Tag Archives: harvard ave

In midst of public safety worries, Capitol Hill EcoDistrict hopes to help change the way neighborhood spaces are used — including activating the top of the massive Seattle Central parking garage

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Seattle Central used the top of its massive Harvard Ave parking garage as the setting for its pandemic-era graduation ceremonies — a new plan hopes to activate the garage’s top level space

Catenary lights above Nagle (Image: @blitzurbanism)

As community representatives and city officials hope to make strides in addressing public safety worries around Capitol Hill’s Pike/Pine and Broadway core and its popular Cal Anderson Park, an organization with deep neighborhood roots is helping to reshape streets and design in the area.

The Capitol Hill EcoDistrict has been working to increase sustainability and equity in the neighborhood for over a decade but its latest projects come as part of a large puzzle with some dire stakes.

“We have a bond to this neighborhood. We’re very deliberate in our work and specific to Capitol Hill,” said Donna Moodie, executive director of the EcoDistrict.

CHS reported here on the challenges facing Capitol Hill around Broadway between Union and Pine where the city says street crime and deadly drug use overlap at some of its highest levels. City officials are weighing initiatives for these areas that will include increased policing and prosecution as well as possible creation of a neighborhood ambassador program.

There are deadly consequences. The most recent example? 23-year-old Kenji Spurgeon, gunned down in an E Pine parking lot amid Pride weekend nightlife crowds.

Changing the way these streets look and feel is part of a longer –and hopefully more complete — path to making Capitol Hill safer. Continue reading →

New HVAC installation to close Capitol Hill Library next week

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The Capitol Hill branch is located at 425 Harvard Ave E (Image: SPL)

Construction projects will close two area branches for periods this month including Harvard Ave’s Capitol Hill Library. The Seattle Public Library says it will add service hours at other nearby branches to try to help but the closures will be significant for regular patrons.

The Capitol Hill Branch will be closed Tuesday, September 19th through Monday the 25th while an electric HVAC system is installed on the branch roof. “The new HVAC system will be more reliable and efficient while reducing the Library’s carbon footprint,” SPL says. Continue reading →

CHOP on stage? 11th & Pine ‘documentary theatre performance’ sees first light with readings at Capitol Hill’s Erickson Theatre

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Have the wounds from the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and CHOP’s time on Capitol Hill healed?

This weekend, playwright and University of Washington professor Nikki Yeboah’s work examining the aftermath of the protests will take the stage with Sound Theatre Company’s reading of 11th & Pine at the neighborhood’s Erickson Theatre:

Several years after the 2020 protests against police violence that ushered in a racial awakening across the nation, a deposed protest leader sends out a call to fellow activists. Her goal? To reconstruct the occupation she led in her city. As they relive moments both utopian and excruciating, the activists find the task of explaining what happened is not so simple. Did they succeed? Did they fail? How will they be remembered? Meanwhile, old tensions resurface and the group contends with powerful opponents who want to tell the story in their own way. Based on interviews with Seattle’s Capitol Hill Occupied Protestors, 11TH & PINE explores the impact of organized protest, asking “can we make a difference, and if so, at what cost?”

Continue reading →

‘Rapid Acquisition’ — Another market-rate development on Capitol Hill will shift to affordable housing with LIHI’s $21M deal for Harvard Ave E building

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The design rendering for the Harvard Lofts building

(Image: LIHI)

It’s a seller’s market for medium-sized, newly constructed Capitol Hill apartment buildings. Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute announced this week it has acquired another building on Capitol Hill with its $21 million purchase of the Harvard Lofts development with plans to offer housing to people at risk of homelessness.

“Thank you to City of Seattle Office of Housing and the State Department of Commerce Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition program for funding,” LIHI said in its announcement. “These public investments enable people living temporarily in tiny houses, shelters and those on the street to secure permanent housing.”

The deal for the newly constructed building just a block or so west from Capitol Hill Station comes amid a flurry of affordable housing activity in the area powered by the Rapid Acquisition program part of the federal American Rescue Plan that allows Seattle and the Washington State Department of Commerce to leverage local, state, and federal funding in grants to organizations like LIHI. Continue reading →

City says new Capitol Hill park will need ‘private-public partnerships’ to pay for it

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A new sketch for the planned park (Image: Seattle Parks)

A new Harvard Ave E park is currently in the planning phase and a new, early design concept has been presented to the public.

Susanne Rockwell, senior planner with Seattle Parks and Recreation is working on figuring out how to best create a space where people can gather and stroll in nature while incorporating historical elements into the current park design.

