Author Archives: Ari Cetron

About Ari Cetron

Ari is a Seattle-based writer and editor. Find out more about him at www.aricetron.com

Housing of God? St. Mark’s Cathedral considers future plans for its St. Nicholas building home to Gage Academy and Bright Water School

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The St. Nicholas building (Image: The Bright Water School)

There could someday be more than housing for more than the Maker at St. Mark’s Cathedral but any possible changes are still years off as the congregation of Saint Mark’s is beginning considerations of what to do with a signature part of its 10th Ave E campus, the St. Nicholas building. A consultant has recommended changing the building into a multi-family residential development.

The building at 1501 10th Ave E, just north of the cathedral proper, is home to the Gage Academy of Art and the Bright Water Waldorf School. Both of these schools have leases that run through 2023, and the church is in the early phases of deciding what to do with the building when those leases run out.

Even though the consultants have made a recommendation, the Very Rev. Steven Thomason, dean and rector of St. Mark’s stressed that the church is still weighing its options, and that nothing is happening in the immediate future.

“We are not making any decision, any time soon, about what to do with the building,” he said.

The church’s involvement in the property stretches back to 2003. At the time, St. Mark’s and a group called the Willow Trust purchased the building from then-owner Cornish with an eye toward converting it into a parish life center. The church wasn’t ready to move forward with the life center at the time, and so they began renting it out (technically subleasing it, since the building is officially owned by an LLC made up of the church and the trust and then leased to the church) to Gage and Bright Water.

Now the members of the Willow Trust, who have thus far remained anonymous, are granting full ownership of the building to the church. So, the church is beginning consideration of what it will do with the property. Continue reading →

Civic duty: Take a tour and a survey on the plans for the Montlake Lid

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For a change of pace from the Capitol Hill protest zone and yet another civic duty deadline — Tuesday night! — how about some reporting on a water fountain at a new park in Montlake. The Washington State Department of Transportation is hosting an online open house about the state Route 520 project near Montlake Blvd. The open house includes a survey asking about the sorts of amenities people may want when the park lidding 520 is completed. Consider it an entertainment option for the rest of your Tuesday.

In the COVID-19 era, what would normally be a public, in-person open house has been moved to the Internet. The “open house” documents are fairly compact, though some of them do get into a bit of detail. Continue reading →

Dear humans, it’s time to help shape the design of new housing across from Broadway Hill Park

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“Dear humans, I’m sad to say this will be my last spring bloom with you all…” (Image: @maniftendst)

There is good reason for the City of Seattle’s streamlined design review process. And there is good reason for new housing across from rare Capitol Hill parkland. But it doesn’t make the scene passed by on so many COVID-19 walks at Federal and Republican any less melancholy. The little house and the blossoming tree are, indeed, enjoying their final season.

The proposed project by Mercer Island-based Sealevel Properties at 1013 E Republican will use the outbreak-streamlined administrative design review process and is part of a sudden, busy pulse of review activity across Capitol Hill. It’s time to add your comments before the proposal is assessed. Owing to coronavirus restrictions, the city has adjusted development regulations to cut out the in-person meeting with the design review board and allow developers to instead go through an administrative process with a public comment period. The comment period for the project opened with notices to neighbors two weeks ago. It closes May 26. Continue reading →

Seattle Central’s Capitol Hill growth plan includes new tech building on Broadway, student housing replacing parking garage

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Student housing rendering

The longterm plan? Replace SCC’s massive parking garage with student housing

A proposed set of updates to Seattle Central’s growth plan could mean some big changes for the school and the neighborhood over the next 20 years including a new technology building on Broadway and new student housing replacing the school’s massive E Pine parking garage. In more normal times, the master plan update would be chugging along right now, holding meetings, gathering public comment, revising drafts of the proposed changes. Typically, this sort of update would take two years.

But like everything else, the update is on a kind of pause while we wait for the COVID-19 crisis to shake out.

Seattle Central, like all large institutions (mostly colleges and hospitals) across the city, has its own land use master plan separate from the surrounding neighborhood. The current plan for Seattle Central was developed in 2002, with the idea that it would last for 10 years. So, in true Seattle style, here we are 18 years later doing the update.

But even that will take longer than it usually would. Brittney Moraski, a member of the advisory committee studying the update, noted there is a moratorium on meetings for their committee and others like it, owing to virus concerns. Meetings through June have been canceled. July isn’t looking good, either.

“Our work has been paused,” she said.

Some of the process has moved online. Continue reading →

New Supportcapitolhill.com effort launches to connect neighborhood businesses to ‘stay home’ shoppers

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You can’t shop inside Ghost Gallery right now. But you can shop Ghost Gallery online via supportcapitolhill.com (Image: Ghost Gallery)

A Capitol Hill-based design firm is working to help local businesses across Seattle connect with their “stay home” customers in the wake of virus-related closures.

“I came up with this idea of like an Etsy for neighborhoods,” said Sara Green, principal and creative director at DEI Creative.

Local businesses, hard-hit by virus-related restrictions, have been hustling to find new ways to generate income, and the Support Local site developed by DEI is one way for them to do that.

The websites are a bit like a virtual shopping mall, featuring at least a few products from dozens of different stores in the neighborhood. The program launched first in Ballard, and the site there features clothing, furniture, toys, books, beer, and the ever popular gift cards from a number of businesses around that neighborhood.

Or, you can buy things from them at the support local site supportcapitolhill.com.

And even after the virus has run its course, and we’re back to going to stores in person, Green said she hopes to keep the site going.

