Hearing Examiner dismisses Capitol Hill new age church’s appeal against neighboring Safeway redevelopment

 

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(Image: Weber Thompson)

(Image: CHS)

The Seattle Hearing Examiner has dismissed an appeal from a Capitol Hill new age church, upholding a city land use decision last year giving the go ahead to the planned redevelopment of the neighborhood’s Safeway to create a new 50,000-square-foot grocery store, new apartments, and a massive underground parking lot at 15th and John.

The decision eliminates one of the last major public process barriers to moving forward on the major new development project set to reshape the key intersection connecting the Capitol Hill core to the neighborhood’s eastern edges along 15th, 19th, and 23rd Avenues. Construction is still a long ways off with process around demolition permits and more still to come.

It the ruling, deputy hearing examiner Susan Drummond upheld the city’s 2023 decision to issue the crucial “master use permit” to the project as it completed multiple rounds of design review, dismissing the Aquarian Foundation’s arguments that the development would not be compatible with the neighboring converted two-story, 5,500-square-foot house on the $2.5 million 15th Ave E parcel that has been home to the New age religious organization for decades.

The group is one of the oldest corporations on Capitol Hill, formed as a church in the 1950s by a group including founder Keith Milton Rhinehart. Aquarian’s Rev. Cathryn Reid, who state records show also serves as the church’s treasurer, argued the organization’s case in front of the examiner, according to records from the procedures. Continue reading

With bargains, bands, and booze, Punk Rock Flea Market will take over Capitol Hill QFC destined for redevelopment

A scene from PRFM’s 2017 stay in the Central District

 

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(Image: Punk Rock Flea Market)

The Punk Rock Flea Market, an art, vintage and thrift gathering that has grown to serve as a salve for some of the pains of Seattle’s changes and redevelopment, is returning to Capitol Hill to fill a gap in 15th Ave E.

Organizers for the market announced the PRFM will next take over the street’s shuttered QFC grocery as the property works its way through Seattle’s development process on its way to creating a new mixed-use building on the block. They’ll be moving in this May.

“It’s official! PRFM has a new home in Seattle! as of May 1 you’ll find your favorite community of artists, craftspeople, vintage vendors, music dealers and uncategorizable misfits at the former QFC on 15th Ave. on Capitol Hill!!!,” the announcement reads. “Within easy reach of the light rail, not to mention your favorite cafes, bars, pot shops and bookstores.”

The flea market was last doing its thing in downtown Seattle but has visited Capitol Hill and the Central District before. Continue reading

There is a lot of empty office space on 11th Ave. WeWork fizzled. CENTRL Office is moving in.

The real estate listing for the Kelly Springfield office space floors

 

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The big hopes of global office space giant WeWork leasing an entire Capitol Hill building went poof earlier this year. A smaller, West Coast office space giant is moving in.

Portland-based CENTRL Office has a deal for a new lease to take over the former WeWork floors of 11th Ave’s Kelly Springfield development, the preservation incentive-boosted, five-story office development that rises above the auto row-era bones of the neighborhood’s former Value Village.

CHS reported on WeWork shuttering the ambitious Capitol Hill location earlier this year amid the company’s massive bankruptcy.

The Kelly Springfield project from property owner Legacy Commercial and architects at Ankrom Moisan created three stories of new offices over the old auto row-era structure. That building was once the neighborhood’s Value Village and before that, REI, and long before that, the Kelly Springfield Motor Truck Company. CHS reported on the history and plans for the property in 2017 as the final designs for the project came together. Continue reading

A good start to Capitol Hill garage sale season: Gage Academy of Art yard sale

(Image: Gage Academy of Art)

It is nearly garage sale season. Capitol Hill artists will want to mark their calendars for a good start to the season early next month.

The Gage Academy of Art is holding a yard sale featuring “art supplies, books, easels, costumes, home decor, kitchen items, electronics, and more” April 6th as it prepares to leave its longtime Capitol Hill home:

Later this year, Gage will move into a South Lake Amazon office building where the 35-year-old school will become the ground-floor presence below floors of tech workers above. CHS reported here on the planned move for the school after decades on the St. Mark’s campus as the church prepares for planned housing development on its 10th Ave E property.

