12th Avenue Neighborhood & Business District

Outside Saba Ethiopian Restaurant near 12th and Yesler

Outside Chatterbox at 12th and Spring

Check it out!
There are two more benches along 12th Avenue!

As noted in my earlier post when the first bench went in, Capitol Hill Housing received funding for this project from the Seattle Office of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Business District Fund and has worked with the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee to choose a bench design and designate locations along 12th Avenue.

The benches were created from surplus granite curbstones available from the City of Seattle. Many thanks are due to Kevin Long of Urban Wilds who did a fantastic job on design and fabrication of the granite stones as well as installation on the sidewalk. We also want to thank Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio for help with the design, offering up a workspace, and general assistance with the project, Greg Lewis for help with installation, 12th Avenue Iron who fabricated the bench legs, Kate Leitch at the Seattle Department of Transportation for helping us with City permits, and to each property and business owner who supported this project.

The first of five benches has been installed along 12th Avenue! This one is located at 1721 12th Avenue between Olive and Howell outside Lucky Devil Tattoo.

Capitol Hill Housing received funding for this project from the Seattle Office of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Business District Fund and has worked with the 12th Avenue Stewardship Committee to choose a bench design and designate locations along 12th Avenue.

The benches were created from surplus granite curbstones available from the City of Seattle. Many thanks are due to Kevin Long of Urban Wilds who did a fantastic job on design and fabrication of the granite stones as well as installation on the sidewalk. We also want to thank Daniel Mihalyo of Lead Pencil Studio for help with the design, offering up a workspace, and general assistance with the project, Greg Lewis for help with installation, 12th Avenue Iron who fabricated the bench legs, Kate Leitch at the Seattle Department of Transportation for helping us with City permits, and to each property and business owner who supported this project.

Be on the look out for four more benches to be installed along 12th Avenue in the next few weeks!

Spirit of Our Youth sculpture on the KC Youth Services Center Site (corner of 14th & Remington)

Please join us next Tuesday night for the 12th Avenue Neighborhood Meeting. The meeting will be at the Seattle University Admissions and Alumni Building at the corner of 12th and Marion.  Drinks and snacks will be provided.  Here is the agenda:

Here is another great event happening on the night of Tuesday December 8th 6-9pm , the first ever Capitol Hill Holiday Hoopla! If you are a local business, please consider participating. Contact Dominic at  Dominic@dibspace.com or RSVP on Facebook here .

So far participating businesses include:

Sorrento Hotel, Baltic Room, Fuel Coffee, Molly Moon’s, Dogs on the Hill, Tidbit Bistro, Emerson Salon, Healeo, Poco Wine Room, Office Nomads, Babeland, Po Dog, Pearl Vodka and HonesTea. It would be great to get some 12th Ave businesses on this list too!

So come on out to the 12th Ave Neighborhood Meeting beforehand and then hit the Holiday Hoopla after for an awesome night of greater Capitol Hill community!

12th & E Pine Facade

Maria Barrientos, developer of the Packard Apartments at 12th Avenue and E Pine Street, will be opening up the building for a community tour on Thursday, December 10th at 3pm . This will be a great opportunity to view the various apartment layouts, as well as the commercial retail and office space within the project.

Space is limited! To join the tour please contact Kate Stineback at kstineback@chhip.org or at 206-204-3831.

Construction nearly complete

Please join us for the 12th Avenue Neighborhood Plan Stewardship Committee Meeting next Tuesday night, November 10th at 5:30pm . This meeting will be held at the SU Alumni & Admissions Bldg at the corner of Marion and 12th.

Agenda items include:

Capitol Hill Housing and the 12th Avenue Initiative received a $5,000 grant from the City of Seattle last spring to help fund a neighborhood-based street furniture project. We have a preliminary design which gained support from the neighborhood at the 12th Avenue Stewardship Meeting last week. Interested neighbors, local architects, artists and a stone mason have all been working together to help get this project going. We’re excited to be using surplus granite curbstones from the City of Seattle for the project. Here is a preliminary drawing and a mock-up.

We’re still nailing down locations but we hope to have about 5-6 benches up and down 12th Avenue between John Street and Yesler Way. Stay tuned here for updates!

The October meeting for the 12th Avenue Neighborhood Stewardship Committee is Tuesday, October 13th at 5:30pm at the Seattle University Alumni & Admissions building on the corner of 12th Avenue and E Marion Street.

Topics include:

• Update and discussion on the James Court Park

• What’s happening with the First Hill-Capitol Hill Streetcar?

• 12th Avenue Street Furniture Project Update

• Take part in a survey/discussion: what kinds of businesses do you want in the neighborhood?

• What would you like to consider?

All are encouraged to attend. There will be snacks and beverages provided.  If you have questions or agenda suggestions, please contact Bill Zosel, Neighborhood Plan Steward, at wmzosel@aol.com.

12th Avenue Merchant Association

Merchants from 12th Avenue and the surrounding business area gathered at Osteria La Spiga on Monday night to meet each other, enjoy great appetizers and discuss 12th Avenue business issues. The agenda included discussions on whether to form a 12th Avenue Merchant Assocation and the possibility of hosting a summer street festival for 12th Avenue businesses.  Generally, Merchant Associations are  more ad hoc and focused on one event or issue rather than 501c3 organizations like Chambers of Commerce.  Rob Mohn from the Columbia City Business Association attended and highlighted best practices from their neighborhood.  DeCharlene Williams attended representing the Central Area Chamber of Commerce and highlighted their focus on community events.  The 12th Avenue Street Festival gained support at this initial meeting and many agreed that it should be family-oriented and focused on local businesses.

Small Business Assistance

Nita Conlan from Community Capital Development and Greg Scully from the Seattle University Albers School of Business were also on hand to answer questions about small business loans and technical assistance. For more information on their services, please visit their websites.

Community Capital Development: www.seattleccd.com
Seattle University Small Business Institute:  http://www.seattleu.edu/asbe/ec/sbi

First Hill Streetcar

Other topics included a discussion about the possible 12th Avenue loop alignment of the First Hill Streetcar. Interested businesses were encouraged to sign-up to stay connected with streetcar issues. The Streetcar Group is also represented on Facebook here .

For more information on any of these topics or if you want to get involved, please feel free to contact Cecelia Gunn at Capitol Hill Housing: cgunn at chhip dot org

We also want to send a big Thank You! to La Spiga for hosting and to Cupcake Royale for bringing dessert!

Later this month there will be a great opportunity for merchants on and around 12th Avenue to get together and discuss some exciting things on the horizon in the business district.  La Spiga has generously offered to host this gathering. Light appetizers and drinks will be provided. If you are a business owner in the district please come out and join the conversation…

12th Avenue Merchant Meet-Up

When : Monday, September 21st @ 4:30pm

Where : Osteria La Spiga (1429 12th Avenue btw Pike and Madison)

Why : To discuss great things happening in the 12th Ave Business District such as:

• The 2010 12th Ave Summer Street Festival
• Forming a 12th Avenue Merchants Association
• First Hill Streetcar Information
• How and where to get business and technical assistance

If you have any questions about this event please call Kate Stineback at 206-329-7303 ext 1021 or contact me via e-mail at kstineback@chhip.org.