Author Archives: Ari Cetron

About Ari Cetron

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

It’s not easy but homeowners can now erase remnants of Capitol Hill’s racist real estate restrictions

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“The Communist Party Newspaper, New World, published articles attacking racial restrictive covenants in 1948” — Racial Restrictive Covenants: Enforcing Neighborhood Segregation in Seattle

Language from Seattle’s history of racist property restrictions can now be removed from properties thanks to a new law. While there are likely plenty of them to be flushed out on Capitol Hill, property owners might face a challenge sorting out whether legal remnants of the racist restrictions are part of their home’s records.

The new option, created by state law which went into effect January 1, allows homeowners to petition the King County Superior Court to completely delete the passage from the deed. There is a $20 filing fee with the court. Then you still have to file with the Recorder’s Office to seal the deal.

The county will maintain the original documents for the historical record but the effort will allow property owners who want to move on from including the racist language in a new version of the deed.

Most prevalent from the early 1920s through the early 1950s, these covenants would appear in the house’s title, legally forbidding a homeowner from selling, leasing or giving the house to a black person. Often, the wording would also exclude Asians, Jews, Arabs, and in some cases any “non-caucasians.” It was one form of legal enforcement behind redlining, a practice commonly used by racists in Seattle and around the country. Continue reading →

Law and coffee — Firm’s move to Capitol Hill will include overhaul of E Olive Way building

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Philipp

A downtown law firm plans to make the move to Capitol Hill, and it’s planning to bring a new coffee shop along for the ride.

Aeon Law, an intellectual property firm currently in Pioneer Square, is coming to the neighborhood for a number of reasons, said Adam L.K. Philipp, the firm’s founder.

“Downtown isn’t as appealing as it used to be,” he said.

He noted that most clients no longer expect to come into the office for meetings, so a prestige address is not the sort of thing to worry about too much anymore. And it’s not just clients staying away from the office, many on the staff work remotely as well. That started them thinking that it might be nice to make a new place the changing reality of office work, where only five-15 members of the firm will likely be in the office on any given day.

“We wanted a better environment, a better workspace,” Philipp said.

The new location has other advantages, with most of the workers in the firm not driving, they look forward to being just a couple blocks from the Iight rail in a walkable neighborhood; Philipp sounded genuinely excited to hear that HMart would soon be opening nearby.

Furthermore, he said the commercial landlords have not been sympathetic to COVID-related issues.

“If that’s how landlords are going to treat us, why don’t I find a better landlord – myself,” Philipp said. Continue reading →

Redistricting: A closer look at the few blocks where congressional borders around Capitol Hill and the CD would change

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The purple line represents the District 7 border set in 2011 — the black is the proposal for the new border in 2021

Like changes most likely coming for Capitol Hill and the Central District’s places in the state’s legislative districts, the area’s future Congressional District borders will also likely see tweaks as they are set for the next decade until the next census.

When it comes to our representation in Washington D.C., new maps wouldn’t change the current borders much, again splitting Capitol Hill across two Congressional Districts, the 7th and the 9th. The dividing line runs along Union between Madison and MLK. It then turns south along MLK to Yesler, and then heads east to the lake. From the Union and Madison junction, it continues west along Madison, before jogging south, looping the hospitals and the ID. Continue reading →

Welcome, Laurelhurst? No matter how state redistricting hiccup works out, likely only small changes ahead for Capitol Hill’s 43rd District

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The 43rd today, left, and the commission’s approved (but not final) adjustments

For all Capitol Hill residents on the edge of their seat wondering if the neighborhood will remain at the center of the state’s 43rd Legislative District, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer. For the first time since its creation, the Washington State Redistricting Commission has failed to finalize a new set of maps for congressional and state legislative districts. The process will now go to the state Supreme Court leaving the final decision on borders determining legislative representation neighborhood by neighborhood across the state in the hands of judges.

For the 43rd, the court’s decisions are most likely to result in minor changes with the commission’s “approved” — but not final — map proposal adding southern Laurelhurst in exchange for lopping off areas around Green Lake. But some of the commission member proposals for the 43rd show just how complicated the process can get.

State law required a November 15th deadline for the commissioners to develop the new maps. The reshaping of the state’s boundaries were planned to be in place in time for the 2022 midterm elections.

Created by state constitutional amendment in the 1980’s, the commission first created maps in 1991, after the 1990 census. A different group of commissioners are appointed each time. Two people are appointed by Democrats and two by Republicans. Those four then appoint a non-voting, fifth member to act as chair.