“My intention is for this not to go away,” she said. Continue reading →

Census 2020 social distancing: Why you should spend 5 minutes now to avoid a knock on your door later

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(Image: CHS)

It might seem like a well-thought-out contingency plan on the part of the federal government, if it weren’t for a mountain of evidence showing that there is no such thing.

This year, for the first time in history, the U.S. census has moved online, hopefully minimizing personal contact at a time when a once per decade government tally runs up against a once per century (let’s hope) viral pandemic.

For anyone who doesn’t remember from government classes, 2020 is a census year. The due date for this assignment? April 1st.

The U.S. constitution mandates that every 10 years, the government take a count of everyone who lives here. While there had been a bit of a dust up over a Trump administration plan to add in a question about respondent’s citizenship status, that question is not included.

If you haven’t yet, you’ll soon receive a mailer from the government with a 12-digit alphanumeric code on it. Go to my2020census.gov, click start and type in the code. You will then be asked a series of questions, and can choose one of 13 languages. Questions include how many people live in your household, their name, age, gender (only male or female options) and race (a lot of options, including the option for multi-racial people to check more than one box). There’s also a question about if you own your home (with or without a mortgage) or rent. The questions are based on your living arrangements as of April 1, so take that into account. Continue reading →

$1.74 billion bond measure would bring much needed upgrades, new 10-story tower to Harborview

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(Image: UW Medicine)

There are some big decisions to make this election year. In November, King County voters may face a vote on a $1.74 billion bond to renovate and expand Harborview Medical Center.

The hospital, situated on First Hill, is owned by King County, but staffed and operated by the University of Washington. As a publicly owned and operated hospital, Harborview serves many people who need healthcare and would not be able to pay for it including, but not limited to, the area homeless population.

In addition, Harborview serves as the Level 1 trauma center for the states of Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana. It is the disaster preparedness and control hospital for Seattle and King County. In short, if you find yourself there, something very, very bad has likely happened.

The hospital has 413 beds, 40 of which are in single rooms, and 20 of those 40 are reserved for patients in need of psychiatric care. The hospital says that typically, 50 beds in double rooms can’t be used because of infection protocols. According to the King County Executive’s office, it had more than 16,000 admissions last year. All this adds up to a hospital that routinely has more patients than it has places to put them. Continue reading →

Clad in brick, concrete, and metal, design for five-story building replacing 15th Ave E gas station rounds into shape

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(Image: Studio Meng Strazzara)

A plan to add 68 apartments and space for four businesses to 15th Ave E in a design that echoes auto row preservation-focused projects elsewhere in the neighborhood will be getting its turn before the design review board Wednesday, February 19th.

In this case, there is not auto row building to develop — only an old gas station to tear down. The Hilltop Gas Station had been put on the market in 2016. Hunter’s Capital, the Capitol Hill-based development company purchased the property for $2.75 million in 2018. Since then they’ve been working on a redevelopment plan, one which is now entering the home stretch.

The plan now calls for a five-story building, residential over retail. While an earlier version called for more residential units, that number has been scaled back to 68. Michael Oaksmith of Hunter’s Capital, explained the reason was simple, the developer wanted to add more one- and two-bedroom units into the building.

“More of a unit mix,” Oaksmith said. Continue reading →

After long lines — and a Sanders landslide — as Capitol Hill caucused in 2016, here’s how 2020 presidential picking will work

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A scene like this line of voters waiting to get into the Century Ballroom during the 2016 caucus won’t be happening in 2020

Whatever else happens, Washington’s contribution to selecting a Democratic candidate to challenge Donald Trump won’t end up like Iowa.

In 2020 for the state’s presidential primary, both parties are ditching caucuses and awarding delegates based on the results of the primary. Contrasting with 2016, when republicans held a primary, and democrats held a primary (which didn’t matter) and a caucus (which did matter), everything should be much simpler.

Washington has also moved up its primary from May — at which point the candidates are generally decided —  to March 10, the week after Super Tuesday, when votes here will likely still be relevant. And decision time is fast approaching — the ballots will be sent out next week.

The format should be fairly simple. Every registered voter in King County will get the same ballot, explained Halei Watkins of King County Elections. In Washington, voters do not register as a member of a political party. Therefore for the primary, you will need to choose to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary, and on the outside of the envelope indicate which one and certify that you won’t participate in the nominating process of any other political party. To be clear, this does not make you honor-bound to support anyone in the general election,  it just shows which party you may vote for in this primary. Continue reading →

Home to a depth of Seattle history, neighbors seek federal recognition of Capitol Hill’s Millionaire’s Row

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Millionaire’s Row from the Volunteer Park water tower (Image: CHS)

Seattle may have a new spot on the National Register of Historic Places if a couple of neighbors have their way. DJ Kurlander, Bryce Siedl and Jim Jackson are leading an effort for federal recognition of a stretch of 14th Ave E known as Millionaire’s Row.

If approved, the district which stretches from E Prospect just south of Volunteer Park to south of E Roy, would be honored as historic.

That recognition, unlike being classified as a landmark by the city, has no implications for future uses of the properties. It would not restrict redevelopment or renovations of either the inside or outsides of any of the homes. Nor would not preclude the area from any future zoning increase.

“This ins’t any kind of stealth reaction against the city’s density. The National Registry has no effect on what can be built. But as the city changes, it’s also important not to forget its history either, and that’s the whole purpose of the nomination,” Kurlander tells CHS. Continue reading →