Tag Archives: 23rd and union

Africatown Plaza — a ‘cultural anchor’ against ‘the tide of displacement in the Central District’ — to break ground at 23rd and Spring

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(Image: Africatown Plaza)

A community groundbreaking ceremony Saturday will mark the start of construction on Africatown Plaza, the 100% affordable mixed-use development set to rise and fill in the southern end of the Midtown Square block with a project from the Africatown Community Land Trust and Community Roots Housing.

“Africatown Plaza will continue a legacy of community building on the site of the former Umoja PEACE Center, the grassroots, Black-led community organization where the Africatown Seattle movement began over a decade ago,” the announcement of Saturday’s event reads.

Africatown Plaza Groundbreaking
Saturday, February 05, 2022
12:00 pm
23rd and Spring

The groundbreaking will be emceed by TraeAnna Holiday and will feature DJ Zeta Barber, Javoeon Byrd of Awodi Drumming, performances of the Black National Anthem and a spoken word piece. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Representative Kirstin Harris-Talley, Councilman Girmay Zahilay, and leaders on the project are expected to deliver remarks.

The organizations say the planned seven-story mixed use development is an extension of the partnership between Africatown and Community Roots that builds on their previous collaboration in the Liberty Bank Building at 24th and Union which opened four years ago in what many hope will be a model for equitable development in the Central District and Seattle.

Africatown Plaza is “an effort to build another cultural anchor and stem the tide of displacement in the Central District,” the organizations say. Continue reading →

Also at Midtown Square, 138 affordable units and an All the Best Pet Care

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A promotion picture for the new Midtown Square apartment units. Of the more than 400 units available, 138 are income restricted (Image: Midtown Square)

(Image: All The Best Pet Care)

What goes into developing a for-profit, mixed-use apartment complex in the core of Seattle and a neighborhood with communities striving to address crises around displacement and gentrification? CHS reported details today of Midtown Square’s unique anchor tenant — Arté Noir arts center — at the center of the project.

But the development will also fill simpler needs in the area. The latest new business joining the project will make residents lined up for the pet-friendly apartment units and surrounding neighbors with furry friends happy. Construction permits have been filed for a new All The Best Pet Care to join the 23rd Ave side of the project. The chain has 15 other locations around the city including one on E Madison.

The new shop will join Arté Noir and a mix of neighborhood and BIPOC-owned businesses including a second location of the Jerk Shack Caribbean restaurant on the edge of the development’s internal plaza, So Beautiful Salon from Shavonne Bland, a Central District resident and Garfield High grad, along 23rd Ave, a new home for Raised Doughnuts on 24th Ave, and a new home for neighborhood bar The Neighbor Lady.

Meanwhile, leasing has begun on Midtown Square’s 428 market-rate and affordable apartment units, surrounding a quasi-public central plaza, and above a huge underground parking garage. Continue reading →

Arté Noir arts center creating a space to grow ‘Black art, artists, and culture’ at 23rd and Union

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This work from artist Takiyah Ward will grace the development’s central square — “A past, present, future timeline of what was, what is and what can be if people look to humanity and treat their neighbors as they would themselves want to be treated. To tell the colorful history of this block with images and words that have stood the tests of time and aided in the perseverance of all who encounter them. To tell the truth of our past, live in our present and set intentions for the future.” (Image: Midtown Square)

Myron Curry’s portraits — including this image of CD legend DeCharlene Williams of the Central Area Chamber of Commerce and D’Charlene’s — grace the building’s 23rd Ave-facing street front (Image: Midtown Square)

Construction is nearly complete on the Midtown Square apartment complex. Leasing for the mix of market rate and affordable apartments is beginning. And Arté Noir, a new Central District arts center focused on “Black art, artists, and culture,” is getting ready to fill the core ground floor commercial space, a one of a kind “anchor tenant” for the new development.

“Honing in on the vision, creating a business structure that takes us from a lease to ownership at the end of the lease, and raising the needed funds to support the plan we have for creating a permanent home for Black arts and culture in a reparative wealth generating structure, have all been challenging,” founder and editor-in-chief of Arté Noir Vivian Phillips said.

With the launch of an online magazine in May 2021, Arté Noir formed as a way to bring attention to the city’s creators and is now preparing to bring the same spirit to a real world center with room for art, artists, and the community.

Arté Noir seeks to contribute to Black culture in the Central District. “Being from the Central District and having watched the numerous changes, I want the message to be that Black culture remains a significant part of the foundation and fabric of this community,” Phillips said.

CHS reported late last year on the unique set of circumstances that led developer Lake Union Partners to tab Phillips and the arts center and gallery plan for the Midtown project’s key retail space after years of planning for a major drugstore chain. Continue reading →

Police: Sunday night Central District homicide stemmed from family dispute — UPDATE

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Police say Sunday night’s homicide inside a residential building at 24th and Union stemmed from a domestic dispute inside the victim’s apartment.

According to police, 36-year-old Michael Darden was shot and killed after an argument involving the mother of Darden’s son and her current boyfriend became physical inside the apartment. Seattle Fire says Darden was shot and died at the scene. Continue reading →

Man found shot in chest New Year’s Eve at 23rd and Union

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Police investigated a Central District shooting part of a spate of New Year’s gun violence across the city.

