Tag Archives: development

The ‘Squire Park exception’? Central District neighborhood at center of Seattle’s debate over creating more multifamily and affordable housing in more parts of the city

Posted on by
9

Saturday’s meeting was the first Squire Park Community Council’s first since the pandemic began (Image: CHS)

As Seattle urbanists dissect the 20-year growth plan being championed by Mayor Bruce Harrell and are identifying where in the city his administration excised more ambitious development and density goals, the “Squire Park exception” has emerged.

How did the residential blocks between 12th Ave and the Central District’s Cherry Hill end up a protected swath of single family housing-dominated growth goals in the mayor’s proposed plan?

As effective as the group may be, don’t look directly at the Squire Park Community Council.

It had not met in five years thanks to COVID-19 and the pandemic  — until Saturday. But the issues raised in the group’s first meeting by attendees and during a session with District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth fit very much with a slower approach to Seattle growth.

“The pandemic had a really devastating impact, I think, on many community councils, and particularly in Squire Park,” William Zosel, board member, told CHS. “One of the things that happened during the several years of absence is that two members died.” Continue reading →

Seattle plan would give city power to tear down problem vacant buildings used by campers and drug users

Posted on by
8

The Vito’s building burning last summer (Image: Seattle Fire)

New legislation being proposed by the Harrell administration would put the power to demolish vacant buildings that become magnets for squatters and drug use in the hands of Seattle City Hall.

The bill proposed by Mayor Bruce Harrell will be taken up by the Seattle City Council as officials hope to give Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins new powers to “to take quick action to remedy derelict buildings that threaten the health and safety of our neighborhoods.”

The city says the number of vacant building fires has surged from 77 in 2021 to 130 last year including the massive blaze last summer that destroyed the First Hill building home to low-income apartments and Vito’s nightclub. That building had been shuttered for repairs following a previous smaller fire but had become popular with squatters and drug users. Continue reading →

Seattle City Council land use committee pulls an unusual move — voting no

Posted on by
18

In a rejection rare for the body, the Seattle City Council’s land use committee Wednesday failed to pass legislation to launch a new Connected Communities pilot program in the city dedicated to creating 35 “community-led” affordable housing developments over the next five years.

Committee chair and bill sponsor Tammy Morales can still bring the proposal to the full council but it will carry the rare — and likely doomed — “do not pass” recommendation from her committee after Wednesday 1-3 vote.

The Seattle council’s procedures in recent years rarely resulted in the outright rejection of legislation at the scale of the proposed pilot — especially when carried forward by the chair. But the new council has been more likely to vote against bills under the leadership of council president Sara Nelson. Continue reading →

Groups will rally Saturday in the Central District for ‘more housing and better transportation’ in Seattle

Posted on by
2

Seattle urbanists and transportation activists will rally Saturday, calling for “more housing and better transportation in Seattle” as city leaders move forward on a new 20-year growth plan for the city and a new $1.35 billion transportation levy vote this fall.

The Transportation and Housing Rally for a Healthy Future will take place Saturday, April 20th starting at 2 PM in the Central District’s Jimi Hendrix Park: Continue reading →

Council committee to decide on Connected Communities pilot program and 35 ‘community-led’ affordable housing developments

Posted on by
6

The Seattle City Council’s land use committee is expected to make a decision Wednesday afternoon whether the city should launch a new pilot program linking community organizations with developers to create affordable “equitable development” in neighborhoods across the city. The program could help organizations like Habitat for Humanity or El Centro de la Raza more easily develop affordable housing projects on their Seattle properties.

Committee chair and legislation sponsor Tammy Morales calls the proposed Connected Communities pilot a “win-win” and highlighted the bill’s potential for streamlining a cumbersome process for community groups.

