Tag Archives: first hill

Norma and Terri — Women in First Hill senior community bus accident identified

Posted on by
Reply

(Image: Hilltop House)

The community around Terrace Street’s Hilltop House senior living facility lost two neighbors this week. Friends, loved ones, and family are remembering Norma Luisa Versakos and Terri May Marble.

The King County Medical Examiner has identified the women as the victims in Tuesday’s terrible incident in which a shuttle bus serving the facility was backed into a smoking shelter in the Hilltop House parking lot. Both women died at the scene. A third narrowly escape injury. Police say the driver was evaluated and no signs of impairment were found.

Results of the state collision investigation will not be released for weeks.

Versakos was 77 and Marble, 66. Continue reading →

Two dead after bus reportedly backs over smoking shelter in First Hill parking lot — UPDATE

Posted on by
3

Two people were reported dead after a bus struck a smoking shelter in a parking lot near Broadway and Alder in the First Hill neighborhood Tuesday morning.

According to emergency radio updates, a 911 caller reported the horrific incident and said a bus had backed over the shelter occupied by two victims just after 10:30 AM in the parking lot behind the Hilltop House retirement community.

Original reports described the shelter as a tent but SPD clarified that the structure is a smoking area behind the building.

SPD says a third elderly woman barely escaped without injury. Continue reading →

See yourself in art in the new Frye Parlor

Posted on by
Reply

Installation view of Frye Parlor x Jayme Yen, Frye Art Museum (Image: Jueqian Fang/Frye)

Jayme Yen (Image: Colin Beam)

By Caroline Carr

The Frye Art Museum has long been one of the grandest spaces Seattleites could dare consider a third place. Short of a first Thursday, it is one of the only museums in Seattle to offer free admission, a personal value of its founder Charles Frye. In collaboration with a local artist Jayme Yen, the museum recently launched Frye Parlor, a new exhibit that engages in ambitious alchemy, fusing an art installation with a gathering space.

This new concept takes elements from a traditional art exhibit and places them in a lounge, inviting guests to stay a while, socialize, and see themselves as participants in the art. Located outside the museum’s cafe, the installation is Yen’s abstract take on Frye Salon, the ornate, floor-to-ceiling display of the museum’s founding collection. Continue reading →

‘In crisis’ — County makes case for Crisis Care Center on Broadway amid biz owner pushback

Posted on by
79

Around 50 people attended last week’s meeting (Image: CHS)

By Matt Dowell

King County officials reaffirmed the value of a planned mental health Crisis Care Center on Broadway at a community meeting last week but members of the public pushed back — “Why here?”

Officials tell CHS the meeting was the next step in a process they say is both just beginning — and well under way. There is an offer for the property on the table. More community meetings are being planned.

Meanwhile, a letter sent to District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth protesting the consideration of the Broadway at Union property for the new center has made waves in the neighborhood business community.

Meeting attendees inside Seattle U’s Wyckoff Auditorium and organized by the county and the GSBA chamber of commerce Thursday pushed for keeping the crisis center out of Capitol Hill and shifting the focus to a new location. Ice cream entrepreneur Molly Moon Neitzel took the mic.

“I’m Molly Moon, I’ve lived on Capitol Hill for 22 years. I have gone from a partying kid on one side of the Hill to a mom on the other side of the Hill. I’ve [operated] a thriving business in the Pike/Pine corridor for 16 years. I located that business there in a thriving time for the Hill. Our neighborhood is in crisis.”

“I think probably everyone in this room supports the mission of the Crisis Care Centers and believes that they need to exist,” Neitzel said. “The need for first responders to have the ability to take these folks in need to a Crisis Care Center — we can all give a standing ovation to that mission.”

“Do they need to come to a neighborhood in absolute dire crisis for the last five, six, seven years? No they do not.”

“I would encourage you to look at a site that is in a neighborhood that doesn’t have so much crisis going on right now.”

CHS broke the news last week on the county’s plans to open a facility in the former Polyclinic building at Broadway and Union as part of the $1.25 billion Crisis Care Centers measure approved by voters in April 2023. The nine-year levy calls for a network of five facilities that provide walk-in behavioral health care. The first opened in Kirkland in March. Continue reading →

King County planning Crisis Care Center at Broadway and Union — UPDATE

Posted on by
132

Capitol Hill property owners, businesses, and residents are preparing to push back on a planned King County mental health crisis center on Broadway.

Plans for a $1.25 billion network of five crisis care centers across the county include the former Polyclinic building at Broadway and Union, CHS has learned.

County officials are planning to hold a hastily organized meeting with community members Thursday.

Opposition to the Broadway center is already in place as rumors of the planned location have grown in recent months.

