Police search for suspects after Tesla set on fire on Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E — UPDATE

(Image: CHS)

Seattle Fire rushed to the scene and Seattle Police officers were collecting evidence including a red gas can ditched as a suspect ran from the scene after a Tesla was reportedly doused with gasoline and set on fire on 15th Ave E Thursday night.

The incident began unfolding around 8:15 PM as a 911 caller reported a male had thrown gas on the Tesla parked near 15th and Harrison and lit the vehicle on fire. As Seattle Fire arrived to handle the flames, SPD was pursuing two suspects reported fleeing on foot from the area wearing black clothing and face coverings.

This image of the singed car was posted to the CHS Facebook Group

According to East Precinct radio reports, witnesses reported the males fleeing on foot eastbound on Thomas. Police were able to track down one possible suspect after making a stop of a Metro bus but the male could not be immediately identified as a suspect by a witness. It is not clear if the male was released or remained in custody.

Police found a discarded red gas can and a white bag in front of nearby Overcast Coffee at 15th and John. Officers were also collecting video evidence from nearby businesses.

According to radio updates, the white 2022 Model S Tesla is registered to a Tacoma address.

There were no reported injuries.

15th Ave E was closed to traffic during the response. The vehicle was being towed with fire damage to its right side and front from the scene around 10 PM as the smell of smoke still hung in the air along the busy commercial district.

The reported intentional fire comes amid reports of incidents targeting Tesla cars and Cybertrucks across the country as backlash against company CEO Elon Muskย and frustration around Department of Government Efficiency cuts to the federal government as the billionaire has become a trusted advisor during the second Trump administration. Earlier this week in Seattle, multiple Tesla Cybertrucks burned in an incident still under investigation.

UPDATE: According to police, they have security images of the suspect who lit the fire.

12th Ave apartment fire
Seattle Fire was also busy Thursday night with an apartment building near 12th and Denny. SFD was called to the address of the Heather Court Apartments just before 10 PM. SFD says the fire was quickly brought under control and contained to one unit in the 10-unit, 1950s-era building.

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

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

By Matt Dowell

The Shop Agora, 15th Aveโ€™ 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.

โ€œWeโ€™ll emphasize things weโ€™ve already been doing. Weโ€™ll continue building programs like fun events and tastings.โ€

Roumeliotis is quite familiar with the shop and its community. Sheโ€™s been with Agora since the Capitol Hill locationโ€™s opening in 2011 and has managed the shop for much of that time.

โ€œIโ€™ve been living and breathing the place for a long time. Itโ€™s a pretty natural evolution for me, it felt the same way for the owners, and itโ€™s a natural progression for the shop.โ€ Continue reading

In new deal for 100-year-old former Coastal Kitchen, Fire Tacos & Cantina set to join Capitol Hill

(Image: Fire Tacos & Cantina)

The 15th Ave E building formerly home to longtime Capitol Hill favorite Coastal Kitchen turned 100 years old this year. It will end 2024 with a new owner — and a new restaurant set to join the neighborhood.

The 4,000 or so-square-foot restaurant has sold for $2.1 million to real estate investor Thomas Lin, according to county records. A Capitol Hill expansion of food truck and Alki Beach-born Fire Tacos & Cantina is set to move in, city permits indicate.

The Puget Sound Business Journal first reported the deal last week. The PSBJ says Fire could open as early as November given the restaurant’s turn-key status — though other permitting and things like a liquor license might require a longer timeline

The restaurant has been empty in the heart of 15th Ave E since February when Coastal closed after 30 years of business and weekend brunch lines. Continue reading

The Pizza Man is missing — Call Harry’s Bar if you can help

(Images: Harry’s Bar)

Harry would like an opportunity to talk to these two “chuckle heads” — The Pizza Man has gone missing on 15th Ave E.

Harry’s Bar says the mascot statue was taken this week and the crew at the Olympia Pizza sibling tavern are looking for these two men caught on security video the night it went missing.

“On Thursday 7/31 these two ‘chuckle heads’ made off with our Pizza Man,” Harry’s said in an update in the CHS Facebook Group. “The Pizza Man has been a part of Olympia Pizza / Harry’s Bar for decades and is a sorely missed member of our family. Any help finding him would be greatly appreciated.” UPDATE: We checked with Harry’s to clarify the date — the statue was taken Wednesday the 31st around 10:30 PM.

Continue reading

Here’s what development planned for the Capitol Hill 15th Ave E QFC block will look like — if officials sign off on sixth story

The view from 15th Ave E (Images: Runberg Architecture Group)

A draft proposal for the project’s planned design review shows what the mixed-use redevelopment of Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E QFC block could look like if city officials sign off on a sixth floor for the structure.

The design proposal for the project’s final “recommendation” phase of the city’s design review process was planned to be considered by the East Design Board in August but the complicated review has been delayed until September.

In addition to agreement on the overall massing, design elements, and materials planned for the building, developer Hunters Capital is also hoping the board’s approval will clear the way for it to build the project six stories tall.