For a map to be approved, at least three of the voting members must agree on it. The idea was to take the process out of the hands of a partisan Legislature, which in many states leads to lawmakers drawing maps that nakedly favor one party over the other. Washington’s process typically leads to the vast majority of the seats being safe for one party or the other, while a handful are competitive.

This year’s commission included former Capitol Hill state Rep. Brady Pinero Walkinshaw as one of the Democratic representatives, along with April Sims. In an on-brand move for the Republicans, their commissioners were both straight white men, Paul Graves and Joe Fain. Sarah Augustine served as chair.

You might not be surprised that some of the most disruptive changes to the Democratic stalwart 43rd District were put forward in the Republican proposals: Continue reading →

Powered by Census population shifts, King County Council redistricting options could unite Capitol Hill

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Parts of Capitol Hill could see new King County Council representation under a draft plan by the county’s redistricting committee. The committee is nearing the home stretch and should wrap up within the next two months. Capitol Hill’s place straddling county District 2 and District 8 will be reshaped in the process.

As with pretty much every jurisdiction in the nation, district lines are re-drawn every 10 years after the U.S. Census Bureau releases its head count of how many people live in America, and just where those people live. At the federal level, it often results in congressional seats moving from slower-growing states to faster growing states.

That concept plays out in miniature across the various levels of government. In Washington, the state is busy re-drawing lines for its congressional and legislative districts. The commission drawing those maps, a five-member panel including Capitol Hill’s former state Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, has released a set of proposed maps, but the group still has a way to go.

The commission re-drawing Seattle’s City Council district lines is also working away on its own maps.

At the county level, new maps were recently released which reflect radically different growth rates across the county. Continue reading →

Design review: Filling in 13th Ave with eight stories at John, four below E Howell

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Skidmore Janette character sketch for a project planned for the corner of 13th and John

A pair of development proposals about a quarter-mile away from each other on Capitol Hill’s 13th Ave will add a few dozen new housing units to the neighborhood and are making their way through the city’s design review process, though only one of them will appear before the East Design Review Board.

131 13th Ave E
A proposed project on 13th Ave E near the intersection with E John will come before the board Wednesday night in the body’s ongoing virtual review sessions.

On the block currently are a mix of single-family and multi-family homes. The proposal calls for tearing down an existing two-story building and detached garage. The structure was built as a single-family home in 1912, but has since been carved up into three apartments. The 1903-built home on the corner would remain in place and neighbor the new project.

Developer G2 Development proposes an eight-story building, with room for 46-48 units, depending on which development option goes forward. None of the options include any parking for cars. The development is just up John from busy Capitol Hill Station. Continue reading →

Real estate and religion: Closures planned at two Capitol Hill and Central District area Catholic churches

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(Image: St. Patrick’s)

(Image: King County)

A national trend away from organized religion will be manifesting itself in the Capitol Hill and Central District area as a pair of Catholic churches will close.

The precise timelines are not firm, but the Archdiocese of Seattle has announced that St. Patrick’s and St. Mary’s churches will both close, and their congregations will be merged with other nearby churches.

A survey released by Gallup earlier this year found that 47% of Americans belong to a church, synagogue or mosque, the lowest number ever recorded by the organization, and the first time its dipped below 50%. In 1999, the number was 70%, a number that had been relatively stable since the 1930’s, Gallup found.

The numbers are even more acute in Washington, where a 2018 study found that 47 percent of state residents identified as nonreligious, compared to 33% nationwide. The state ranked as the sixth least religious at that time.

As those trends have filtered to the local level, religious institutions have started closing. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church closed back in 2019. And the Progressive Missionary Baptist Church closed back in 2016. Next up are likely to be the pair of Catholic churches.

What happens to the buildings? “It’s part of the process, but it’s way at the end,” said Helen McClenahan, managing director of communications for the Archdiocese of Seattle. Continue reading →

What a nine-story, Capitol Hill auto row era-styled building at Pike and Belmont will look like

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Designs by Meng Strazza

New apartments and new businesses could rise in an auto row era-styled building at the corner of E Pike and Belmont if a plan before the East Design Review Board is approved.

The existing building, home to Kaladi Brothers Coffee, Gay City and a small parking lot, would be torn down, though developer Hunters Capital and architects Meng Strazza plan to maintain the existing façade along both streets. In its place would rise a 9-story, preservation bonus-boosted building with 92 residential units atop 7,500 square feet of commercial space. The building would have 53 parking spaces for cars and 89 for bikes. There will also be 750 square feet of office space.

