The rebirth of Marjorie in the Central District after a twenty-month and nine-block move down E Union will be a restart for restaurateur and community advocate Donna Moodie and a new symbol for Black ownership at 23rd and Union.

Thursday, Mayor Bruce Harrell will be on hand to celebrate the opening of Marjorie in its new home in the Midtown Square development where Moodie won’t just own the Jamaican-flavored restaurant — she’ll be part of owning the commercial space the new Marjorie calls home.

The city has announced Marjorie will be the second small business in Seattle to take part in its Business Community Ownership Fund, a new first of its kind program hoped to give small business owners more control over rents — and their futures.

Seattle’s BCO Fund was launched in partnership with the Office of Economic Development and Grow America in a combined $20 million investment, “aimed at addressing the challenges of small business displacement and escalating commercial rents across Seattle neighborhoods,” the city says.

“The Business Community Ownership Fund is the nation’s first business property ownership program designed to preserve and strengthen small businesses that enhance the vibrancy of local Seattle neighborhoods,” the city’s description of the program reads. “This ground-breaking program supports small businesses by lowering tenant costs, increasing business incomes, and fostering economic stability.”

In March, Mt. Baker’s La Union Studio became the first business in the city to open in its new $490,689 space under this model.

The city says the fund establishes real estate partnerships as limited liability corporations to acquire commercial spaces in mixed-use buildings. In the Midtown Square development, the commercial suites were organized as condominium units by developer Lake Union Partners. They range in value from $344,500 to nearly $2 million, according to King County records. Other businesses in the development include Jerk Shack, the Arté Noir arts space and gallery, Raised Doughnuts, and The Neighbor Lady.

Marjorie’s space will be different. Under the BCO Fund, owners of participating businesses join the LLC managed by Grow America in ownership of the suite “ensuring that commercial spaces are leased to them with stable and affordable occupancy costs, unaffected by market fluctuations. The city hopes the fund will aid small business owners in remaining or re-establishing their presence in neighborhoods affected by economic shifts.

For Marjorie, the nine-block move to the Central District was also about community. This summer, Moodie told CHS she was excited to be part of the neighborhood growth around Midtown Square and the Liberty Bank Building including Black-owned Communion with its BBQ shrimp and grits, Seattle Soul, and a healthy helping of equitable development.

“My neighbors feel like businesses I enjoy being next door to, supporting, and having as neighbors,” Moodie said, calling the move “a restart button” that will allow her to do “everything I have wanted to” with the restaurant.

CHS reported here in March 2023 on Moodie’s closure and planned move of Marjorie after 13 years at 14th and Union.

The Midtown Square development where Marjorie will now make its home at 23rd and Union is centered around an unlikely anchor business. Vivian Phillips and the Arté Noir arts center has created a space to grow Black art, artists, and culture. Arté Noir became a surprise anchor to the development after Bartell Drugs walked away from the project. Arté Noir also assisted the development with the selection of nine artists to create installations and giant murals in the square.

Phillips and Arté Noir also own their Midtown space but that deal was achieved with private funding.

There are hopes that more businesses at Midtown can follow Arté Noir and, now, Marjorie’s lead.

“We hope to transact on more of these as business owners become ready,” Patrick Foley of Lake Union Partners said. “It’s a good business model and I hope other developers in communities like the Central District around the country will look to this as a good way to anchor people in their communities to help them create wealth and control their destiny.”

Marjorie’s move and new future is joined on the block by another path to preserving and increasing Black ownership in the Central District. On the south end of the Midtown block, Affordable housing development Africatown Plaza is ready for new residents after years of development and construction.

Developed in partnership with Community Roots Housing, the 100% affordable, publicly funded project from the Africatown Community Land Trust builds on the previous collaboration in the Liberty Bank Building at 24th and Union. The new building has 126 units for renters making up to 60% of the Area Median Income. The seven-story building also features a community room, and “a curated art collection focused on healing, restoring, and celebrating Black and Pan- African communities in Seattle’s Central District.”

Its curved, weathered rainscreen façade inspired by African architecture has created a new landmark in the neighborhood. The land Africatown Plaza has risen on was made available thanks to an acquisition intended to help slow displacement in the neighborhood. As part of its purchase of the properties — a longtime flashpoint in concerns about gentrification and displacement — Lake Union Partners agreed to sell 20% of the block to Forterra, transferring the property into Africatown’s Community Land Trust for development of a 100% affordable project on the south end of the block.

Now, with Arte Noir and Marjorie, Midtown Square is also adding a new level of Black ownership within.

You can find Marjorie inside Midtown Square at 2301 E Union. Learn more at marjorierestaurant.com.

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