Tag Archives: downtown

Seattle Social Housing’s first deal: $60M for 150-unit apartment building near Pike Place Market

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(Image: Seattle Social Housing Developer)

Seattle’s social housing initiative is officially a reality. Following a unanimous vote by the Seattle Social Housing Developer board, the public authority is set to become the new owner of the Elara at the Market apartment complex.

Located at 2134 Western Ave next to Pike Place Market and the new Waterfront Park, the Belltown building price will come in at $60 million — or $400,000 a unit — a price SSHD officials say is below recent downtown sales for comparable buildings.

Johnson Development, “a multi-division national real estate developer of industrial, multifamily, self-storage, and commercial properties,” has held the property since acquiring it for $8 million in 2015. It opened the Elara to residents two years later following construction.

“As a housing developer, SSHD is different than most. It’s not about profit for us. SSHD believes housing is a public good,” the announcement on the deal reads. “The developer aims to provide high quality housing that fosters community, is inclusive, permanently affordable, and climate forward.” Continue reading →

City Council notes: Police ‘Professionalism & Standards’ and Westlake transit hub resolutions — Plus, analysis shows Seattle is near its legal limit on property taxes

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The Seattle City Council is busy with two resolutions Tuesday while one of its committees tackles the complicated math behind the city’s capacity for property tax levies.

  • Law Enforcement Professionalism & Standards Resolution: Tuesday afternoon, the full council will take up final votes on two resolutions passed unanimously out of committees in recent weeks. One, CHS reported on here, is a proposed resolution “relating to law enforcement officer professionalism and standards.” The proposal sponsored by committee chair Robert Kettle is focused on “reaffirming Seattle values related to professional law enforcement conduct; condemning recent actions of federal law enforcement agents; articulating expectations for law enforcement conduct within Seattle; and directing Seattle Police Department officers to document and report violations of law enforcement professionalism standards,” according to a council report on the proposed statement. In another report, the resolution is described as a reaffirmation of the city’s law enforcement values — and a response to the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. Continue reading →

Police: Two victims in Freeway Park robbery stabbings

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At least two people were reported injured in early Wednesday morning knife attacks inside Freeway Park between First Hill and downtown Seattle.

Seattle Police and Seattle Fire were called to the chaotic scene near Hubbell and Seneca just after 6:30 AM where officers encountered two victims and began canvassing the sprawling park for more.

Police also began the search for a suspect or possible suspects but only had a limited description to work with, according to police radio updates.

UPDATE: SPD says they are investigating the incident as a robbery. Continue reading →

Five years later: CHOP and the 2020 protests in Seattle

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Five years ago this week, CHS began what would grow into months of day by day, night by night coverage of the 2020 protests in Seattle. It was a neighborhood story. Continue reading →

Seattle downtown’s proposed digital kiosk program could spread to streets of Pike/Pine

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A rendering showing a digital kiosk installed in front of Neumos

(Image: IKE/DSA)

Planners behind a proposal to add digital wayfinding kiosks with news and information, wi-fi access, directions, and advertisements, to the streets of Seattle’s core aren’t just looking at downtown — they’re also planning for the installations in the midst of Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine nightlife district.

Planners from IKE Smart City and the Downtown Seattle Association recently presented an update on the program to the Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Council. In the session, the group was presented with images showing what kiosks would like along the sidewalks near 10th and Pike and in front of the Neumos music club.

“Kiosk initiative is a strategy within the Mayor’s Downtown Activation Plan to increase promotion of local businesses, events and attractions, and enhance the pedestrian experience,” one slide reads. Continue reading →

Ghost Note Coffee crafts expansion from Capitol Hill with Seattle Tower cafe

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(Image: Ghost Note Coffee)

(Image: Ghost Note Coffee)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

With Ghost Note Coffee’s detail-oriented approach to craft coffee, it should not be a surprise that growth has taken time. Born eight years ago on Capitol Hill, Ghost Note has finally made its second cafe permanent on the ground floor of 3rd Ave’s 96-year-old Seattle Tower.

Ghost Note’s careful expansion downtown gives them a small footprint and a more feasible and affordable way of expanding in terms of inventory, equipment and employees. They also found the space to be gorgeous.

“The building is something that we’re just so proud to be a part of. It’s a pretty stellar place,” said Christos Andrews, co-owner of Ghost Note. “I’ve noticed when people walk in the door and it’s their first time at Ghost Note, you can see the experience seems to be more impactful, which is really exciting.”

