Author Archives: CHS

As Capitol Hill’s smallest brewery turns 10, the search for new ownership to pilot Outer Planet begins

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(Image: Outer Planet)

By Matt Dowell

Outer Planet Brewing’s next trip around the sun may be an interesting one.

As Capitol Hill’s smallest brewery marks its 10th anniversary this week, ownership has decided not to renew Outer Planet’s 12th Ave lease which is coming to an end this summer. The decision adds a wobble to the neighborhood beer community’s orbit.

“This place, from the start, has been a neighborhood spot. It’s small, it’s cozy, it’s unpretentious. People, especially within a few blocks radius, have been coming here since the beginning,” co-owner Gabriel Villenave said. “We have a very strong regular community. Some were here on opening day ten years ago.”

The ownership recipe at the Capitol Hill nanobrewery squeezed in a 12th Ave micro-apartment building has changed before with new owners joining co-founder Renato Martins over the years.

There are a few factors at play in the search for new brewers to captain the Outer Planet ship including one well known black hole.

“The pandemic really fucked things up,” said Martins. Continue reading →

12+ things CHS heard at the Seattle comprehensive plan update public hearing

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With reporting by Domenic Strazzabosco

There have been petitions and letters, and Wednesday night, there were over five hours of public comments from more than 200 speakers. There is still more to say.

Wednesday’s marathon public hearing on Seattle’s update to its 20-year comprehensive growth plan was dominated by neighbors and neighborhoods pushing back on the proposal’s framework to bring more opportunities to develop townhomes and apartments in more parts of the city under new state law hoped to help end the ongoing housing and affordability crisis here.

Thursday, District 3 councilmember and chair of the city council’s special comprehensive plan committee Joy Hollingsworth acknowledged the disproportionate number of older homeowners who took to the microphone or called-in Wednesday night.

“People who did not get a chance to speak that were signed-up for Feb. 5th, will get the option of going FIRST at our next Public Hearing,” Hollingsworth promised Thursday. “We’re committed to hearing from you, especially our young people,” the representative for Capitol Hill and the Central District ”

Wednesday’s hearing was held in a split in-person and online fashion with people beginning to line up to speak in council chambers and register for the call-in portion hours before their time to testify.

More public forums on the plan update are, indeed, scheduled in the coming months. One hearing is scheduled in April and another in May. Those line up with Hollingsworth’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 approach to forging a compromise on the plan.

They also align with the push from Mayor Bruce Harrell and his Office of Planning & Community Development to have the first phase of comp plan update legislation addressing state law HB 1110 zoning on the table in March. A second phase of legislation centered on specifics of defining the city’s “Centers and Corridors zoning” for the plan would then be picked up in May.

So, what did Hollingsworth and city planners hear Wednesday night?

For many speakers, trees were the central topic of the evening, discussed more than even dense or affordable housing. Dozens of signs could be seen with slogans like “We Can Grow With Our Trees” and “Rewrite the Comp Plan for Climate Resilience.” Continue reading →

A passing of the torch at The Shop Agora as 15th Ave E wine shop’s manager is new owner

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From old owner to new (Image: The Shop Agora)

By Matt Dowell

The Shop Agora, 15th Ave’ Es Mediterranean food and wine shop, has changed ownership. New owner Katlynn Roumeliotis wants to continue Agora’s more-than-a-decade-long history as a neighborhood hangout with delicious pours.

“We’ll emphasize things we’ve already been doing. We’ll continue building programs like fun events and tastings.”

Roumeliotis is quite familiar with the shop and its community. She’s been with Agora since the Capitol Hill location’s opening in 2011 and has managed the shop for much of that time.

“I’ve been living and breathing the place for a long time. It’s a pretty natural evolution for me, it felt the same way for the owners, and it’s a natural progression for the shop.” Continue reading →

Ghost Note Coffee crafts expansion from Capitol Hill with Seattle Tower cafe

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(Image: Ghost Note Coffee)

(Image: Ghost Note Coffee)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

With Ghost Note Coffee’s detail-oriented approach to craft coffee, it should not be a surprise that growth has taken time. Born eight years ago on Capitol Hill, Ghost Note has finally made its second cafe permanent on the ground floor of 3rd Ave’s 96-year-old Seattle Tower.

