Spruce Street School will bring its kindergarten and elementary kids to First Hill in $22M project on Madison

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Spruce Street has been educating Seattle city kids for decades (Image: Spruce Street School)

The school’s future Madison home (Image: Spruce Street School)

By Matt Dowell

The private Spruce Street School is building its future on First Hill in the midst of the neighborhood’s mix of hospitals, medical facilities, and high-rise apartment towers.

The $35,000-a-year school of about 110 K-5th graders purchased the building in 2019 for $15.15 million as part of a long term plan to make it their “forever home.” This summer, the school applied for a construction permit to begin a $7 million renovation of the Madison at Summit building, though they don’t plan to relocate from their current address at 914 Virginia Street on the edges of South Lake Union and downtown until 2028.

School officials declined to comment on the project.

“By 2035, Spruce Street School will be the highest quality, most financially accessible K–5 independent school of its kind in the Seattle area – able to admit children who would thrive in our educational program and community, regardless of their families’ ability to pay,” the school says of its future. “In addition, we will continue to be distinguished for our unique program and excellent teachers.”

The urban campus will include the 20,000-square-foot classroom building plus the building’s roof which is planned to be developed as an outdoor play area and a massive underground parking lot.

The permit states that work will occur on all three levels of the property, which is currently home to Salal Credit Union and ATI Physical Therapy, plus another school, Seattle Academy. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council considers ‘protected data’ in plan to expand ‘Real Time Crime Center’ cameras to Pike/Pine and the Central District

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The Seattle City Council’s public safety committee could vote Tuesday morning on legislation expanding the Seattle Police Department’s surveillance camera pilot program to include Capitol Hill and the Central District. The expansion could also bring changes that will allow SPD to use select Seattle Department of Transportation traffic cameras in the program.

CHS reported here on the proposed legislation to expand the SPD “Real Time Crime Center” surveillance camera system to include the Capitol Hill nightlife core around E Pike and Cal Anderson Park and a major swath of the Central District from E Cherry to Jackson it says it necessary to prevent gun violence near Garfield High School. Continue reading →

In court-embattled Denny Blaine Park, a show of defiance, nudity… and puppets

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While the battle to keep Denny Blaine nude is playing out in court, members of the queer and nudist communities that love and utilize the park have continued to visit the popular beach this summer.

In a city where developers and wealthy NIMBYs seem to be nearly constantly scheming to carve up public space for private gain, revolutionary energy is also bubbling up at Denny Blaine in the form of puppets, nudity, and unapologetic queer defiance.

This weekend, guerrilla performances transformed the lakeside park into a stage for radical satire, bodily liberation, and a middle finger to privatization. The shows were part absurdist comedy, part scathing political critique, and directed their ire at figures like Stuart Sloan, the wealthy neighbor who has spent years trying to sanitize Denny Blaine, and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s laughably inept attempts to placate the NIMBYs.

One performance swung between nostalgia for freer times and biting commentary on whose bodies get to take up space. “These are my boobies!” declared an actor, fully nude except for a top hat. It was cheeky but the message hit home. Freedom has some rough edges — and the battle isn’t done. Continue reading →

After damaging fire, Post Options has temporary new home in Capitol Hill’s ‘Christmas Dive Bar’

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Comesongsri is making things work on 11th Ave (Image: CHS)

Thanks to the kindness and support of surrounding businesses and loyal customers, Post Options is serving Capitol Hill again from a new temporary location. Meanwhile, neighboring bar Unicorn is preparing to reopen after an overhaul and repairs.

Veti Comesongsri and Nongnuch Paungpornsri are expressing their gratitude this week following the July 30th electrical fire that caused more than $175,000 in damage to the 12th and Pike buildings the neighborhood business center and the circus-themed bar call home. Owners of The Woods on 11th Ave have opened the nightclub space for Post Options to continue serving customers while the long path to reopening the E Pike business center take shape.

Comesongsri says Post Options is only able to provide mail and package delivery for existing mailbox customers in the new temporary location where Pike/Pine’s annual Christmas Dive Bar pops up during the holidays. Continue reading →

SPD makes arrests, searches for attempted carjackers on gun-heavy Friday night of crime on Capitol Hill

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East Precinct police responded to a rush of gun-related incidents Friday night including the pepper spray-soaked aftermath of an attempted armed carjacking at Melrose and Thomas.

