Tag Archives: health

‘Hey, what should go in this space?’ — Calls from neighborhood to fill empty Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill campus spaces being answered along 15th Ave

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture

Kaiser Permanente has responded to calls from the neighborhood to do more to fill the empty retail spaces of its Capitol Hill campus along 15th Ave. There is a new property management effort in place, a new coffee shop lined up to join the campus, and a survey process underway to shape what kind of businesses are courted to help fill in other spaces along this stretch of Capitol Hill.

CHS reported earlier this year on calls for Kaiser to do meet its requirements for activating its streetfront spaces from the citizen Implementation Advisory Committee that oversees the city’s Major Institution Master Plan put in place in 2018 after the health care provider’s takeover of Group Health.

The retail spaces lost tenants coming out of the pandemic and have remained empty for years.

A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson says it has now finalized an agreement with a firm to manage its “available retail locations,” saying Health Hospitality Partners is a healthcare amenities company “that works exclusively with hospitals and health systems to bring modern retail onsite.” Continue reading →

King County Council ready for vote on funding plan for $56M Broadway Crisis Care Center — UPDATE: Approved

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From the real estate listing for the property

The King County Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a funding package for the planned $56 million Broadway Crisis Care Center that would keep the process on track for a 2027 opening of the facility.

UPDATE 6:00 PM: The council approved the package Tuesday afternoon clearing the way for a $41 million purchase of the property including a financing plan that would include millions in projected revenue from leasing portions of the building, potentially to Harborview. The plan includes another $15 million for the costs of upgrading the facility and funding a contract operator. Officials said Tuesday the funding includes resources to address public safety concerns including environmental design spending and funding security resources for the contract operator. The spending plan also will include transportation funding for patients after their stay at the center. An ordinance authorizing the issuance of bonds for Harborview to lease a portion of the property passed 6-3. The core financial ordinance to fund the builidng’s purchased was approved unanimously.

UPDATE 10/8/2025 9 AM: “Today, we’re responding to voters’ mandate to expand care and delivering on our commitment to ensuring anyone in crisis can receive timely, appropriate mental health care and treatment for substance use disorder when and where they need it,” King County Executive Shannon Braddock said in a statement sent to CHS. “This marks a critical step forward in expanding access to urgent behavioral health care across our region.”

“As we move ahead, our commitment remains firm: we will continue working closely with community members, the King County Council, and the City of Seattle to shape a center that reflects our shared needs and values — one that provides essential care today and builds a foundation for long-term impact for years to come.”

In its statement, the county also emphasized it has analyzed the property “as part of our standard due diligence process and is aware that repairs and maintenance have been needed.”

“These repairs and maintenance have consistently been a part of our financial planning,” the statement reads. “We are confident we can make the proper modifications to bring a Crisis Care Center online in this building.”

Original report: Legislation enabling the purchase of the former Polyclinic property at Broadway and Union was passed out of the council’s finance committee in September but not without debate over concerns surrounding the planned 24-7 walk-in and emergency care mental health clinic that would be the second location in a planned network of five centers across the county.

In September, the King County Council’s budget committee approved a set of ordinances to set up the fund that will pay for the acquisition and operation of the new levy-powered mental health crisis center at Broadway and Union as part of a planned $1.25 billion network of five facilities across the county. Continue reading →

Rabies: Health department looking for people who helped sick bat near Arboretum last week

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King County Public Health is looking for two people who may have come into contact with a rabid bat found outside a residence near the Washington Park Arboretum last week.

Officials say the encounter apparently involved people who found the injured animal and provided it water, according to a note left on the door of a Boyer Ave E home:

The bat was first identified on September 23, 2025. A King County resident found a note on their door indicating that two unknown people had given the bat water and alerting the resident to the sick bat. The bat was euthanized by an animal control agency on September 24. Public Health tested the bat for rabies and received a positive test on September 25.

Continue reading →

Seattle 2025 smoke season: ‘moderate’ and hopefully short

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Source: Airfire.org

Seattle appears set to get through with a relatively mild 2025 smoke season.

Smoke from large fires burning in the eastern Cascades that poured into the Puget Sound region over the weekend should let up, U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program forecasters say, as an inversion layer fades and winds shift. Continue reading →

‘The intermediary got a really good deal’ — County says development firm’s ‘flip’ of $42M Broadway Crisis Care Center property squares up

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A street view of the facility (Image: King County)

King County officials say that despite a Seattle real estate development group standing to make a cool $10 million or more on the flip, they are paying a fair market price for the Broadway and Union medical facility slated to be transformed into a new mental health Crisis Care Center by 2027.

The “assignment fee” in the county’s $42 million deal for the Polyclinic/Optum building has been a key issue for critics of the plan and was the center of questions from King County Council budget committee chair Rod Dembowski as his committee ultimately voted to move funding for the $56 million project forward earlier this month.

“A one year flip for $10 million? The intermediary got a really good deal,” Dembrowski said during the committee proceedings. Continue reading →

In key vote, King County Council committee moves plan for $56M Broadway Crisis Care Center forward with promises on public safety and oversight

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The former Polyclinic facility

There will be no emergency pause in the legislative process around funding the planned $56 million Broadway Crisis Care Center. Officials Wednesday said time is already on the side of answering public safety concerns and putting important new resources in place before the center’s planned opening at Broadway and Union in 2027.