Ghost Note’s careful expansion downtown gives them a small footprint and a more feasible and affordable way of expanding in terms of inventory, equipment and employees. They also found the space to be gorgeous.

“The building is something that we’re just so proud to be a part of. It’s a pretty stellar place,” said Christos Andrews, co-owner of Ghost Note. “I’ve noticed when people walk in the door and it’s their first time at Ghost Note, you can see the experience seems to be more impactful, which is really exciting.”

After opening with limited hours last year and slowly expanding operations through the holiday season, the space is now open six days a week. It is Ghost Note’s second location after its spot in Capitol Hill, which opened on Bellevue Ave back in 2017. Continue reading →

Why the Broadway Center for Youth is coming to the center of Capitol Hill

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Weinstein A+U’s rendering of the now under construction Broadway Center for Youth at Broadway and Pine

By Matt Dowell

A planned two years of construction has begun on the Broadway Center for Youth, an affordable housing and workforce development hub at Broadway and Pine. Why develop the project here near the core of the neighborhood’s entertainment district on one of the most expensive blocks in the city and in an area experiencing some of the deepest pains of the city’s ongoing challenges around addiction and mental health?

Officials at YouthCare, the nonprofit behind the center, say they want to create this resource for the young adults they serve at Broadway and Pine for the same reasons anybody might want to live here — community, culture, transit, and jobs.

YouthCare has worked for 50 years to help address youth homelessness in the Seattle area. Their Constellation Center, a part of the Broadway Center for Youth, will connect to Community Roots Housing’s new eight story building with 84 affordable homes on the busy Capitol Hill corner. Imagined as a hub for young people aged 18 to 24 who need job training, case management, housing, and mental health services, the center will expand programs already offered by YouthCare.

YouthCare CEO Degale Cooper highlighted the advantages of the well-connected location. It is close to two local colleges, employers with jobs, and public transportation. And it’s near the healthcare organizations that provide care to those under YouthCare’s wing.

Plus, it’s close to those who need help.

“More young people who use YouthCare services are moving out of the downtown corridor as more condos and businesses go up. They are moving to Cap Hill,” said Cooper. Continue reading →

With smaller crowds but lots of resistance, People’s March Seattle crosses Capitol Hill

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By Domenic Strazzabosco

The People’s March Seattle gathered Saturday morning in Capitol Hill’s frost-covered Cal Anderson Park, 48 hours before Donald Trump was set to be sworn into his second non-consecutive term in office. An estimated 3,500 people marched down Pine and toward the Seattle Center.

A much smaller event than the demonstrations eight years ago from the Seattle Women’s March organizers, those who showed up Saturday as part of marches across the country still wanted their voices to be heard and their signs seen.

“I have goosebumps just seeing all the like-minded people coming together,” said Mariah Doty, who attended the rally with a friend. “It absolutely feels powerful.”

Tom Schleichert, when asked about what he hoped his young daughters would gain from attending the rally, said, “To know that they’re not alone.” Seeing so many people come together to speak about women deserving power and equality, he described as empowering and special. One of his daughter’s signs read “No Mean Laws” and the other, “We Vote For Girls.” Continue reading →

Opening in 2027, work begins on eight stories of affordable housing and homeless youth Constellation Center ‘education and employment academy’ at Broadway and Pine

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(Image: Community Roots Housing)

A rendering of YouthCare’s planned Constellation Center

By Matt Dowell

Construction is beginning on the Constellation Center, an affordable housing and homeless youth education and employment academy project planned for Broadway and Pine.

The development will bring months of heavy demolition and construction work to the core of Capitol Hill — and add what officials say will be a vital resource for addressing the city’s homelessness crisis while also creating new affordable homes above this busy intersection.

Meanwhile, Community Roots Housing, the Public Development Authority and local affordable housing provider behind the project, has also announced its plans to sell one of its most celebrated new projects — the mass-timber Heartwood building at 14th and Union — as it continues a multiyear process of paring down its holdings.

A spokesperson for Community Roots reported that construction of theConstellation Center began Monday, January 6 at Broadway and Pine. Continue reading →

STG at Kerry Hall already in motion as Seattle Theater Group makes immediate use of its $6M Capitol Hill acquisition

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(Image: CHS)

The group is calling its new venue STG at Kerry Hall

By Domenic Strazzabosco

After acquiring Kerry Hall from Cornish College of the Arts last November, Seattle Theater Group — the nonprofit that manages The Paramount, The Moore, and The Neptune — has quickly made itself at home in the neighborhood.

