Author Archives: jseattle

About jseattle

Justin is publisher of CHS. You can reach him at chs@capitolhillseattle.com or call/txt (206) 399-5959. Follow @jseattle on Twitter or be best pals on Facebook.

Warby Parker latest big brand with plans to join Pike/Pine

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(Image: Warby Parker Fremont)

A burst of block-long, preservation incentive-boosted apartment buildings has already created hundreds of new — expensive — homes along Pike/Pine below Broadway. The developments are also reshaping the commercial mix for the neighborhood with big name brands and new-era retail showcases.

The next big name to join E Pine, CHS has learned, will be fashion eyewear retailer Warby Parker on a stretch of street that is meshing Capitol Hill development with downtown demographics.

While the company has not yet responded to CHS requests for information about the planned store in the eight-story Excelsior building at Melrose and Pine, permits show plans for a $388,000 buildout of a new eyeglass shop, the third Warby Parker store in Seattle. Continue reading →

Man shot in leg overnight at 12th/Olive

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A man was shot in the leg and police received conflicting reports about the possible shooter in a shooting early Thursday morning near 12th and E Olive St.

Police were called to reports of people yelling and multiple gunshots just before 2 AM near the 1700 block of 12th Ave. They arrived to find a male who had suffered a gunshot wound to the leg.

The shooter was initially described as a white male with a slim build, bald head, and wearing an all blue sweatsuit or possibly medical scrubs. But other witness accounts provided a different description. According to police dispatch radio reports, the victim told police the shooter had accused him of breaking into a car.

Police searched the area for the shooter. A K9 unit was not immediately available but a dog brought to the scene later helped officers search the area yard by yard. Police were also hoping to collect video evidence of the incident from a nearby resident.

We do not have further details but the male’s injuries were not described as life threatening by Seattle Fire radio.

Thursday’s incident took place a block from the site of a November 2016 shooting in which the victim eventually died from his injuries. SPD has not announced any arrests in connection with that case.

Mayor Murray sexual abuse lawsuit dropped

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One month after Seattle Mayor Ed Murray announced he would not seek reelection, the sexual abuse lawsuit at the center of his decision has been dropped.

In a court decision filed Tuesday, a King County Superior Court judge granted the motion from Lincoln C. Beauregard, the lawyer for accuser Delvonn Heckard, to drop the suit.

Murray’s June announcement that he would end his reelection bid effectively began the final chapter of his more than 20-year his political career with an abrupt last few months in office and helped spur a host of filings for candidates to take over at City Hall.

The Murray office says the mayor will make a statement Wednesday afternoon. Murray has denied the allegations and accused the victim and lawyer of being part of a political conspiracy attacking the city’s first openly gay mayor.

In April, the civil lawsuit targeted the 61-year-old Murray over allegations he sexually abused a drug-addicted teen he met on Capitol Hill in the 1980s before Murray launched his political career.

UPDATE: In a media conference Wednesday afternoon, Murray did not rule out restarting his reelection campaign. The rules for an official King County write-in campaign are here. Below is a statement issued by Murray attacking his accuser’s lawyer for the “shameful episode” —

Frankly, the disgraceful and destructive actions of opposing counsel are the real story here.

He’s been dead wrong on the facts he’s asserted about the mayor. His disregard for legal norms has gotten him sanctioned twice by the judge. And the day before his client is scheduled to answer written questions under oath, he withdraws the case.

It is extremely disappointing that a publicity-seeking attorney put the city through this shameful episode in the first place. More than that, it is shocking to our democracy for Lincoln Beauregard to declare, as he did on Twitter today, that, in denying Seattle voters the choice to re-elect a popular and successful mayor, justice has been served.

Seattle residents and the legal system ought to be extremely concerned about the sequence of events that led to the filing of lawsuit and its ultimate dismissal today.

Pictures from the crowd: Seattle Pride March and Volunteer Park Pride Festival

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Thousands marched Sunday from Capitol Hill to support LGBTQ rights (Image: SDOT)

CHS may be taking a break this summer but the crowd is still busy taking great pictures and videos. Here are a few of the best we’ve found from the weekend’s happenings at Saturday’s Volunteer Park Pride Festival and Sunday’s Seattle Pride March. You’ll also find a bonus video from the 2017 Volunteer Park Criterium. Thanks, crowd! Happy Pride!

And then a parade rolled through.

A post shared by Kevin A. Cameron (@kacekevin) on

Continue reading →

Group denied in bid to halt Seattle Asian Art Museum expansion in Volunteer Park

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Before a busy weekend of Pride and cycling in the park, there is good news for one of a slate of major projects lined up to improve Capitol Hill’s Volunteer Park.

