Author Archives: Max Keystone - CHS reporting intern

About Max Keystone - CHS reporting intern

Max Keystone is an undergraduate studying Political Science and Journalism at the University of Washington in Seattle. They have a deep interest in Seattle politics and local culture.

With any pandemic slowdown long gone, cost of renting in Seattle has surged 18.9% in one year

Posted on by

Median apartment rents in Seattle have increased dramatically during the past year due to low rates of vacancy and a climb from falling prices at the start of the pandemic, according to an industry tracker.

Apartment List just released its national rent report, and its findings provide an image of an increasingly costly Seattle for renters. The report finds that rent in Seattle increased by 18.9% over the past year, considerably higher than the national average increase of 17.1% during that same time.

“So far the rent growth we’ve seen this year has been slower than what we saw last year, but still above expected averages,” said senior research associate Rob Warnock.

As per the report, the median monthly rent of a two-bedroom apartment in the city of Seattle weighs in at a staggering $2,097– over seven hundred dollars more per month than the nationwide average of $1,306. One-bedrooms in Seattle are similarly high, climbing to $1,681 against a national average of $1,139. Continue reading →

New Great Jones Gallery opens in a familiar space for Capitol Hill arts

Posted on by

(Image: Great Jones Gallery)

Capitol Hill has a new art gallery in a familiar space that — so far — has stayed clear of waves of redevelopment. It is brought to you by some familiar Capitol Hill arts faces.

The Great Jones Gallery, a joint project of Leah St. Lawrence and Timothy Rysdyke, is now open at 1216 10th Ave in a 1911-era former auto garage building that has made a home for a variety of arts and creative efforts over more recent years.

The location previously housed The Factory, another gallery of Rysdyke’s, which has since relocated to the first floor of First Hill’s Museum of Museums. In keeping with the namesake of The Factory, inspired by Andy Warhol’s New York City studio of the same name, Great Jones Gallery gets its name from the street where Warhol rented out one of his studio spaces to Jean-Michel Basquiat.

St. Lawrence and Rysdyke sought to create in Great Jones Gallery a unique space that resembles what the next phase of The Factory may have looked like. Continue reading →

Local real estate company touches up new Capitol Hill home office

Posted on by

Seattle-based real estate investment company Timberlane Partners has a new office on Capitol Hill. Timberlane purchased the 614 Boylston Ave E property for over $2.4 million in September. Shortly thereafter, the company began working towards office space renovations on the first level of the two-story building.

Despite its pristine exterior, the Boylston Ave E property is over a century old, having been built in 1906. It was purchased by the owners of brand design firm Phinney Bischoff in the mid-90s, and sold to Timberlane in 2021 after nearly three decades of ownership. Continue reading →

Stumbling Monk pouring again on changing E Olive Way corner

Posted on by

(Image: @mmitgang)

While CHS is helping one neighborhood beer hall mark a decade of business on Capitol Hill, another with an even longer brew bloodline has returned to providing its part of the neighborhood with a rotating stock of Belgian beers amid nondescript decor along E Olive Way.

With the looming departure of the neighboring Glo’s Cafe from its 35-year home to a new location on Broadway, 23-year Capitol Hill mainstay Stumbling Monk has quietly gone about its beer-y business along with neighbors fellow bars Captain Blacks and The Doctor’s Office.

Following a temporary closure of Stumbling Monk amid the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the modest E Olive Way bar has been in survivor mode. Continue reading →