Groups and organizations are already utilizing the historic space and a full slate of programming is expected to be active as STG at Kerry Hall fully ramps up by summer.

At a building tour on Wednesday, STG’s Director of Education & Community Engagement Marisol Sanchez Best described crying from excitement over what the building would provide. She noted arriving that morning and feeling the space alive with the sounds of dancers and musicians practicing.

At the event, rooms were occupied by artists including Grammy-winning musician and decades-long Cornish professor Jovino Santos Neto’s trio practicing, as well as Mark Haim directing a large group of dancers, and Bailadores de Bronce, a folklorico group and longtime STG partner, practicing in the hall.

Nate Dwyer, head of STG, described acquiring the space as presenting the “awesome privilege to steward the building for another generation.” He said Wednesday that though some work had to be done to update and maintain the space, STG was able to begin using it almost immediately. Within just a few weeks of acquiring the building, STG programs began operating out of the rooms, and by summer, they hope to have full programming available to the public. Continue reading →

As Seattle reshapes its goals around growth and development, it also has a new ‘Action Plan’ to help address the high cost of food in the city

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Seattle’s updated plan is hoped to connect more people to fresh food in the city

By Madison Rogers/UW News Lab

Monday, District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth got an earful of what it will be like leading the city’s 20-year planning effort of the neighborhood by neighborhood zoning changes part of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan update.

She also has been focused on Capitol Hill public safety investments around street disorder and public drug use.

In addition to those higher profile challenges, Hollingsworth says her second year serving on the Seattle City Council will also be addressing more of the root causes of Seattle’s problems. Some of those, she says, start with breakfast.

“I am starting to ring the alarm now for our food systems,” Hollingsworth says. “The current way in which we consume food is not sustainable for our future growth as a city, as a state, or as a country.”

Hollingsworth has spoken out on the value of farming and food security in communities and has been a critical contributor to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s efforts to update the city’s $30 million a year Food Action Plan, committed to tackling food insecurity and rising costs with community-driven solutions that improve access, sustainability, and local food equity.

The sprawling connection of programs and initiatives hasn’t been addressed and updated by the city in over ten years.

The new plan prioritizes programs like Fresh Bucks which provides $40 stipends to income-qualifying residents to spend on fresh produce from participating retailers as well as providing the framework for the city’s food programs and community P-Patch gardens. Continue reading →

‘If your gut is healthy, your mind is healthy’ — Anbai is growing bento by bento from the Chophouse Row counter

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(Image: Anbai)

Another Capitol Hill counter expert has helped Anbai’s start — Rie Otsuka, right, has lended some of her experience growing Sankaku Japanese Onigiri Cafe and Bar to Mukohata (Image: Anbai)

By Emily Riehl

The mix of small spaces for shops and restaurants inside the warrens of Capitol Hill’s Chophouse Row have provided homes for some of the neighborhood’s most interesting businesses.

One of those spaces is currently host to one of those ventures you — and your tummy — should check out.

Meanwhile, another food and drink project benefitting from Chophouse is ready to strike out for a new start away from the challenging and expensive environment of Seattle.

Tummy, meet Anbai, the latest resident of perhaps the most interesting space inside this 11th Ave collection of interesting spaces — the Chophouse Row counter.

“Focusing on improving your gut health through fermented delicious healthy food” is the guiding mantra of Anbai. Run nearly single-handedly by owner Fumiyo Mukohata, the eatery is just getting started, serving up a variety of bento boxes and nutrient-packed dishes designed to boost digestion, fight inflammation, and protect your gut from toxins.

About 20 years ago, Mukohata moved from Japan with expertise in the “the inner beauty diet” emphasizing fermented foods rich in probiotics that support digestion and gut health. After her daughter developed multiple allergies, Mukohata became deeply interested in how certain foods can benefit health, eventually discovering that traditional fermented Japanese foods like miso, and shoyu koji were particularly helpful.

“The gut and the brain are connected. If your gut is healthy, your mind is healthy,” says Mukohata. Continue reading →