The city’s Hearing Examiner has denied the appeal from a community group seeking to halt the $49 million overhaul and expansion of Volunteer Park’s Seattle Asian Art Museum. In a ruling issued prior to this week’s scheduled hearing on the appeal, Hearing Examiner Sue Tanner denied the group’s effort to require a costly environmental impact study for the project, reversing a decision from the city’s planning department. Continue reading →

Laughing Buddha moving into new home at Broadway and Pine

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(Images: Laughing Buddha)
(Images: Laughing Buddha)
(Images: Laughing Buddha)
(Image: King County)

If you are looking for the heart of Capitol Hill, you might want to follow Laughing Buddha. After 20 years on Broadway, the tattoo and body piercing studio is moving into a new home this summer closer to Pike/Pine.

“The area was the epicenter,” Laughing Buddha owner Christy Brooker says of the shop’s longtime home on the north end of Broadway. “Over time, we follow where Capitol Hill moves.

CHS talked to Brooker in 2016 after she took over Laughing Buddha and celebrated the studio’s 20 years of business on Capitol Hill. Her next big move will take Laughing Buddha into the Seattle Central-owned South Annex/International Programs building at Pine and Broadway into a new space designed by 15th Ave E-headquartered Board and Vellum. Continue reading →

Rain City Fit will bring former home of Crypt kink shop back to life with new gym

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The crew from the Stranger might pick up new, healthy habits as a long-empty retail space across the street from the alt media outfit’s Capitol Hill office is about to kick back into motion.

Rain City Fit is preparing to move into the former home of The Crypt, the west coast chain kink shop that folded in Pike/Pine in the summer of 2015.

“It’s a real big space and a tough time for retail. For me, I’m just trying to build a nice gym that is going to fit well with the Capitol Hill community,” owner Ben Koenigsberg tells CHS. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill gunfire? Two incidents overnight

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Gunfire echoed around north Broadway early Sunday morning after a Capitol Hill service station worker said he opened fire to ward of a robbery attempt. Meanwhile, police were investigating more gunfire earlier Sunday after an apparent gun battle near Pine and Broadway in the middle of nightlife crowds overnight.

There were no reported serious injuries in the incidents.

Officers rushed to the area of Broadway and Roy just before 6 AM to reports of gunshots. Arriving police were told the 76 Station worker opened fire on two males attempting a robbery, according to East Precinct radio reports. At least one shot struck the back window of a tan van as the suspects reportedly attempted to flee on 10th Ave. There were no immediate arrests.

Earlier, a wave of violence across Seattle continued with a bout of gunfire near the Broadway parking lot between Pike and Pine just before 1 AM.

Police responded to a report of around eight shots in the area and found at least one bullet-riddled car and a victim who apparently not seriously injured. The female was reported as “uncooperative” by police and refused to stay at the scene, according to radio dispatches.

Witnesses told police of an SUV-type vehicle that sustained bullet damage, another car, and a possibly armed male fleeing the area on foot. Police were checking with area businesses that may have video evidence from the shootout. Seattle Fire was called to the scene for possible injuries from the gunfire but quickly released.

Finally, a $23.25M deal — and plans for inclusive development — at 23rd and Union

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Midtown Center
The Stencil…
and East Union is coming… soon

It is a riskier bet than most $23.25 million land deals in Seattle. But new neighbors and longtime community members are probably happy to see real progress. Africatown, again in partnership with sustainability nonprofit turned in-city housing developer Forterra, will still be part of inclusive development component in the deal. And the buyers seem to know what they are doing.

Lake Union Partners announced Tuesday that it is surging ahead with a plan to redevelop 23rd and Union’s Midtown Center block and has already closed on a purchase of the land — a riskier approach than national shopping center developer Regency Centers and its partner Lennar were apparently willing to take in their failed deal to acquire the property and build a grocery-focused project.

“Given our other investments at 23rd and Union, we’ve worked hard to connect well with the neighborhood and as always, we simply try to do good work with our design, be respectful of the community, and create projects with neighborhood retail that residents of the area need and want,” Patrick Foley of Lake Union Partners said in the announcement. Continue reading →

Here’s what’s next for the old Charlie’s on Broadway space

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The old Charlie’s (Image: CHS)

Connecting the dots on our report from April that yet another minute clinic-style health care business was coming to Broadway, the restaurant space CityMD will be moving into and turning into an outpatient facility on Capitol Hill’s main drag is none other than the longtime home of Charlie’s.

Company officials have yet to confirm the project but people familiar with the plans say the CHI Franciscan Health-backed venture will open the new office after an overhaul of the old restaurant.

CHS reported in April that CityMD was planning a project for the property that includes the Broadway Alley retail mall.

Charlie’s on Broadway closed — again — in January some 40 years after its birth.