Tag Archives: 13th ave

‘The backbone of a neighborhood’ — Capitol Hill leather bar The Cuff has new owner

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CHS reported on 30 years at The Cuff here in 2023

Through 32 years of changes in the neighborhood and changes in ownership, people have been getting lost in the dark corners and good times at The Cuff.

The quintessential Capitol Hill leather bar is now stepping out again on its own.

Scott Walent, a first-time nightlife owner, is stepping up and taking over the sprawling 13th Ave venue and center of Seattle queer culture as part of a rare downsizing of the Queer/Bar family of Capitol Hill businesses.

“We understand the weight of this responsibility and are committed to honoring the legacy of the previous owners, who so wonderfully navigated The Cuff Complex through the past five years,” Walent said in a statement to the Seattle Gay News who was first to report the changes. “We plan to maintain many of the values and traditions that have made The Cuff such a vital part of our community while infusing new vibes and programming into the calendar.” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Station 25 busy with dumpster fires including a smoldering pile of trash on Bellevue Ave — UPDATE

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Thanks to reader Peter for the picture

Seattle Fire’s E Pine Station 25 has had an interesting start to its week on Capitol Hill.

Monday’s wind and rain storm knocked out power to thousands and left Seattle Fire scrambling all day to respond to building alarms triggered by the outage.

Tuesday brought literal dumpster fires to the neighborhood. The mess on Bellevue Ave was a trash fire at a whole other level. Continue reading →

Fire in under-construction 13th Ave apartment development investigated

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(Image: Seattle Fire Department)

Seattle Fire says nobody was found inside after a fire did heavy damage Saturday morning to the upper stories of an apartment building under construction near 13th and Mercer.

Heavy smoke was reported billowing from the fourth floor of the new development around 11 AM as firefighters arrived to find the blaze spreading into the building. As ladder crews searched for anybody possibly trapped inside the under-construction structure ,SFD says its engine crews stretched hose lines to the fourth floor and put water on the fire. SFD reports it took 35 minutes to extinguish the blaze. Continue reading →

Clouds over Cap Hill Kitchens as TJ’s Street Tacos says Capitol Hill ‘ghost kitchen’ shut it down over complaints

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(Image: CloudKitchens)

Those are storm clouds gathering over 13th Ave at Cap Hill Kitchens, the latest location in the nationwide CloudKitchens network of delivery-focused food prep facilities. One local food and drink concept is already bailing on the project after its owner says CloudKitchens unhooked his restaurant start-up from the system and shut him down for raising issues about the company created by ex-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

Pablo Vazquez of TJ’s Street Tacos says he was shut down by CloudKitchens after raising issues publicly about his dispute with the Los Angeles-based company over rent and what he says was its failure to get necessary permits in place on the schedule promised by the company. Vazquez says the services and systems restaurant concepts like his pay for also have fallen short as the CloudKitchens technology and apps “fail frequently causing money and food loss.”

Those complaints echo with those from other restaurants having poor and costly experiences at CloudKitchens facilities around the country.

“There are other businesses that need our help! I will not be silenced!,” Vazquez writes.

Meanwhile, other aspects of the CloudKitchens arrival on Capitol Hill are leaving a bad taste in neighborhood mouths as dinnertime rush hour on 13th Ave has become a parade of stuck and illegally parked delivery cars. Continue reading →

With TJ’s Street Tacos, Cocina Casera, American Jacks Vegetarian Restaurant, and Mother India Cuisine, Cap Hill Kitchens lands its ‘cloud’ food and drink concept on 13th Ave

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(Image: CHS)

“From back of house to front of house and everything in between, Otter helps your restaurant seamlessly manage daily operations…”

A new restaurant space has opened on Capitol Hill’s 13th Ave offering crafted grilled cheese sandwiches. And Caribbean wraps, sandwiches, and bowls. Indian. Venezuelan. Shawarma. “American Vegetarian” fare. And more Indian.

If you are noticing a swarm of new openings offering delivery from 1525 13th Ave, you might be having your first experience with a new Capitol Hill ghost kitchen. Boo!

