A scene from PRFM’s 2017 stay in the Central District
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(Image: Punk Rock Flea Market)
The Punk Rock Flea Market, an art, vintage and thrift gathering that has grown to serve as a salve for some of the pains of Seattle’s changes and redevelopment, is returning to Capitol Hill to fill a gap in 15th Ave E.
Organizers for the market announced the PRFM will next take over the street’s shuttered QFC grocery as the property works its way through Seattle’s development process on its way to creating a new mixed-use building on the block. They’ll be moving in this May.
“It’s official! PRFM has a new home in Seattle! as of May 1 you’ll find your favorite community of artists, craftspeople, vintage vendors, music dealers and uncategorizable misfits at the former QFC on 15th Ave. on Capitol Hill!!!,” the announcement reads. “Within easy reach of the light rail, not to mention your favorite cafes, bars, pot shops and bookstores.”
The flea market was last doing its thing in downtown Seattle but has visited Capitol Hill and the Central District before.
Its presence has been a marker of sorts for the waves of development that are changing parts of the city but leaving a large central space in the community empty as the public process plays out. In 2017, the Punk Rock Flea Market took over the neighborhood’s former Red Apple grocery at 23rd and Jackson as the property was prepared for a mixed-use redevelopment that is now home to an Amazon Fresh grocery and hundreds of apartments. In 2016, you could find PRFM on Capitol Hill in the old Value Village before it was gutted and its facade preserved as part of this 11th Ave office development. In 2015, the flea market took over the old post office at 23rd and Union. Today, arts center Arté Noir, a mix of neighborhood and BIPOC-owned businesses, and more than 400 apartment units call the corner home.
The market was started as a fundraiser for the Low Income Housing Institute but now operates independently.
On 15th Ave E, the Punk Rock Flea Market will be putting a building back into motion that has stood empty in the middle of the busy commercial strip since national grocery giant Kroger axed the location in a tiff with the Seattle City Council over COVID-19 hazard pay. Property owner and Capitol Hill developer Hunters Capital has plans for a six-story, 170-unit, mixed-use building with about 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space to eventually rise on the block. In the meantime, Hunters has been trying to keep the space activated. The flea market will go a long way toward that end.
Details of the 15th Ave E stay are still being worked out. PRFM organizers say they’ll have a date for the first market soon. In the meantime, watch for announcements about work parties and volunteer time to ready the space for “bargains, bands, and booze.”
The Punk Rock Flea Market is coming to 416 15th Ave E. Learn more at punkrockfleamarketseattle.com.
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YAY!! So happy to hear this!!
I have a million memories of that QFC, I would walk there from the house by about age 7. If our cat had a litter, we would go to qfc and give them away. The vent fan in the back smelled very bad. It used to be even smaller if you can believe that, in the late 80s they remodeled the structure, taking over a vacant lot to the north. This added the deli and seafood area. It was 24 hours all through my teen years so we would go there after hours and snack. Some of the checkers had careers there that spanned several decades.
YESSSS!!!
Bring more apartments, businesses, density (and grocery stores) onto 15th!
More a craft fair than a flea market…and a insanely crowded and claustrophobic one. The organizer often oversells spots.
Awful! 15th is being over developmented to it’s death. What about parking?
Walk.
haha what?!
I’m gonna go ahead and assume this is a joke comment
Lol, funny one!
Sure, housing for human beings is all well and fine–but won’t SOMEONE think of the CARS?
Yay! I’m so glad that something fun will be in the space- it’s a pity that it’s been empty for so long. A brief pause in the seemingly endless construction.
I love that Hunters is willing to work with the community to activate the space while they wait on the glacial permitting process. So many buildings lay vacant, become derelict, and sometimes ultimately burn down during the long wait before redevelopment. I hope the City can find ways to encourage this sort of thing elsewhere, especially here in D2 where vacant building fires are rampant.
This is great news! Anything to enliven that space is welcome… and a local indie run event is great!! Hope the floppy disk art stays
This is the best news so far this year.