According to the SPD brief on the December 31st incident and witness reports, a man approached security at the Uncle Ike’s bottle shop around 6:35 PM and said he had been shot several blocks from the location. Continue reading →

Midtown Square’s new mix at 23rd and Union to include Arté Noir, Jerk Shack, Raised Doughnuts, and The Neighbor Lady

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Trey Lamont and Jerk Shack are coming to 23rd and Union (Image: @jerkshackseattle)

Last week, CHS reported on progress in opening Midtown Square and what role the new, for-profit developed 23rd and Union complex will play as the Central District continues to address affordability and displacement in its communities.

Below Midtown Square’s 428 market-rate and affordable apartment units, surrounding a quasi-public central plaza, and above a huge underground parking garage will be a mix of organizations and businesses the developer Lake Union Partners says will also better represent the surrounding communities than the original plans for a big chain pharmacy.

Like the efforts to bring more affordable housing to the area, community groups and leaders have called for more opportunities for BIPOC small business owners to be part of the waves of development reshaping the Central District. The recipe can be delicious. Communion, opened by veteran Soul Food chef Kristi Brown in 2020 across the street in the affordable and equitably developed Liberty Bank building, was named one of the 12 best new restaurants… in the world. Meanwhile, Black-owned food and drink has also made new homes at 23rd and Jackson.

(Image: CHS)

Here’s a look at the arts and commercial mix coming 23rd and Union:

  • Arté Noir: The key street level corner space looking out onto 23rd and Union will become home to a new arts center and shop from the nonprofit focused on “Black art, artists, and culture,” that also helped the development select nine artists to create installations and giant murals that adorn the seven-story buildings that make up the complex. Plans filed with the city describe a large presence for the project in the form of a 3,200-square-foot art gallery. Lake Union says the space originally lined up to be home to a Bartell’s was divided into four commercial shops including Arté Noir plus “three other locals we are in discussions with right now.”
  • What about Bartell’s? A Lake Union representative said the chain “bowed out a long time ago due to changes in leadership” and “other things that were going on internally.” Bartell’s was eventually acquired by Rite-Aid. Lake Union began negotiating with the CVS chain but the rep says the Seattle developer “decided that national stores like that are more than we are willing to deal with for now.” The change pushed Lake Union Partners to find a new solution. “Seems like it was meant to be given the art focus on the overall project,” the representative said. “We are very happy things are working out like this.”
  • Jerk Shack: Trey Lamont is expanding with a second location of his Carribean restaurant set be located on the edge of the development’s internal plaza. Continue reading →

Uncle Ike’s new thing at 23rd and Union: booze

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(Image: Uncle Ike’s Bottle Shop)

One of the captains of Seattle’s legal pot industry is turning his attention to a more traditional intoxicant at 23rd and Union.

Uncle Ike’s Bottle Shop is now open at the corner in front of the chain’s Central District cannabis store. Owner Ian Eisenberg said the decision was about simple economics.

“Glass and Goods never really performed,” Eisenberg said about the space’s previous life as an Uncle Ike’s store for pipes and pot paraphernalia. The higher margin, high end electronic smoking gear, Eisenberg said, is something most people were shopping for online. Continue reading →

Police: Uncle Ike’s reports $135K in damage and losses in disgruntled employee’s hammer attack on two shops

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(Image: Uncle Ike’s)

Despite a boom in cannabis revenue for many in the industry, Seattle’s Uncle Ike’s has had a rough go through the pandemic as the chain of pot shops saw its sales fail to keep up with competitors as its Capitol Hill and Central District stores were targeted with vandalism during equity and anti-police protests. Things didn’t get any better in a set of Tuesday, March 2nd incidents in which Ike’s management said a disgruntled employee did some $60,000 worth of damage to two of the chain’s shops and caused the loss of more than $75,000 in sales.

According to the SPD report on the incidents, police say Ike’s security video shows the suspect enter Ike’s flagship store at 23rd and Union just before 5 PM where he began laying waste to the retail space with a hammer, pushing down counters, breaking shelves. and damaging merchandise. Continue reading →

Cafe Avole brings Ethiopian coffee tradition to the Liberty Bank Building

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(Image: Cafe Avole)

Cafe Avole is hard at work building out their second location in the Liberty Bank Building, joining other Black-owned businesses like Earl’s Cuts and Communion in development around 23rd and Union.

Ethiopian-owned, Cafe Avole sources, roasts, and sells high-grade coffees from Yirga Ch’Efe and Guji. Cafe Avole launched their flagship store in 2016 at the corner of Rainier Ave S and S Holly in Seattle’s Brighton neighborhood. The cafe offers Ethiopian food, community pop-ups, and, in pre-pandemic times, jebena, a central part of the coffee ceremony for Ethiopian and Eritrean households. The second location in the Liberty Bank Building is slated to open in May or June, depending on the progress of the buildout.

“We started our initial conversation [with the Liberty Bank Building] in 2018, right before the building was complete,” said Solomon Dubie, co-owner of Cafe Avole along with Gavin Amos and Getachew Enbiale. “We were supposed to try to get in there shortly thereafter, but things got held up, and then COVID hit. It was postponed for a little while.” Continue reading →