Since the park space is located in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Seattle, it is not considered a community of need. The park is eight to 16 years away from having park district funding directly allocated for this site so Seattle Parks is hoping to create private-public partnerships to raise the money needed to create the new public space.

This land has been donated to the city for public use. Rockwell hopes that with the new park, it is open for everyone to enjoy.

“Our parks are open to everyone regardless of sexual orientation or home ownership or where you come from, you are welcome and they are open to everybody.” Rockwell said.

Some neighbors in the area are worried about an increase of crime or encampments that could occur with having a park near them. Continue reading →

City to unveil design concept for Kay Bullitt property, ready to start talking cost for a new Capitol Hill park

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The property from above in the summer of 2022

 

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City planners are ready to show off the first design concept and proposed elements for a new park on Capitol Hill. Talk of a price tag for developing the donated parkland will soon be on the table, too.

The 1125 Harvard Ave E project will meet its next major milestone Saturday with a community meeting to unveil the proposal held at Volunteer Park’s Asian Art Museum:

125 Harvard Ave E Park Public Design Meeting
Sat, Oct 15, 2022 , 10:00am-11:30am
Seattle Asian Art Museum, Alvord Boardroom 1400 E Prospect

The 1.6 acres of land and 1955-built home on the property left to the city after the death of philanthropist Kay Bullitt stretches out on the northwest slopes of Capitol Hill in the prestigious Harvard-Belmont Landmark District.

CHS reported here on the early planning for the project including a survey that planners said showed preferences for developing the new park land “as a quiet, contemplative place” while making space for the Cass Turnbull Garden as part of the site, a project from Seattle nonprofit Plant Amnesty honoring its late founder.

A plan must also be shaped for the 1955-built Bullitt residence — “a unique A-frame house” designed by Pacific Northwest architect Fred Bassetti that stands on the property. The one and a half story, 3,400-square-foot open design home must be structurally assessed and could be worthy of historical protections while remaining a centerpiece of the new park.

The full Seattle Parks document including survey responses and answers submitted by community members about the planned park is below: Continue reading →

Hoping for the best, Capitol Hill small biz fundraisers boosted by anonymous $10K gifts

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Who wouldn’t give $10,000 to help Hardy and Buster?

Two neighborhood shops in need are cautiously optimistic — Is there an anonymous neighbor helping to save Capitol Hill businesses one secret $10,000 gift at a time?

Harvard Ave’s Twice Sold Tales is one recipient. After launching its fundraising appeal to help save the used book shop and a post on CHS, an anonymous $10,000 donor joined more than 100 others to help owner Jamie Lutton leap beyond her goal of “one month’s rent.” Continue reading →

‘A month’s rent’ — Purr-haps pitch in to help Twice Sold Tales

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Elliott Bay Book Company is weathering the storm of the COVID-19 crisis with a shift to online sales and local delivery along with a healthy dose of positive labor relations. A smaller, simpler, Capitol Hill sister book retailer, Twice Sold Tales doesn’t get the nationwide love of Elliott Bay but it, too, is trying to hang on through the outbreak and the ripples of economic challenges. Continue reading →

With new lease on life in the neighborhood, Bauhaus returns to Capitol Hill

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A storied name in Capitol Hill coffee has returned to its birth neighborhood. Bauhaus Capitol Hill is now open on Harvard Ave E.

CHS stopped by Thursday night as the cafe was part of dozens of venues across the Hill hosting Lit Crawl Seattle events.

Though it exited the neighborhood amid a cloud of financial problems and leaving employees and customers in the dust, Bauhaus returns four years later having survived and strengthened its “strong coffee” recipe with a new business structure and ownership. Continue reading →

Here’s why QFC is closing off its Harvard Ave entrances

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This one at the Harvard Market QFC will see “similar changes” next

To cut down on theft — especially of the chain’s most popular target — QFC is planning to shut down the backside Harvard Ave entrance at both of its Capitol Hill stores on Broadway.

Weekend shoppers found changes at the Broadway Market store implemented over the weekend with the Harvard Ave doors across from the library closed to shoppers. A company spokesperson explained the change to CHS — and got some quality marketing into the statement:

We are focusing on putting our people in the front and center of our business. This includes our customers, associates and vendor community. We’re honored to be able to present an abundance of fresh and local Pacific Northwest products to our customers. We consider ourselves to be champions of our local farmers and vendor partners and in order to support our people, we need to be able to run a safe and profitable business. In short, we need to be paid for the product that we put on our shelves, which in turn will allow us to continue providing the best products and promoting our local businesses.

“We expect that these increased security measures will allow us to continue to serve our customers at the highest level while also limiting the amount of unpaid merchandise that leaves our stores,” the spokesperson said. Continue reading →