It’s not that spooky. CHS reported on the plans for the project taking shape on 13th Ave two years ago last week when a California company made a $2.3 million purchase of the 1929-era building being leased as laboratory space to a provider of chromosome analysis services. Permits showed the company was planning a full overhaul of the building to create a 6,000-square-foot “commercial catering kitchen project” with multiple units for “food processing and craft work” on the block neighboring Capitol Hill leather bar The Cuff. Continue reading →

Design review: Tree preservation, parking, and new housing — A 13th Ave project with something for everyone on Capitol Hill

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A new project planned for the 600 block of 13th Ave E will continue the area’s transition away from most of its remaining single family-style housing. This week, the project takes its first bow in front of the East Design Review Board.

Under the project, three adjacent 120(ish)-year-old houses and a detached garage on 13th between E Mercer and E Roy will be torn down. In their place will rise a four-story, 50-foot tall building with about 36 apartments, a trade officials in the housing squeezed city say is necessary for Seattle to address ongoing affordability and homelessness crises.

The developer, Leschi Lakeside Property Management, working with Kirkland-based Milbrandt architects, are proposing the usual three options for how the building might be shaped. As this meeting is the early design guidance phase, most details are focused on the basic massing and layout of the planned development.

All three proposals call for parking access roughly in the middle of the building, and therefore, mid-block, which is less than ideal, but really the only option. All three are roughly rectangular in shape. There are plans to plant new trees along western edge of the property – the back of the building – to give the existing neighbors more privacy. Continue reading →

City says tents to be cleared from area around Capitol Hill church by Seattle’s homelessness Unified Care Team

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The City of Seattle team dedicated to homelessness outreach and “resolution” of camps is slated to clear tents, belongings, and debris from encampments that have formed on the blocks around 13th and Howell on Capitol Hill before the end of the month.

The tents and camping have been the subject of complaints including concerns from parishioners and officials at the area’s Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption. “They are afraid to come. We want them to get [the homeless] help, we want them to get off the streets,” the church community’s president told KOMO. “We don’t have the infrastructure as a small church to do that ourselves.”

The situation has now been widely reported and picked up at the national level by outlets including Fox News.

A spokesperson for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority provided a statement to CHS that echoed what the organization has been telling national media. “We are aware of this particular encampment, and are in communication with outreach teams, but the need for housing and outreach is much greater than current capacity,” the spokesperson said, referring CHS to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office and the City Hall department that remains tasked with clearances of camps in the city despite the formation of the regional authority. Continue reading →

Old home destined for demolition to make way for townhouse project burns on 13th Ave — UPDATE

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(Image: Seattle Fire)

A boarded-up home destined for demolition to make way for a new 13th Ave townhouse project burned overnight as Seattle Fire assumed a “defensive” strategy to protect nearby homes and structures.

According to radio updates, a neighbor called 911 just before 1 AM to report flames coming from the abandoned 122-year-old house. Continue reading →

Design review: Filling in 13th Ave with eight stories at John, four below E Howell

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Skidmore Janette character sketch for a project planned for the corner of 13th and John

A pair of development proposals about a quarter-mile away from each other on Capitol Hill’s 13th Ave will add a few dozen new housing units to the neighborhood and are making their way through the city’s design review process, though only one of them will appear before the East Design Review Board.

131 13th Ave E
A proposed project on 13th Ave E near the intersection with E John will come before the board Wednesday night in the body’s ongoing virtual review sessions.

On the block currently are a mix of single-family and multi-family homes. The proposal calls for tearing down an existing two-story building and detached garage. The structure was built as a single-family home in 1912, but has since been carved up into three apartments. The 1903-built home on the corner would remain in place and neighbor the new project.

Developer G2 Development proposes an eight-story building, with room for 46-48 units, depending on which development option goes forward. None of the options include any parking for cars. The development is just up John from busy Capitol Hill Station. Continue reading →

Remember those 13th Ave E trees? City sticks to removal plans for sidewalk improvements

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(Image: CHS)

With reporting by Ryan Packer

A neighborhood fight to save two 40-foot-tall Norway Maples in the planting strip along Capitol Hill’s leafy 13th Ave E will end with the city deciding to stick to its plans for removal despite taking “a second and third look” at the situation, according to an email from the Seattle Department of Transportation.

CHS reported here on the argument from a group of neighbors and arboreal advocates trying to save the trees that the city said needed to be removed to make way for sidewalk and curb improvements part of redevelopment and construction of new townhouses on the street.

“Despite the follow up step to involve SDOT Engineers in additional Divisions to look with fresh eyes for other options, SDOT has made the determination to allow the removal of these trees,” an email sent Thursday by the city reads: Continue reading →