Gay City, meanwhile, has lined up a new Pike/Pine home it plans to open this winter.

The new building would be adjacent to Hunters Capital’s Dunn Motor Building, which opened in 2016, after engaging in a similar façade preservation. CHS reported on the early plans from developer Hunters Capital and longtime property owner Chip Ragen to redevelop the corner in 2020. The Capitol Hill-based developer is also moving forward with plans for another auto row-inspired mixed-use project on 15th Ave E at the site of a former service station.

The E Pike Rowland Motors Building was built in 1910 and occupied a place in the heart of what was Capitol Hill’s auto row. It’s been re-purposed a few times over the past 111 years, and some of the work has been unkind to the original façade. In a draft design review document published in July, the developer stated their plans to restore its character. Continue reading →

420 Boylston Ave E: Backdrop for Seattle’s push for more affordable housing and ‘permanent homes for individuals experiencing homelessness’

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Architectural rendering for 420 Boylston Ave E

Monday morning, Mayor Jenny Durkan and City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, chair of the council’s Committee on Homelessness Strategies and Investments, are scheduled to hold a press conference in front of a Capitol Hill development project to announce “$50 million in new state and local investments to provide permanent homes for individuals experiencing homelessness.”

The location happens to be one of the few locations in the city where Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability program created affordable units at the site of a new project funding the program. Turns out, Seattle developers would rather pay than build affordable housing units.

The city adopted MHA to force developers to help contribute to affordable housing. Under the program, new projects would either need to provide some affordable housing units on site (typically between 2% and 11% of the total project units) or pay a fee.

The fee seems to be the overwhelmingly more popular choice. Out of 224 projects, only five built the units on site.

The rest paid the fee. While the lump sum of cash doesn’t generate the units in each building, it can still lead to lots of affordable housing. Continue reading →

Eight stories, 134 units on 12th Ave — Largest new development coming to Capitol Hill also its most debated

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The future 12th at E Olive St? (Image: Runberg Architecture Group)

The largest development taking shape on Capitol Hill has, perhaps unsurprisingly, also generated the most pushback from neighbors and the biggest challenges for the city’s design review process.

The Mack Real Estate group has plans for an eight-story building at 1710 12th Ave, just north of the affordable 12th Ave Arts development. The land is currently occupied by the former Car Tender auto shop, Bergman’s Lock and Key, and the old Scratch Deli building. The market rate, mixed-use project set to reshape the block started the design review process in late 2019 and returns, now, for the final step still facing stacks of questions and following iterations that have seen at least six different design concepts presented for review.

In its most recent pass in front of the East Design Review Board in November, frustration about the project and concerns about its relationship to the lower heights and smaller scale housing off of 12th bled through. The board split in its opinion that the project could move forward with two of the board members siding with public comment and voting to make the project return for yet another early design guidance session “to consider additional massing alternatives and response to context.” The proposed building related too much to the larger scale of the 12th Ave Arts development and not enough to the small apartment buildings and houses nearby.

“The Board recognized the large volume of public comment with concerns regarding the height, bulk, and scale of this project relative to recent up-zoning changes, the existing context and the adjacent lower intensity zone and agreed that these issues were of critical importance in developing the design of the project,” the report on the most review session for the project reads.

1710 12th Ave

Land Use application to allow an 8-story, 134-unit apartment building with retail. Parking for 83 vehicles proposed. Existing buildings to be demolished. Design Review Early Design Guidance done under 3035745-EG. View Design Proposal  (32 MB)    

Review Meeting
July 28, 2021 7:00 PM

Meeting: https://bit.ly/Mtg3036725

Listen Line: 206-207-1700 Passcode: 146 305 3476
Comment Sign Up: https://bit.ly/Comment3036725
Review Phase
REC–Recommendation

Project Number

Planner
Joseph Hurley — email comments: [email protected]

But there is light at the end of the long process tunnel. Wednesday, the project team enters what could be the final review for the project believing its has found solutions for the problems of scale and relationship to the neighborhood.

“Massing and modulation have been adjusted to reflect/reference this smaller scale and create an appropriate transition,” the design review packet reads. “The preferred scheme does draw inspiration from the neighboring 12th Ave Arts building, but now also incorporates inspiration from the neighborhood to the north, west and east as well.” Continue reading →