Weinstein A+U’s rendering of the now under construction Broadway Center for Youth at Broadway and Pine

By Matt Dowell

A planned two years of construction has begun on the Broadway Center for Youth, an affordable housing and workforce development hub at Broadway and Pine. Why develop the project here near the core of the neighborhood’s entertainment district on one of the most expensive blocks in the city and in an area experiencing some of the deepest pains of the city’s ongoing challenges around addiction and mental health?

Officials at YouthCare, the nonprofit behind the center, say they want to create this resource for the young adults they serve at Broadway and Pine for the same reasons anybody might want to live here — community, culture, transit, and jobs.

YouthCare has worked for 50 years to help address youth homelessness in the Seattle area. Their Constellation Center, a part of the Broadway Center for Youth, will connect to Community Roots Housing’s new eight story building with 84 affordable homes on the busy Capitol Hill corner. Imagined as a hub for young people aged 18 to 24 who need job training, case management, housing, and mental health services, the center will expand programs already offered by YouthCare.

YouthCare CEO Degale Cooper highlighted the advantages of the well-connected location. It is close to two local colleges, employers with jobs, and public transportation. And it’s near the healthcare organizations that provide care to those under YouthCare’s wing.

Plus, it’s close to those who need help.

“More young people who use YouthCare services are moving out of the downtown corridor as more condos and businesses go up. They are moving to Cap Hill,” said Cooper.

The development will create new patterns for moving around the busy block (Images: Community Roots Housing)

The organization sees benefits for the broader community as well. When the corner — underutilized for years by former owner Seattle Central — is developed, there will be opportunities for people to come together around people in need who are already in the area. The young people who use YouthCare’s services will become more engaged community members, more likely to stay, Cooper says.

The center will be also be a resource for those who are not currently experiencing homelessness. “There are many folks who live in this expensive neighborhood, have a job, but need a higher paying job to stay here”, said Cooper. YouthCare job training programs can provide an avenue for them to make that progress.

This vision will have stretched across a decade before it is realized. CHS reported in 2016 on Seattle Central’s intent to sell the property, potentially for affordable housing development. Former State Representative Frank Chopp worked to secure the plan that would help Seattle’s homeless youth, calling out the location’s advantages: “We did a tour of the site a while ago and it clearly is an ideal site for it. If you look at where the homeless youth congregates, it’s in Capitol Hill and the U District,” Chopp said at the time. YouthCare joined Community Roots Housing on the project in 2018 and construction began on January 6 of this year, slated to finish in Spring 2027.

The development comes amid increased efforts to address public safety issues in the area including a new service center for the city’s CARE mental and behavioral health emergencies team inside a former bank at Broadway and Pike. Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess said late last year the mayor’s office is also considering adding the area around Cal Anderson and Pike/Pine identified by SPD as a trouble zone for drug crimes and street disorder to an anti-crime camera system pilot currently being rolled out in the area around Aurora Ave N, the International District including Little Saigon, and the 3rd Ave corridor downtown.

CHS reported here on the start of construction and details of the preservation incentive-boosted project designed by Weinstein A+U. Initial work will focus on the demolition of the old Booth Building’s structural components and the rebuilding of its facade. Plans call for an adaptive reuse project to overhaul and upgrade the existing structures including the Booth Building which will remain three stories along E Pine and Broadway. The new affordable apartment building to the south will rise eight stories on the site of the current surface parking lot.

Community Roots Housing’s 84 new affordable homes will be a mix of studios and one bedrooms. They will be available to households with income between 30% and 50% Area Median Income, which translates to $31,620 and $52,700 for individuals. 15 of those units will be set aside for homeless and at risk youth.

The Broadway Center for Youth will also represent a generational balance for Community Roots Housing’s work in the area. In 2023, it opened Pride Place, an “affordable, affirming housing for LGBTQIA+ seniors” just south on Broadway between Pike and Pine. Community Roots also owns and operates the Broadway Crossing affordable apartment building on the southwest corner of Pine and Broadway.

(Images: Community Roots Housing)

YouthCare plans to tailor its Constellation Center job programs to the neighborhood. They will work with nearby hospitals Swedish and Kaiser to train people for entry-level positions like X-ray technician or phlebotomist. Existing programs train youth for hospitality, food & beverage, and retail customer services jobs, construction jobs, and commercial real estate jobs.

“Young people often fail in job training programs when those programs don’t have the level of support and trauma care that YouthCare can provide”, Cooper says. “YouthCare can help the young person navigate the workplace and help the workplace navigate the young person. YouthCare is the navigator.”

The Constellation Center will be an expansion of the organization’s existing work to end youth homelessness. They currently serve around 1,500 young people per year and are part of the King County youth service provider network. They say that every night in King County, 1,800 young people sleep unhoused, and that they aim to make that zero.

Cooper says that a group effort is necessary to solve these problems. Housing by itself is not enough — jobs are needed too. The Constellation Center will be a hub where the many organizations that have long served the Capitol Hill’s youth can work together. It will be a home for young people, a place for them to find any help they need.

Community members hoping to get involved have upcoming opportunities.

YouthCare will host their 39th Annual Luncheon in March where people can hear how the organization has helped young people transform from survival to success. A community groundbreaking ceremony will be held that month with local officials on hand to celebrate the project.

“YouthCare is doing this work in partnership with the community,” said Cooper. “No one org can do all of this and be successful. We need public and private funding to support this effort. We all need to keep in mind that it takes more than one try. People need to know that there is always a place for them to go in case things aren’t working out as they hoped. There needs to be the chance to reassess, redo and try again. That’s what YouthCare is here for.”

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