Questions about millions of dollars to be paid to a real estate firm intermediary in the sale agreement also need to be answered.

But there is urgency for people struggling with mental health in the city. “There are very few places in King County they can walk into. Because of this, they are suffering in our streets,” committee member and King County Executive candidate Girmay Zahilay said Wednesday before the votes.

Wednesday, the King County Council’s budget committee approved a raft of ordinances to set up the fund that will pay for the acquisition and operation of the new levy-powered mental health crisis center at Broadway and Union part of a planned $1.25 billion network of five facilities across the county.

The votes keep the process around the planned center on track as key deadlines arrive in the purchase agreement with UnitedHealth Group’s Optum subsidiary. The county’s Department of Community and Human Services said previously a purchase and sale agreement was put in place for the former Polyclinic facility in January with hopes of closing the deal by the end of summer.

CHS reported here on a call for a pause on the legislation from a group of area property owners and businesses.

Wednesday’s votes followed a public comment session dominated by the concerns raised by the group around public safety at the planned center near Seattle University and just a few blocks from the private Seattle Academy middle and high schools.

Questions were also raised about the project’s outreach process and a millions of dollar fee being paid to a real estate firm in the middle of the dealings. Continue reading →

Report: King County Council mulling pause in Broadway Crisis Care Center process — UPDATE

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The proposed Broadway site

A member of the King County Council says he has prepared an “emergency resolution” calling for a 30-day pause on the county’s efforts to acquire the Polyclinic building at the corner of Broadway and Union where a $56 million Broadway Crisis Care Center is planned.

Reagan Dunn, representing the county’s southeast, is reportedly mulling the call for a pause over concerns about the proposed property deal raised by “a group of Capitol Hill business owners and residents,” KOMO reports:

The group sent a lengthy letter to King County Executive Shannon Braddock, County Council Chair Girmay Zahilay, and Department of Community and Health Services Director Kelly Rider last week, accusing them of potentially violating laws and triggering a devolving street crime situation like what happed with the failed Navigation Center in Little Saigon.

UPDATE: In a statement provided to CHS Tuesday, Dunn is reportedly pausing his call for a pause. “CM Dunn is not currently calling for the aforementioned delay pending the outcome of tomorrow’s hearing where we will learn more about the issue,” a spokesperson said.

CHS has not been provided with a copy of the letter but representatives from nearby Cancer Pathways and Perkins Glass spoke to the TV station about their concerns over the proposed center.

Continue reading →

In WA, you can get a COVID-19 shot — no matter what RFK Jr. says

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In a bid to overcome confusion, misinformation, and disinformation from federal leaders, state health officials Thursday issued a Standing Order making all Washington residents 6 months and older eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

“COVID-19 vaccines are well-researched, well-tested, and have saved millions of lives around the world,” State Health Officer Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett said in a statement. “The barriers to COVID-19 vaccination are complex, and the Standing Order is just one part of the solution. We want to ensure all Washington residents have access to the protection these vaccines provide based on the best available science.” Continue reading →

Mayor’s conditions for $56M Broadway Crisis Care Center plan include Seattle Police safety sign-off, citizen advisory committee

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The building from above from a recent real estate listing (Image: CBRE)

Screenshot

As the King County Council prepares to vote on a $56 million plan to create a new Crisis Care Center at Broadway and Union, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has conditionally endorsed the proposal and says the city is ready to “partner” on the new facility.

“Seattle, along with other cities in the County, is facing an unprecedented behavioral health crisis. Too many residents are struggling with behavioral issues without adequate support,” the mayor’s letter in support the plan for the facility reads. “When the Seattle clinic opens it will provide same-day access to care for a person in crisis, which will help reduce the crisis we see on our streets every day.”

In the letter, Harrell says the county and a yet to be announced operator of the center must partner with the Seattle Police Department to assess the former Polyclinic building and its surroundings for safety, execute a “safe operations plan for the building and the surrounding exterior spaces, including public sidewalks and other publicly accessible spaces,” and enter into a Good Neighbor Agreement with the city that “obligates the provider to meet certain safety and disorder standards to be negotiated with the provider.”

The Seattle City Hall letter of support is a key milestone in the so far limited public process around the proposal. Continue reading →

Public Health warns of May 2nd measles exposure at Capitol Hill brewery

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If you are vaccinated you should not have to worry but the health department has put out an alert about a Canadian who “visited multiple public locations in Renton, Bellevue, Seattle, Everett and Woodinville while contagious with measles” in early May including a popular beer hall and brewery on Capitol Hill.

Public Health says the visitor arrived here April 30th and spent four days around the city and the Eastside before flying home out of Sea-Tac on May 3rd. Unfortunately, they had a very busy itinerary including a stop on Capitol Hill.

Officials say the infected person was at Capitol Hill’s Stoup Brewing at Broadway and Union from 4 to 8 PM on Friday, May 2nd.

“Measles virus can remain in the air for up to two hours after someone infectious with measles leaves the area,” local health officials said. “Anyone who was at the following locations during the times listed could have been exposed to measles.”

Health officials have not said if any new case have been connected to the exposures but did say the visitor’s case is not connected to any previous local measles cases.

Exposure alerts are likely to continue. Continue reading →