CHS reported here in February as the city held a public hearing on the proposal triggered by opposition from neighbors over the requested zoning exception as Hunters Capital said it would need to build higher in order to preserve a prized European hornbeam tree while also transitionitioning the project to the adjacent lower areas surrounding to the north. Continue reading

ยฟAn Ethan Stowell-involved Capitol Hill Mexican joint coming to the old Canterbury space? Sรญ

(Image: Super Bueno)

A Mexican restaurant involving prolific Seattle food and drink entrepreneur Ethan Stowell is reportedly lined up to bring new life to the space once home to legendary Capitol Hill dive bar The Canterbury.

A person familiar with the deal says Stowell is involved with the project to open the Mexican concept in the space built out for the short-lived Meliora at 15th Ave E and Mercer.

CHS reported here earlier this year as Meliora’s long “temporarily closed” status played out and its ownership struggled with a restart of the restaurant — and paying rent. The former Canterbury tavern space has remained empty since. Continue reading

On Capitol Hill’s 15th Ave E, a community mural is restored as a new work rises above

Billy Davis

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Amid a wave of 2020s change, 15th Ave E is getting some artistic touch-ups with an effort to restore a 2000s-era community mural and a massive new mural from an artist synonymous with the 2008 presidential election victory of Barack Obama.

Shepard Fairey is at work this week above 15th Ave E.

Artist Billy Davis just spent the past weeks here after a bout of graffiti vandalism inspired a clean-up of an old project.

The Sanctuary mural was created by Davis on the building constructed in 2000 for the neighborhood’s new Walgreens. The painting’s origin traces to another time of change for Capitol Hill. When the beloved local business City People’s closed and its owners sold the land to Walgreens, many neighbors pushed back on the development. One of the concessions was Sanctuary. Davis was selected to bring it to life.

“There was an outcry in the neighborhood,” Davis recalls, reflecting on the community’s reaction to the changes. “But Walgreens donated a wall to the community.”

The resulting mural was intended to reflect the sense of refuge and belonging that residents associate with their neighborhood, Davis said.

“The name ‘Sanctuary’ is a shout-out to the community,” Davis said this week as he completed word on an extensive restoration of the painting. “The tree in the mural is a kind of totem for the community and a reflection of dream time.” Continue reading

Dear ShopRite customers — Much-loved Capitol Hill convenience store ready to say goodbye to 15th Ave E

Thanks to reader Don for the picture

The days are numbered for Capitol Hill neighborhood convenience store, household goods and hardware store, and smoke shop ShopRite.

A sign has gone up on the 15th and Republican store announcing the store is closing “soon” and a closeout sale is underway. In classic ShopRite style, the sign includes multiple variations for spelling the store’s name.

“Thank you for all your support and loyalty these past years,” it begins.

CHS reported here last summer about owner Mohammad Abid’s plans as the block was lined up for eventual redevelopment that will include the demolition of the nearly 30-year-old store.

Abid has run the shop for more than 20 of its nearly 30 years of business after coming to the United States from Pakistan in 1984. He told CHS he was more likely to retire or open another store outside the city than to continue on 15th Ave E once the new redevelopment is built. Continue reading

Capitol Hill grocery store transformed for Punk Rock Flea Market stays busy: Seattle Zine Fest this weekend

Last month’s Pride Punk Rock Flea Market won’t be the last time the former 15th Ave E QFC grocery store is put to use for art and community. This coming weekend will bring the Seattle Zine Fest to the space.

Sunday’s event will use the venue transformed by the flea market and volunteers as a space for its free gathering bringing together the city’s zine makers and fans. “We want anyone to feel invited to table; whether you’ve got dozens of zines and events under your belt, or if you’ve been kicking around your first zine idea forever but are just now putting Sharpie to paper ahead of this event, we hope you feel excited about vending and that the space is made for you,” organizers write.

What’s a zine? “A zine can be about just about anything — your personal manifesto, your favorite trail to walk on, your visual art or poetry (or both), the cats at your local convenience store,” Seattle Zine Fest says. “The only limit is your imagination.”

In June, CHS reported on the first event for the Punk Rock Flea Market after its move onto 15th Ave E where it is set to make its temporary home through at least the end of the year. The old QFC and its surface parking lot are destined to eventually make way for a planned 6-story, โ€œSโ€ design buildingย with 170 new apartment units above 10,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking for 99 vehicles.

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A Pride Punk Rock Flea Market on Capitol Hill and what comes next for the old 15th Ave E QFC

The old 15th Ave QFC went back into motion this weekend after a handful of years blocke-off by fences and plywood thanks to corporate cost cutting, city politics, and the long haul to developing large-scale housing in Seattle.

The Punk Rock Flea Market didn’t seem to care about all that as vendors filled the old grocery store Saturday and even spilled out into the surface parking lot destined to eventually be part of the demolition that will make way for a planned 6-story, โ€œSโ€ design building with 170 new apartment units above 10,000 square feet of retail space and underground parking for 99 vehicles.

PFRM organizers have been overhauling the old grocery for weeks with a team of volunteers readying the space as the next short to mid to ???-term home for the roving flea market. This weekendโ€™s debut market celebrated Pride and was open Saturday and Sunday featuring more than 150 vendors, organizers said.

Property owner and Capitol Hill developerย Hunters Capital has beenย trying to keep the space activated and settled on the flea market as one solution as it finalizes the long cycles of paperwork and financing required to develop the property. Continue reading