Tag Archives: central district

Design review: Two projects, 500 new apartments, and a new home for Photographic Center Northwest along 12th Ave

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The future Focus Apartments

A pair of development projects that would add more than 500 new apartments to the Central District along 12th Ave will come before the Central Area Design Review Board this week including a building that will create a new home for the Photographic Center Northwest and the restart of a long-delayed project at 12th and Spruce,

900 12TH AVE: The plan for the redevelopment of the Photographic Center Northwest at 12th Ave and E Marion continues to, well, develop.

Plans call for the demolition of the current building and parking lot, though the center will live on in the new construction. The new building is planned to be seven stories. The photo center will occupy about 10,000 square feet on the ground floor. Above will be about 170 apartments, 20% of which will be set aside as affordable housing. The building will run the length of the block along Marion. Continue reading →

Eldest of Capitol Hill and Central District’s modern crop of beer makers, Standard Brewing turns 10

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(Image: Standard Brewing)

(Image: Standard Brewing)

This weekend, Standard Brewing turns 10 making the S Jackson brewery the eldest of the modern class of Central District and Capitol Hill beer makers.

Standard is celebrating with a “10 year banger” —

How did this happen?! Most of you never got to see us incubate in the back corner of our building. It seems pretty wild now to think about how we got our start, with a bunch of ramshackle equipment and duct tape. For those of you that remember our building being yellow and purple, with double deep parking spaces and a bar with space for 8, it seems like a lifetime ago. For all of you, and for everyone that has been a supporter over this hectic decade, March 18th and 19th is for you!

The weekend will include live music and special releases including a bourbon barrel-aged stout with Broadcast Coffee, a “Bee’s Wine” ginger beer, and a special “fermented pineapple” tepache beverage, along with guest bartenders and more surprises. Continue reading →

Bar Bayonne will add day/night cafe and market to L’Oursin’s E Jefferson home port

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(Image: L’Oursin)

(Image: L’Oursin)

L’Oursin is using lessons from the pandemic to help invigorate its block on the edge of the Central District-Capitol Hill intertidal zone as it shapes a new market and bar project on E Jefferson.

Jonathan Proville tells CHS Bar Bayonne should be up and running by summer next door to the nearly seven-year-old French and Pacific Northwest restaurant that brought the flavors of the Salish Sea to what was then a bustling area of food and drink projects along E Jefferson in 2016. A pandemic later, other businesses and the neighboring Honeyhole expansion have gone dark.

Up the street, bike cafe Peloton has doubled down and expanded. L’Oursin’s Proville and Zac Overman are gearing up for a similar ride after the fall 2022 closure of the neighboring cask ale-focused Capercaillie Pub.

L’Oursin’s new sibling in the former pub space will represent a major shift for the business with plans for daytime hours. Continue reading →

Bobby Goodwin, a public defender who wants cops to work harder and the streets of Seattle to be safer, wants your District 3 vote

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A public defender with a healthy skepticism of the police and justice system wants to be a voice for voters tired of disorder and crime in District 3’s neighborhoods.

Bobby Goodwin tells CHS he also wants to bring his lived experience with mental illness into the race for the district’s seat on the Seattle City Council.

“It’s a focus on providing these services, on making sure we have available beds, that we are doing more to, to eliminate the stigma,” Goodwin said. “There’s so many people in this city that don’t even know NAMI, they don’t even know the resources that are available to support families and folks going through with and dealing with this stuff.”

Goodwin’s efforts have included traveling to Olympia to call for more support for mental health resources and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He says his work as a busy public defender in Pierce County has kept him from doing more.

But Goodwin says his reasons for running in D3 are not about being some sort of “token” candidate. He believes you can be a progressive Seattle voter who supports social investment and changes to policing and still have higher expectations when it comes to crime and disorder on Seattle’s streets. Continue reading →

With decisions spanning from North Broadway to Rome, Seattle Catholic churches plan consolidation amid a priest labor shortage and a drop in faith

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(Image: Wikimedia/Joe Mabel)

 

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A “Pastoral Planning” process will place Catholic parishes in partnership around Puget Sound. The impacts on churches in Capitol Hill and the Central District — two Seattle neighborhoods with long histories shaped by the church — won’t likely be known for another year.

This process is very different from the round of church closures in 2021 which lead to the church shuttering St. Patrick’s and St Mary’s churches, according to Helen McClenahan, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Seattle.

The archdiocese may close the houses of worship — but many other options are possible.

Some of the driving factors behind the effort, however, have not changed.

As with many faith communities in Western Washington and nationally, church attendance is down, and has been trending that way for years. Even though the region’s population has been growing, fewer people are attending church and receiving the sacraments that are an integral part of the Catholic faith.

There is also a labor crunch. Fewer priests are expected to be available in coming years. Earlier this year, the archdiocese noted that currently there are 80 pastors for 174 locations. By 2036, it expects only 66 pastors. Continue reading →

911 | Body found on Belmont, Central Cafe and Juice Bar trashed in early morning break-in

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(Image: Central Cafe and Juice Bar)

See something others should know about? Email CHS or call/txt/Signal (206) 399-5959. You can view recent CHS 911 coverage here. Hear sirens and wondering what’s going on? Check out Twitter reports from @jseattle or join and check in with neighbors in the CHS Facebook Group.

