As the street food culture in Seattle evolves into a force to be reckoned with (more on that, below), some of the fast movers in the scene are also permanently parking part of their food truck and trailer fleets — and, so far, Capitol Hill must seem like a nice place to pull into. Hawaiian and Korean food truck Marination Mobile announced this week that it will open a permanent home on Capitol Hill in a Harvard Market retail space above QFC.
Here’s the e-mail we received from @curb_cuisine owner Kamala Saxton:
I wanted to let you know that Marination just signed a lease for a store front at the Harvard Market. We expect to be open in April and we are thrilled to back on the Hill. This brick and mortar location will serve beer and wine, the usual Marination menu plus a couple of expanded menu options not served on the truck.
Kamala Saxton says hi
The move, er, non-move marks the second time a mobile food business has chosen the Hill as a stable home following Skillet’s decision to open its diner in the Chloe building at 14th and Union.
Marination plans to open this spring in a retail space near the Harvard Market escalator and next door to Little Saigon restaurant and (CHS advertiser!) eBits in the Pike/Broadway corner of the shopping center.
This summer CHS reported that City of Seattle planners were exploring a plan to establish a street food court on Broadway near the light rail construction. We’re hearing that the plan has evolved — but that Capitol Hill is still very much a part of it. More as we gather it.
In the meantime, how long until some of the Hill’s brick-and-mortar food and drink providers fight back? I’d eat at a Big Mario’s truck. You?
This is great news! Having lived near the Harvard Market for a few years, I’m amazed that there are a couple of spaces that have been empty for so long.
Don’t you mean this is the third time a mobile food business has chosen the Hill as a permanent home? Last I checked, Rancho Bravo’s Hill transplant to the old KFC spot is everyone’s favorite spot for cheap fast tacos.
Interesting point! Rancho Bravo’s truck was basically permanent *but* RB is definitely worthy of mention. Time to revise this history!
I can’t say I’m amazed, considering how poor/non-existent the visibility of that upper level is from street. It will be interesting what Marination can do with the space, especially since they were born from the street-level experience.
They should definitely park the truck on the street below to use as additional signage.
Please use spell check. Thanks!
I think if you typed up as many stories as he does, you’d slip up every now and then. Shhhhut it!
Please use up time and space correcting grammar somewhere else. Thanks!
This is great news! I love Marination Mobile, and I think it will do a lot to revitalize that group of stores above QFC.
It’s hard enough to do business in a location with good foot traffic. Burger king couldn’t make it up there on the second floor so I doubt they will either. I saw the rents they’re charging up the there and I think they’re pretty ridiculous. But hey, good luck. It’s tough out there.
Who’s idea was it, really, to have a bunch of stores in the middle of Capitol Hill face AWAY from the street and into a big upper level parking lot? It’s accessible by car, a dark alley-esque staircase, or a escalator where, from the bottom, it isn’t clear where exactly you’re going to end up. I shake my head every time I go by here, so thanks, Jason, for finally giving me an opportunity to vent!
And one or both escalators, and sometimes the elevator, have not been working properly for weeks.
You know what they call an escalator that’s broken? Stairs.
There is a huge movement to have permanent mobile food spots and the legislation is looking to pass in Jan. But as of right now there are no Cap hill spots set in motion. I am very happy for marination. I think that is anyones goal when you open a truck is either to have a large catering business or a restaurant. That is our goal for sure. I own Fusion on the run and I am happy to see all these trucks opening on the hill. That was my dream when I moved here a little over 2 years ago and to see others doing it makes me happy and excited for whats to come. I think marination will do fine in that spot. They have a really good promotions team. Why do you think everyone in the US knows who they are?
I lived next door in the Firestation Apartments when the whole Harvard Market was planned. The original design was for only a few parking spots on the top level for the condos above Bartell’s (with the vehicle entrance through the “alley”). The rest was a roofgarden-like space with outdoor restaurant seating, food carts, play area for children, fountains, etc. The developers insisted that only high-end retailers would come into the development (Larry’s Market, Pasta & Co., La Spiga).
Soon that all changed. They scrapped the upper plaza design for a parking lot and added the second entrance on Harvard. In a move to keep Larry’s off the Hill, QFC offered them more $$ to go into the space, promising that it would be a new type of QFC–“just like Larry’s Market.” Pasta & Co. eventually pulled out as the developers failed to bring in similar tenants to draw the customer base they had been promised (it was replaced with a Subway sandwich shop).
The whole upper lever is poorly designed. If you look up from Pike Street, you see a whole row of windows. Instead of opening that space up to seating with active street views, they placed the rear service hallway there. All the businesses are oriented to a parking lot. If they had stuck with the original plan, that would have been fine. They could open up outdoor seating in a pleasant plaza setting. But as it is, it might as well be a strip mall on Aurora. In fact, one of the spaces (perhaps the one Marination is going into?) has NEVER been rented.
Hopefully Marination can make a go of it on the upper level. I certainly will give them a try. Good luck!
Harvard market is VERY expensive with NNN charges close to $10/sf. On a space this size that’s going to be about $500 a month on top of the rent payment. Very difficult to get the math to work @ the Harvard Market which is why places sit empty.