The massive 114,000-square-foot Polyclinic building now part of the Optum rebrand has been on the market for lease. A “rebuild letter,” also known as a “Zoning Verification Letter” and issued to confirm whether a property can be rebuilt to its original condition and use, was filed for the property in February. The letters are typically part of the process around a commercial property’s sale or refinancing. Continue reading →

New plaza and support for Town Hall: City finalizing public benefits deal for alley vacated to make way for First Hill 32-story apartment towers

Posted on by
4

Ovation Apartments

The vacation of public right of way for a major new double tower apartment development next to First Hill’s Town Hall Seattle is bringing neighborhood improvements including a new public plaza plus new financial support for the Seneca St. cultural center.

Legislation finalizing the way for the city to hand over the alley space between Seneca and Spring in exchange for a $5.3 million roster of public benefits was approved earlier this week by the Seattle City Council’s transportation committee including D3 rep Joy Hollingsworth. The bill will now move on to the full council for final approval. Continue reading →

Police seek man in connection with deadly shooting at First Hill drug squat — UPDATE

Posted on by
1

UPDATE: SPD has provided a more clear photo of Mohamed

The Seattle Police Department has issued a “WANTED” bulletin in the search for the suspect in a deadly April shooting inside a First Hill apartment building.

SPD announced Tuesday detectives are searching for Ayub S. Mohamed, also known as “IU,” in connection with the April 2nd shooting that killed 40-year-old David Chuyeshkov.

CHS reported here on Chuyeshkov’s killing. A person with direct knowledge of the situation told CHS that Chuyeshkov was not a leased resident of the building but that a ground floor unit of Summit Ave’s Tuscany Apartments had become a difficult to evict “drug squat” with regular trespassers. Continue reading →

The Harborview cafeteria: delicious, affordable, and kind of a secret

Posted on by
7

Down a hallway and tucked into the basement of Harborview Medical Center, an affordable and unexpectedly delicious culinary scene unfolds every day.

What looks like a typical hospital cafeteria is, in fact, one of Seattle’s most surprising hidden food destinations. The Harborview cafeteria, however, is not a total secret.

“We get outside guests just come here to eat the food because they appreciate it and always tell us how good it is compared to other hospitals,” said Chris Tharpe, retail manager at the medical center.

The cafeteria’s growing fanbase includes everyone from hospital staff and patients’ families to construction workers and local residents making the trip just for lunch.

The driving force behind Harborview’s surprising deliciousness is Executive Chef Vanessa Gray, who brought a bold vision—and a non-traditional résumé—to the job.

“I come from sports and entertainment… I wanted to make our cafeteria a fun place to eat with surprising food, not the same thing, hamburger, hot dog, pizza, kinds of things you see in a lot of cafeterias,” Gray said. Continue reading →

With the Knights of Columbus at Gridline’s core, Harvard Ave’s newest residential development is 112 years old

Posted on by
1

In March, CHS reported on the disappearance of construction cranes and design reviews for new projects on Capitol Hill. There are exceptions. There is also a development to welcome to the skyline in the interconnected zone between Capitol Hill and First Hill.

Capitol Hill’s newest residential development, the Gridline Apartments, has reached near-full occupancy less than a year after opening its doors. The two-building adaptive reuse project developed by SRM Development includes 178 units split between the West Building, with 49 units, and the larger North Building, with 129 units. The development offers a mix of affordable and market-rate housing, catering to a range of renters.

The project has grown up and around the neighborhood’s old Knights of Columbus building. Gridline was born of an overhaul of the landmark-worthy building that surrounded the old structure with new apartments

The smaller West Building opened in November 2023 and achieved 95% occupancy in about nine months. The North Building, which opened in March 2024, reached stabilized occupancy by late January 2025, taking just over 10 months to fill. As of now, both buildings are approximately 97% occupied.

“We’re pleased with how quickly these buildings have filled,” said Mike Erickson of SRM. “The location, amenities, and quality of the buildings have resonated with renters.” Continue reading →

Cascade Public Media is starting its second year on Broadway with security upgrade after ‘trespassing, vandalism, and break-ins’

Posted on by
14

(Image: Cascade Public Media)

Last year, Cascade Public Media brought KCTS and Crosscut to their new home on Broadway.

The new headquarters for the Pacific Northwest PBS media group has faced problems familiar to other buildings in the neighborhood.

Plans filed with the city show Cascade’s security team is planning a $60,000 project to make the building safer after its first year on Broadway between Capitol Hill and First Hill.

The project will “install additional fencing and security grilles” to “mitigate trespassing, vandalism, and break-ins occurring at the facility.” Continue reading →