  • Body found: Police and the Medical Examiner were investigating after a man was found dead of a presumed overdose next to a Belmont Ave E garbage dumpster Saturday morning. According to police, a resident at the apartment building was exiting out the parking gate and found the man dead near Belmont and Thomas. Seattle Fire was called to the scene and notified police of the possible overdose. Police said the man was identified by his King County Jail bracelet. CHS has not been able to confirm the identity of the victim. Police say homicide detectives came to the scene to investigate and the Medical Examiner was investigating to determine an official cause of death.
  • Central Cafe and Juice Bar break-in: Police say they arrested a man who broke into E Cherry’s Central Cafe and Juice Bar and trashed the place doing thousands of dollars in damage in an early Saturday morning burglary. According to police, officers were dispatched to a burglary in progress at the 2500 block E Cherry business just before 6 AM. The business owner was also on the way to the shop and reported video showing the suspect had left the scene moments before officers arrived. While officers were reviewing evidence with the owner, SPD says an officer spotted the suspect nearby and was able to identify him. The suspect was arrested and being booked into jail for investigation of burglary. SPD says the break-in caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to the shop. In an update, Central Cafe and Juice Bar said they were able to clean up much of the damage on their own and declared the damageful burglar the “world’s dumbest criminal.”
  • East Precinct gets help for Macklemore show: SPD had to up its game for Macklemore’s surprise show Monday night:
    It was reported on social media that local musical artist Macklemore would be performing a free last-minute concert at Neumos that would be first-come-first-served. Officers from South Precinct came up to assist in monitoring the area. There were no issues and the concert completed around 2130.
 

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How City Light moved a 110-ton transformer through Seattle and into the Central District’s East Pine Substation — very carefully

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(Image: Seattle City Light)

In February, a three-month parade of sorts featuring a piece of machinery as heavy as a Boeing 757 made its way through Seattle, ending in the Central District in the dead of night.

Part of a multi-year project to upgrade and improve reliability of the brick-walled East Pine Substation along 23rd Ave, the mid-February process to move a new 110-ton electrical transformer into place at the facility involved a train trip, truck haul, and then a slow winding trip through the city of Seattle to 23rd and Pine.

“Transformer replacements are one of the largest single projects undertaken by our stations’ personnel, taking many months of planning, preparation, and execution and thousands of labor hours,” Hans Gutmann, electrical power systems principal engineer for Seattle City Light, said.

Transformers are large-scale pieces of electrical equipment that play a key role in power distribution, converting high-voltage electricity carried from power generation sites to substations and lowering the electric voltage level, ensuring safe power transmission. Continue reading →

Street signs mark a Central District legacy on the new D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way

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De’Auzjanae Pickett

A portion of E Union linking two important corners in the Central District’s history and community has a new name.

New honorary street signs have gone up marking D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way.

At a ceremony marking the new honorary designation, De’Auzjanae Pickett said it was a fitting way to remember her brother.

“As you guys all know, this block, this scene as a whole, played a major role in D’Vonne’s upbringing and who he was and who he is and where his legacy will continue to go,” she said.

This week, loved ones and family were joined by Mayor Bruce Harrell, and City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda at a ceremony marking the installation of the new honorary street signs joining the existing E Union signage just west of 23rd and Union, the Liberty Bank Building, and Midtown Square.

“Even as we mourn the tragedy of his loss, we know that his legacy will live on forever in the hearts of those who he inspired, especially the many young people he mentored as they become the future leaders of this city,” Harrell said. Continue reading →

Simply Soulful celebrates Black ownership in the CD with reopening party at 23rd and Jackson

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(Image: Simply Soulful)

(Image: Simply Soulful)

Lillian Rambus and her mom Barbara Collins finally have time to celebrate the move of their Seattle soul food favorite Soulful Cafe to a new corner of the Central District.

Friday, Soulful is holding a Black History Month celebration at 23rd and Jackson where it reopened last summer amid a wave of redevelopment and new opportunities for Black ownership.

“It’s important to be here, especially at this location,” Rambus said in the announcement of the planned Friday of ribbon cutting and raffles. “This grand reopening recognizes Black history locally. That’s why we chose this month to celebrate being here.”

Simply Soulful opened in Madison Valley in 2014, adding soul food favorites to the menu like biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, chicken and waffles, sandwiches, and more. The expanded menu and continued success meant Simply Soulful was quickly outgrowing their space. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council to vote on designating part of E Union as D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way to honor slain business owner — UPDATE

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KeAnna Pickett and D’Vonne Pickett, Jr. at the 2018 opening of The Postman (Image: CHS)

The Seattle City Council is scheduled for a Valentine’s Day vote to honorarily designate E Union between 21st and 22nd Avenues as D’Vonne Pickett Jr. Way.

UPDATE: The resolution passed in an unanimous 9-0 vote.

“D’Vonne embodied and internalized the belief of being ‘HEAVY’ over airy in all of his endeavors, particularly in his role as a family patriarch, as a mentor and a friend to almost everyone he encountered throughout life, a sentiment he often uniquely expressed in the form of his favorite catchphrase, ‘Stop Playin!,'” the resolution being introduced by Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda reads. Continue reading →