After opening with limited hours last year and slowly expanding operations through the holiday season, the space is now open six days a week. It is Ghost Note’s second location after its spot in Capitol Hill, which opened on Bellevue Ave back in 2017. Continue reading →

How long to lid I-5 between Capitol Hill and downtown? Years and years and years — but the plan is being shaped now

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(Image: Lid I-5)

A view from the new lid over 520 in Montlake (Image: Lid I-5)

Last month, the new SR-520 bike and pedestrian bridge opened to counterbalance the flow of motor vehicles traveling across the new Montlake Lid. Longstanding hopes to cover freeways in other parts of the city are also taking shape. Between Capitol Hill and downtown, the Lid I-5 group has been working on its initiative long enough that its years-old utility pole flyers have become part of the area’s gritty urban landscape. The effort has a $2.2 million boost to work with in 2025.

John Feit has been part of the group pursuing the lidding of I-5 through downtown to cap noise and pollution, and to reconnect neighborhoods while filing gaping holes in the city—like the affordable housing supply. Now, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the city $2 million and the state legislature added another $200,000 in planning grants. Lid I-5 and other proponents of Seattle lids are pushing forward.

“We’re going to use that recent money to come up with an urban design vision, which means understanding what the people of Seattle would like to see with the lid accomplished,” Feit told CHS.

A rendering of a Lid I-5 concept that includes park space and new buildings (Image: Lid I-5)

Continue reading →

Slain Metro driver to be remembered Friday with downtown bus procession

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(Image: King County Metro)

(Image: King County Metro)

Metro driver Shawn Yim will be remembered by his city with a memorial procession of buses stretching through Seattle’s downtown Friday morning:

A memorial procession of several dozen buses and transit vehicles from Metro and agencies around the region is scheduled to leave Metro’s Central/Atlantic bus base at 10 a.m. The procession will travel north on Fourth Avenue to Broad Street, Fifth Avenue North, Mercer Street, Sixth Avenue North and then south in the SR 99 tunnel to Lumen Field. No personal vehicles will be included in the procession. Cross-street traffic will be temporarily held as the procession passes.

Metro says “several dozen buses and transit vehicles from Metro and agencies around the region” will participate and is encouraging the public “to allow additional travel time due to temporary traffic delays.”

The procession is scheduled to begin at 10 AM. Continue reading →

As Capitol Hill business group eyes ‘ambassadors,’ We Deliver Care says it needs $2.6M for 3rd Ave in 2025

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A non-profit company formed to provide “community ambassadors” to provide “non-violent de-escalation” along Seattle’s troubled 3rd Ave says it needs $640,000 to continue its work through the end of the year and another $2.6 million for 2025.

We Deliver Care is asking the Seattle City Council to consider the funding as it says its work with “people experiencing homelessness, poverty, or criminal activity” is working on the challenged downtown street.

The ambassadors “reverse opioid overdoses, reduce loitering, help get unhoused people indoors, and provide non-emergency responses to public safety concerns,” a city council brief on the program reads. Continue reading →

No light rail this weekend between Capitol Hill and SoDo

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(Image: Sound Transit)

There will be no light rail service through downtown Seattle this weekend. Sound Transit is closing the line between Capitol Hill and SoDo for planned maintenance on Saturday and Sunday:

Due to planned rail maintenance, Link light rail will be temporarily suspended between Capitol Hill and SODO stations from the start of service Saturday, June 22 through the end of service Sunday, June 23. Normal operations will resume at the start of service Monday, June 24. During this time, Sound Transit will provide Link Shuttle buses to transport passengers. The buses will run every 15 minutes and stop at all stations between Capitol Hill and SODO. Passengers should plan ahead and allow for extra time for transfers between buses and trains.

Sound Transit says it expect service to be up and running in time for Monday morning.

The closure is part of the latest work as Sound Transit undertakes needed maintenance, repair, and upgrade work in the downtown transit tunnel in advance of expansion including service connecting Lynnwood to the existing 1 Line at the end of August.

More expansion is coming including the new line connecting Seattle to the Eastside across I-90. Costly construction snafus have delayed the opening of Judkins Park Station and the Eastside expansion line it is part of to 2025 — some eight years after the project broke ground.

 
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