Tag Archives: central district

No injuries after Saturday night apartment fire in 125-year-old building at 15th and Marion — UPDATE

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Seattle firefighters quickly extinguished a Saturday night blaze in a small 1901-era residential building at 15th and Marion just south of Madison.

Seattle Fire reports its crews were dispatched shortly before 9:00 PM following reports of a fire inside a multi-family residence. Seattle Fire Department described the structure as a two-story apartment building with a basement with the fire located on the top floor.

Firefighters got water on the flames, brought the fire under control, and initiated ventilation operations. Continue reading →

Seattle rolls out $1.7M grocery plan including security funding to thwart shoplifting — but will it reach Capitol Hill and the Central District?

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(Image: Lam’s Seafood Asian Market)

Seattle will spend $1.7 million in an effort to support grocery stores including a new Office of Economic Development program that will offer one-time facility and facade upgrade grants to grocers powered by Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design standards and Seattle Police Department crime data.

The boost for “local neighborhood grocery stores” is a last minute rollout for Mayor Katie Wilson’s administration of an item from last year’s budget debate as City Hall is preparing to dig in on its new 2027 spending plan. In 2025, West Seattle council rep Rob Saka pushed for the spending over concerns of food deserts taking shape in the city including in Delridge, South Park, and Georgetown in Saka’s district. Seattle was “not gonna bodega our way out of this” when large supermarket chains pull out, Saka said last year.

The $1.7 million might end up being spread pretty thinly. The plan announced this week directs resources across three core areas: Continue reading →

End of summer swimming notes: Medgar Evers Pool reopens, last days of the Leschi Fire Dock

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Final days for the old Leschi Fire Dock

Here are updates on two Central District-area parks construction projects involving longer than expected timelines — and swimming.

  • Medgar Evers Pool reopens after 10-month closure: On 23rd Ave’s Garfield High School and Community Center campus, the public Medgar Evers Pool has finally reopened after a longer-than-expected construction closure. CHS reported in March how a planned “8-week closure” for planned upgrades was stretching out for months after “failing” beams” were found in the roof structure of the 56-year-old public pool. Closed since last November for the beam repair plus accessibility improvements, HVAC replacement, and renovation of the men’s and women’s locker rooms, the pool has reopened for its full schedule of open swim, classes, and more. We’ve asked the city for the final price tag on the overhaul and repairs. Learn more at seattle.gov. UPDATE: SPR put the construction budget at $600,000.
  • Goodbye to the Leschi Fire Dock: The $7.9 million overhaul at Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Leschi South Marina is ready to go back into motion after the work was paused in May over community outcry about the construction project’s impact on nearby businesses. Tell your kids this is their last chance to enjoy the marina’s popular — and very old — swim dock before construction work begins on the project on Monday. The project is a significant undertaking with plans to remove the existing timber pier and floating dock, “which are supported by creosote-treated piles and are nearing the end of their useful life.” The existing pipe pile breakwater, which the city says does not “adequately protect the marina from wave action,” will also be removed. A new breakwater with a boat sewage pump-out facility, and boat moorage with public access will be floated with benches and a kayak rack. As part of the project, divers are also removing trash from the area as well as the creosote timber. There are no details on how the new dock setup will accommodate Leschi’s old Fire Dock summer swim crowds. “Teen hangout” wasn’t included in the city’s community priorities for the project. There’s also no telling why the southern dock at Leschi has been known as the Fire Dock. It never served as moorage for the Seattle Fire Department’s freshwater marine response on Lake Washington or any other related possibilities, according to city records.
 
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Coffee TAB Central District ready to open at 23rd and Jackson

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(Image: Coffee TAB)

A key neighborhood hangout is going back in motion in the Central District as Coffee TAB is ready to open at 23rd and Jackson.

“We’re intentional about everything, from the way we pull a shot to the neighborhoods we choose to serve. We want to breathe new life into places by building something that serves the community well—somewhere people gather, form relationships, and feel a sense of belonging,” founder Jonathan Tran said in the joint announcement from TAB and Vulcan Real Estate, the owner of the building and the surrounding shopping center.  “Opening at 23rd & Jackson is another chance to live that out. It’s about investing in a neighborhood, creating jobs, expanding opportunities for young adults, and becoming part of the fabric of the Central Area.”

In addition to restoring much missed coffee service at the corner, the opening of Coffee TAB CD is an important milestone after years of concerns around public safety and street disorder in the area as the building sat empty. Continue reading →

Seattle shapes Central District Black Legacy Plan to honor local history across neighborhood parks

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Powell Barnett being shown park development plans in October 1970 (Image: Seattle Municipal Archives)

Powell Barnett Park

Seattle Parks and Recreation is advancing a new capital initiative aimed at honoring the Central District’s pivotal Black activists, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists through improvements to neighborhood open spaces.

Dubbed the Central District Black Legacy Plan, the effort will fund site analysis, community engagement, and prioritized capital investments to transform selected Central District public grounds into spaces of remembrance and cultural celebration.

