The King County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the 28-year-old shot and killed inside a First Hill apartment building Tuesday night as Gador Peter Wal.
Wal died from multiple gunshot wounds, and the Medical Examiner officially ruled the death of the Seattle man a homicide. Continue reading
A man died at the scene and police were searching for the shooter in a killing in a First Hill apartment Tuesday night.
The Seattle Police Department says it is investigating a homicide and said to avoid the area around the 8th and Madison building while it was conducting its investigation.
According to East Precinct radio updates, police were called to a reported shooting and a person down in a unit of the M Street apartments around 8:05 PM. Arriving officers began CPR until Seattle Fire arrived. The victim was declared dead at the scene. Continue reading
A forum celebrating the 50th anniversary of Seattle’s landmark Freeway Park will take place Tuesday night at Town Hall Seattle. The event will also include connections to the future of the park’s place in a possible expanded lid over I-5 between downtown and Capitol Hill.
Jointly organized by Lid I-5, the Seattle Parks Foundation, and the Freeway Park Association, the event marks a half-century since the groundbreaking urban green space first opened above Interstate 5 on July 4, 1976. A civic panel will explore the park’s architectural legacy, urban reconnectivity between downtown, First Hill, and Capitol Hill, ongoing capital improvements, and its influence on future freeway-lidding initiatives.
Featured participants include state Sen. Jamie Pedersen, Seattle Parks Foundation CEO Rebecca Bear, landscape architect Lara Rose, civic leader Maggie Walker, Freeway Park Association director Riisa Conklin, and Lid I-5 co-chair Scott Bonjukian. Continue reading
Gulliotine
There are a couple more Capitol Hill-area food a drink closures to tally this summer as First Hill is losing a pizza joint and a Broadway cocktail joint has shuttered.
On Broadway, 2024-born Guillotine from veteran bartenders Andrew Larson and Colin Smith closed down last month:
Wow its been quite a ride the past couple years. We wouldn’t change it for anything. The friends and chosen family we have made throughout this journey is by far the hardest part of this. Thank every single one of you for your love and support. We love you guys so much! This isn’t goodbye! You’ll be seeing us around!
An effort is underway to win landmark protections for a home built on First Hill 124 years ago for a prominent Seattle couple. Today, the home makes up 11 apartments and is worthy of historical protections, the group says.
Historic Seattle has officially put forward a landmark nomination for the William and Annie Phillips House, aiming to secure permanent protections for the First Hill property. Located at 711 E Union, the unique “double dwelling” now serves as affordable housing.
Built in 1902 by contractor John M. Hester, the home was originally commissioned by bookkeeper William Bell Phillips as a side-by-side residence under one roof to house him and his future wife, Annie, alongside his parents. Designed by the short-lived Seattle architectural partnership Williams & Clark, the building is renowned for its distinct exterior, the group says. The design showcases an architectural duality, blending a forward-projecting Colonial Revival gabled wing on the west with a Classic Box structure on the east. Continue reading
(Image: John Winthrop Apartments)
Retrofit plans
By Brenna Gauchat
Residents from the century-old John Winthrop Apartments on First Hill met last week in the Cal Anderson Shelter House community space to discuss the possibility they might be evicted.
Alongside the Puget Sound Tenants Union and residents from sibling buildings, they brainstormed ways to stop the new owners of their building from relocating residents as the structure undergoes earthquake safety retrofitting.
“We’re not against earthquake retrofitting, we’re just against this BS process that they’re using to do this,” one John Winthrop resident said. “Like a loophole to just evict the whole building.”
In April, Nordic Falk and Seattle real estate entrepreneur Kevin Falk acquired the 1020 Seneca building in a $11 million deal and began structural renovations in its unoccupied units. At the same time, the building’s new owners also applied for a permit to retrofit the rest of the building, which included a request for a Tenant Relocation License as the work would be invasive and make a unit “uninhabitable,” according to the firm.
Residents at the John Winthrop have pushed back. Out of the 62 occupied units, one resident said more than half have joined in trying to find a solution to keep tenants from being uprooted, temporarily or permanently.
Others are watching.
Nordic Falk’s retrofitting project only applies to the John Winthrop but the resident said there was a “massive turnout” at Wednesday’s meeting. Neighbors were seeing the union’s event posters on the street and came to bring ideas based on their experiences in other Capitol Hill and First Hill apartment buildings.
“One thing that we were saying [in the meeting] is, okay, so you want to do the earthquake retrofitting? Just do it one by one and then as people naturally move in and out, you can keep going,” the John Winthrop resident said, just one of suggested solutions brought to the table that evening. “There’s so many avenues, I feel like this actually will end up being successful.” Continue reading
The vehicle’s owner was injured Wednesday after being hit by the vehicle as the thief fled the scene during a reported carjacking Wednesday morning in a First Hill bank parking lot.
Seattle Police and the Washington State Patrol were looking for the stolen Toyota SUV boosted in the just before noon heist.
Police were called to the area of the Key Bank parking lot near Minor and Madison around 11:20 AM to reports that a driver had hit a person and at least one parked car before fleeing westbound on Madison. Continue reading
Multiple people were arrested by the Seattle Police Department in a clash over a protest targeting an appearance by a pro-Israel advocate and influencer at a Sunday night event held at Town Hall Seattle on First Hill.
The Seattle Times reported the three arrests were made as protesters from the Seattle Palestine Action Network demonstrating against pro-Israel advocate and influencer Noa Cochva’s appearance at the event tangled with attendees and police.
The event was organized by StandWithUs Northwest, a Mercer Island-based nonprofit that organizes appearances by “speakers on Israel and the Jewish people to Northwest high schools, campuses, synagogues, churches, Rotary Clubs, senior homes and private venues.” Continue reading
The First Hill property home to the shuttered Museum of Museums is for sale.
The Seattle DJC reports that the block of the Swedish First Hill campus at 1401 Madison is being dangled for developers.
“CBRE recently put the block on the market, unpriced. Because it’s part of the Swedish MIO campus area (think: major institutional overlay), it has high-rise zoning,” the DJC reports. “So an apartment or condo tower could in theory be built up to 200 feet.”
The half acre of land and old medical buildings are being listed as construction is completed on a new “north tower” at Swedish. Continue reading
With reporting by Brenna Gauchat and Alex Garland
Healthcare workers rallied outside of Harborview Medical Center to demonstrate solidarity for Minneapolis before joining educators at Broadway and Pine for a 1,000-strong march through Seattle Saturday afternoon.
This demonstration was part of nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics following the violence in Minneapolis to call for ICE to leave American cities and to honor Alex Pretti, the intensive care nurse who was shot and killed by federal immigration officers just a week before
Christy, one of the many registered nurses gathered at the protest, said Pretti’s death personally affected her and her co-workers.
“We wanted to do something about it, and we felt like this was the way to start,” she said. Continue reading