“The fact is many community-based organizations are seeking opportunities to help build affordable housing and develop vital commercial spaces and third places,” Morales said in an announcement of the planned Wednesday vote. “We just need to get out of their way. This legislation does that by cutting red tape and onerous regulations,” Continue reading →

St. Mark’s affordable housing and adaptive reuse development on agenda at Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board

Posted on by
1

A rendering showing the planned massing of the new structure (Image: Atelierjones)

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board will be briefed this week on the planned redevelopment and adaptive reuse project envisioned to create more than 100 affordable homes on the St. Mark’s Cathedral campus on northern Capitol Hill.

The project would transform the landmarks-protected St. Nicholas building that has stood on the property for 98 years. CHS reported here on the project taking shape with designs calling for 109 affordable apartment units in a development that would create a new twin to the historic building.

Designated as a protected landmark in 1982, the St. Nicholas structure’s protections include the “entire exterior of the 1926 building” and “the entire site” but the restrictions do not extend to the structure’s interior. Continue reading →

Kerry Hall hits the market as Cornish College of the Arts says goodbye to Capitol Hill

Posted on by
5

(Image: Cornish College of the Arts)

The Cornish College of the Arts is ready to sever its final connection after more than a century of dance and music education on Capitol Hill.

Kerry Hall, the three-story studio and performance hall at E Roy and Broadway where Nellie Cornish called home at the time of the school’s 1914 founding and part of the school for more than 100 years, is now for sale.

“This is an exciting moment for Cornish College of the Arts,” Emily Parkhurst, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement. “The decision to sell Kerry Hall completes the Board’s plan to unify the campus in South Lake Union, first outlined in 2007.”

CHS reported here in 2021 on preparations for the property sale as Cornish sought to solidify its growing presence in South Lake Union.

The announcement did not include a price tag for the property. Cornish says proceeds from the sale will be “reinvested into Cornish’s existing facilities and operations, allowing the college to continue to grow.” The school says its enrollment is expected to exceed 530 students in the 2024/2025 school year. Continue reading →

St. Mark’s northern Capitol Hill affordable housing plan would create new four-story twin to adaptive reuse of old St. Nicholas building

Posted on by
8

A four-story addition would rise behind the old St. Nicholas building under the plan

(Image: City permit filings)

Capitol Hill’s next major affordable housing development may come on the holy ground of North Capitol Hill.

Early permit filings show a plan for a four-story adaptive reuse project with around 109 affordable apartment units in a development that would create a new twin to the landmarks-protected St. Nicholas building on the grounds of the St. Mark’s Cathedral along 10th Ave E.

CHS reported here in November on renewed efforts around the long-planned development effort as Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral announced it received a $100,000 grant from Trinity Church Wall Street, an organization that helps churches and faith organizations fund feasibility and predevelopment costs.

For St. Mark’s, proceeds from the development would provide crucial funding while also furthering its social mission by providing much needed new affordable housing in the city. Continue reading →

The Punk Rock Flea Market is coming back to Capitol Hill — Here’s when it will open and how long it might stay

Posted on by
5

(Image: Punk Rock Flea Market)

What began in an abandoned basement bar beneath the Low Income Housing Institute headquarters in Belltown led to the birth of the Punk Rock Flea Market. This June, PRFM will hold its first weekend sale in the former QFC on 15th Ave E that has been shuttered since 2021 to activate that space until the building is demolished to make way for new housing and new businesses.

“We’re ‘punk rock’ because we’re collaborative and very DIY, not because we adhere to any particular fashion or music choices. We’re open and friendly and weird, and everyone is welcome to buy and sell with us,” Joshua Okrent, PRFM founder, tells CHS.

While the public process and financing pathway for redevelopment can be lengthy and bumpy, the property’s developer Hunters Capital has been searching for short-term tenants to try to keep the block active until the six-story, 170-unit, mixed-use development with about 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space can dig in.

“The Punk Rock Flea Market will be here through the end of the year and will continue on a month-to-month basis next year,” Jill Cronauer, chief operating officer of Hunters Capital, told CHS.

The agreement means there will be time for multiple PRFM event over the coming months. The first is planned for June 22nd and 23rd the weekend before the big 2024 Pride festivities. Continue reading →

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

Posted on by
11

 

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.

 

 

(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 →