The Seattle Police Department says officers were called to Melrose around 11 PM to a report of a fight involving armed assailants. 911 callers reported a fight involving guns and pepper spray at the scene but no shots fired.

Officers arrived after the suspects fled the scene.

SPD says witnesses reported multiple suspects pulled up in a car near where they were parked and two males armed with handguns “pulled the victims out of their vehicle, threatened them at gunpoint, stole items from them, attempted to carjack them.” During the altercation, the suspects hit the victims with pepper spray and fled the area after the unsuccessful car theft.

There were no additional injuries reported and no immediate arrests.

Meanwhile, police were also responding to Broadway and Pike where a suspect was threatening to shoot the security guards outside a business. Continue reading →

Pikes/Pines | The liquefaction zones of Capitol Hill

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An image demonstrating the extent of the last glacial maximum in our region. (Image: Ron Lewis via Ice Age Floods Institute)

Separating the interesting side of geologic hazards from the true, helpless terror they can represent is a difficult task.

This is why, when you read headlines about our region’s volcanoes and earthquakes, they are rarely serene. And rightly so. Swarms of earthquakes at Mt. Rainier and tsunami warnings from Russian tremors are fear inducing, regardless of hyperlocal impact.

However, having our heads in the sand — or the glacial till — isn’t going to help.

Capitol Hill is mostly a pile of sand and rocks deposited during the last glacial maximum around 16,000 years ago. This isn’t particularly unique across the Puget Sound landscape because the entire basin was covered by glaciers, and the deposits left by their expansions and recessions is part of our environmental heritage. Continue reading →

This week in CHS history | When E Pike was pedestrian only, Cal Anderson basketball court murder, chef Tamara Murphy remembered

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Here are the top stories from this week in CHS history:

2024

 

Memories pour in as chef Tamara Murphy of Capitol Hill’s Terra Plata suffers fatal stroke — UPDATE


Continue reading →

A visit to Haunted Burrow Books, Capitol Hill’s horror and dark fantasy book shop

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This literary spirit is pretty fun in corporeal form. Haunted Burrow Books has made a spooky story-filled home on 15th Ave E.

A recent power outage helped set the appropriate mood in the bustling commercial district on the top of Capitol Hill. Inside Haunted Burrow, a reading group gathered, divining with tarot cards “in the back of the store by electronic candlelight.” Continue reading →

‘Major construction coming to your neighborhood’ — 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid work includes big projects to move key utilities

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(Image: WSDOT)

When you think about building a bridge you probably think of things like pilings and cable stays — not wiring and underground utilities. The seven-year 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid construction project continues this summer also includes lots of utility work, it turns out.

WSDOT is updating (PDF) neighbors in the areas around Roanoke Park and down along Boyer Ave E of “major construction coming to your neighborhood” —

As part of the SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project, WSDOT and Skanska will work with the city of Seattle to relocate utilities in your area. For the next six months, you can expect crews to be working on Boyer Avenue East, in the Boyer hillside and along East Roanoke Street to complete this utility work.

The utilities in question are a big deal including moving a major 12-inch water main and a 26-kilovolt power line.

The work will mean major traffic detours and closures including the Boyer Stairs connecting Montlake to Interlaken Park and Capitol Hill. You can find the traffic and walking details here (PDF).

WSDOT says starting this fall, crews will begin work on the Boyer hillside for the new Portage Bay bridges and sections of the Roanoke Lid. Continue reading →

Old Glo’s Diner now home to E.A.T. Asian Tapas Bar on Capitol Hill’s E.O.W.

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There has been a quick change on E Olive Way where Korean pub Imo Pocha is now E.A.T. Asian Tapas Bar.

We think you’re supposed to call it E-A-T — not “eat.” We are also sorting out any ownership changes behind the switch in brand and direction.

Early reports indicate the joint is still centered around Asian drinking food but with a broader approach including tempura and skewers. Imo Pocha’s business and liquor licenses are still active at the location.

The change is the latest for the tiny E Olive Way spot once home to the original Glo’s Diner. Continue reading →