjusting police department to ‘rapid changes and shifts in community expectations’

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Seattle has been criticized for its struggles hiring and keeping cops but the problems aren’t unique to the city. The Justice Department has released a new report detailing recommendations “to address the challenges in recruitment and retention law enforcement agencies are facing nationwide.”

The new report commissioned by Attorney General Merrick Garland recommends police leaders do more to understand the needs of the communities they serve while modernizing outdated hiring practices.

The new report attributes the staffing issues to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shifting labor market, officer safety concerns, and community response to issues like use of force and biased policing. Continue reading →