 

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How about some Massive banh mi? New Capitol Hill club adding space for Vietnamese sandwich joint

 

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(Image: Massive)

One of Capitol Hill’s biggest new nightclub investments is adding an interesting food and drink expansion to its mix.

City permits show plans in the work for a new banh mi sandwich shop to join the ground floor complex of the new club Massive in the former R Place building at Pine and Boylston.

The project is being readied to carve out the tiny new E Pine Vietnamese sandwich joint from the existing kitchen and separate the new venue from the club’s first-floor bar area.

The new component creates a new opportunity for restaurant entrepreneur Tam Nguyen of the Tamarind Tree Restaurant Group, a Massive co-owner. Continue reading

15 years on 15th Ave E — Red Chair Salon still rocking as more changes come to ‘the quiet side’ of Capitol Hill

(Image: Red Chair Salon)

 

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Fifteen years on 15th Ave E makes a pretty nice headline. With the business tumult and redevelopment changes underway on the street that used to be known as the quiet side of Capitol Hill, a 15-year run is worth celebrating. From its humble beginning as a tiny, punk-rock themed beauty joint in 2009, Red Chair Salon is marking its 15th anniversary on Capitol Hill under owners Amy and Howie Sennet.

“I really can’t believe that we’ve made it 15 years. Honestly. We need to knock on everything. With as much love and dedication as we have put in it and our staff… Everyone’s had a hand in our success,” Howie Sennet said.

The two owners remain highly involved with Howie running the back end of the business, while Amy, with her background with hair styling for 25 years, works with other hairdressers in the salon.

“I thought the idea of us expanding bigger was never gonna happen. And we just got busier and had great stylists… I never imagined what we would become,” Amy said. Continue reading

$1.4B Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project moving forward with order to identify ‘cost reduction opportunities’

 

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Design concept for a new bridge over Portage Bay

An early rendering of the Roanoke Lid concept

Washington is moving forward with the 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project even as it is still scrambling for the best way to pay for it.

WSDOT announced it awarded a contract for the job to Skanska on March 11th.

CHS reported in November on the $1.375 billion price proposal from Skanska for the contract — a bid 70% higher than the state’s estimate. An agreement with Skanska extended the window to accept the bid, giving Washington legislators “more time to address the funding gap” during its just-wrapped budget process, WSDOT says.

The new plan? Move forward with the $1.375 billion bid but find a way to cut costs and close the gap. WSDOT says legislators have ordered it to seek “cost reduction opportunities.” That could mean new, scaled back designs for the planned lid and new bridge. Continue reading

Suspect pleads not guilty in First Hill ax murder of homeless camper

 

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From Kryger’s Facebook page

The 25-year-old First Hill resident charged in the killing of a homeless man outside Seattle’s Town Hall has pleaded not guilty.

Liam Kryger is charged with first degree murder.

King County Prosecutors say Kryger killed 52-year-old Daravuth Van with an ax as he camped near the First Hill event venue last month.

CHS reported here on Kryger’s arrest after two murders and an assault that left a man in critical condition in Cal Anderson in area attacks that targeted homeless victims sleeping outside in February.

Kryger is charged in one of the deadly attacks. Police have not announced any arrests in the other investigations.

The charging documents for the First Hill murder don’t link the cases but Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz has said Kryger was arrested as detectives were on the lookout for a suspect possibly preying on people unhoused when they spotted a man carrying an ax and lost track of him near Freeway Park.

The ax was traced to a nearby Lowe’s home improvement store where SPD gathered images of the purchaser. A department of corrections officer was able to identify the suspect as Kryger and police and SWAT moved to arrest him near his 10th Ave residence.

Prosecutors say the First Hill case also has video evidence clearly linking Kryger to the slaying.

Kryger’s path through the justice system could involve questions of his mental health. Prosecutors say Kryger was previously arrested in 2018 for a violent burglary and stabbing in North Bend that placed him in a treatment program under supervision of the King County Mental Health Court. Kryger failed to attend a scheduled review hearing in late 2019 but managed to steer clear of the law until his arrest this winter.

Mental health competency procedures can take years to play out in the court system. In 2009, CHS reported on the long process that led to restored competency and a guilty plea in the 2007 murder of Capitol Hill resident Shannon Harps.

Kryger remains held on $5 million bail at the King County Jail where he has been held since his March 3rd arrest.

 

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