The initial phase focuses on three key neighborhood parks named after prominent Black historical figures: Continue reading →

50 years of civil rights and economic empowerment: The Central District’s McKinney Center to be considered as Seattle landmark

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(Image: Seattle Department of Neighborhoods)

A center of economic empowerment, civil rights, and modern architecture in the Central District is up for landmark consideration.

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ Landmarks Preservation Board will convene on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 3:30 PM to evaluate the landmark nomination of the McKinney Center for Community and Economic Development, located at 2120 S Jackson.

According to the landmark nomination packet, the 111,000-square-foot facility “has been a center for learning and development in the Central Area for over 50 years,” providing thousands of Seattleites with vocational training and “giving them the tools to seek gainful employment and advance in their careers,” while remaining “especially impactful to Seattle’s African American population”.

Originally constructed in 1974 to house the Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center, the site is currently owned by the Central District Community Preservation and Development Authority. The organization acquired the property from Seattle Central College in 2021 to preserve its community development legacy.

The nomination highlights deep social and historic ties between the facility and the Central Area, historically home to the largest Black population in Seattle. Starting around 1900, the neighborhood developed into a center for the Black community, becoming a sanctuary as widespread racial covenants and financial redlining restricted Black residents from purchasing property in other parts of the city. By 1960, over 62% of Seattle’s Black population resided in the Central District. Continue reading →

Council moves proposed Seattle ‘Do Not Solicit List’ predatory real estate protections forward

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The Seattle City Council’s Housing, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee has passed a bill to shield property owners from predatory homebuying tactics.

CHS reported here on the “Do Not Solicit List” proposal inspired by efforts like the  the Black Legacy Homeowners group.

Introduced by Councilmember Dionne Foster, the legislation establishes a city-managed “Do Not Solicit” list maintained by the Seattle Office of Civil Rights. Designed to protect generational wealth and vulnerable communities including seniors and low-income families, the policy targets incessant, off-market buying pressure via calls, texts, mail, or visits. Continue reading →

One reported shot in leg at Central District mini-mart

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Police were searching for the gunman and the victim after a shooting at Parnell’s Mini-Mart on 23rd Ave in the Central District.

An explosion of 15 to 20 shots were reported in the area of 23rd Ave and Dearborn just after 7 PM. According to emergency radio updates, arriving officers found blood in the store and evidence of the shooting up and down the block but could not immediate locate the victim who reportedly left the area by car. The victim was later located at Harborview where he was being treated for his injuries. Continue reading →

Nonprofit cafe and job training venture Coffee TAB set to revive long-empty Central District Starbucks

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(Image: Coffee TAB)

Thanks to CHS reader Lindsay for the picture

A major hole in the hopes for growing the community around a core of the Central District is about to be filled. Not-for-profit Seattle cafe chain Coffee TAB is making plans to open soon at 23rd and Jackson.

The four-year-old nonprofit is set to open its third Seattle cafe in the former Starbucks where efforts by Vulcan Real Estate, the City of Seattle, and Black Coffee Northwest to open a new venue at the center of “a vibrant core for Black businesses” fell apart and left the corner empty for years.

CHS reported here in early 2025 on the scuttled effort from the Office of Economic Development and one of the city’s leading developers in Vulcan Real Estate, plus Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office, and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth to help the cafe open amid efforts of rebuilding Black ownership in the neighborhood.

The coffee project had been hoped to be the start of a new era at 23rd and Jackson with Black Coffee Northwest taking over a space being left behind by global coffee giant Starbucks over public safety concerns at the corner. Continue reading →

From the Central District to Seattle Center, Scope Screenings is cultivating city’s next generation of filmmakers

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(Image: @lexscope)

What are you doing Tuesday, June 30th?

If LexScope has his way, you’re building community at Scope Screenings’ first Seattle Center event — a summer outdoor film festival version of the event.

Scope Screenings is an independent Seattle film festival building off its growth in the Central District and devoted to short form media, showcasing everything from skits to short documentaries to music videos.

Monthly screenings place an emphasis on creative projects by underrepresented communities and include meticulous programming, talks with filmmakers, and of course, popcorn. Each program runs roughly one hour, broken up by these talks and an intermission, and is designed to give people the opportunity to mingle and connect with their neighbors.

“I treat it like church in North Carolina – ‘hey, how’s everybody doing, hey,’ look at your neighbor and say hello,” said LexScope. “As soon as you shake hands with both of your neighbors, that whole show is ten times more comfortable just because you already have some kind of rapport.”

Videographer, director, producer, actor, commissioner for the Seattle Film Commission and board member at the Northwest Film Forum, LexScope co-founded Scope Screenings with Shailee Stevens back in 2022.

A “for us and by us” mentality has allowed the festival to grow and operate organically. Bouncing around to different theaters around Seattle proper, the show has settled into the Langston Hughes Center on 17th Ave S where it currently enjoys a residency.

(Image: @lexscope)

Continue reading →