Burleskaraoke (Image: Queer/Bar)

The new ownership at Capitol Hill’s Queer/Bar is reshaping the 11th Ave club with a July makeover.

“This isn’t a remodel, it’s an opportunity to reorient the bar to create a more adaptable space for events and performances, while providing a more comfortable patron experience,” new co-owner Scott Walent said in an announcement of plans for the venue.

The Capitol Hill gay bar staple is making changes this summer as long-time venue patron Dustin Akers and queer nightlife entrepreneur Walent take over as co-owners.

CHS reported here in June as Joey Burgess and Murf Hall said they were selling off Queer/Bar and stepping away from nightclub ownership. They continue to hold Elliott Bay Book Company, Oddfellows, and The Gemini Room.

The transaction came a year after Burgess and Hall sold The Cuff to Walent who built his career in San Francisco as an events promoter and has vowed to restore and protect the 13th Ave leather bar.

Now Walent is stepping up to take 11th Ave’s Queer/Bar under his wing with help from Akers.

The 11th Ave club, a central hub for performance, culture, and community since taking over the former Purr location in 2017, is temporarily closing its doors in July for a light refresh before reopening.

While the venue gets a slight physical and operational update, its new owners say Queer/Bar’s identity will remain rooted in supporting local drag, live performance, and queer culture. The incoming team plans to return familiar staples like weekly karaoke, trivia, sports viewings, and drag programming, alongside a reopened kitchen featuring a new menu.

“Queer/Bar has a deep history in being a space for connection and community,” Akers said in the new team’s announcement, highlighting plans to collaborate closely with local artists and creatives as the space evolves.

Meanwhile, the venue is also hiring.

Queer/Bar is located at 1518 11th Ave. Learn more about reopening plans at thequeerbar.com.

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The red lines designate the “scope of work” for the new project

(Image: CHS)

The street front along the 600 block of E Pike has been empty and darkened for two years since retail giant Amazon abruptly shuttered its pioneering — and relatively huge — Amazon Fresh grocery concept here.

Work is finally underway to fill the space — part of it, at least.

Construction paperwork has been signed-off on to begin work on a project to carve out part of the former high-tech grocery’s more than 10,000-square-foot space for a new tenant at the corner of Belmont and Pike.

The new “Capitol Hill TI” — or, tenant improvement — project underway on the street level of the preservation incentive-boosted, mixed-use AVA Capitol Hill building will fill the corner and extend with a long corridor into the old grocery space. The paperwork provides no direct clues of what kind of business will be moving in though marketing materials focused on the building’s generous underground parking and the corner’s existing venting infrastructure, a key feature required for restaurants with full-scale kitchens.

The space will neighbor existing tenant Menya Muso Tsukemen & Ramen.

Brokers began seeking new tenants for the “Former Amazon Fresh” in recent months with an open-ended pitch for new ideas to fill the 10,401-square-foot southern commercial area of the mixed-use development that spans fully between Pike and Pine. With a new tenant the size of Amazon apparently out of reach, the construction permit has been issued, and the process of downsizing the block to smaller proportions has begun.

The plans will address one of the major commercial gaps along this stretch of E Pike. There is another. Just east, the former Redhook microbrewery and taproom complex shuttered last summer is still in search of a new beermaker.

CHS reported here in April 2024 on the sudden shutdown of the Amazon store and its “just walk out” cashier-less format as the tech and retail giant said it was pulling back on smaller format locations in favor of larger groceries and its Whole Foods holdings.

In the end, by the time the new Belmont and Pike tenant first opens for business, Amazon will have left its mark on E Pike for somewhere around a decade. The company first inked its lease and began secretly working on the project in 2017.

Meanwhile, there are other large Amazon holes around here to fill. 2026 began with the closure of the Amazon Fresh at 23rd and Jackson. That huge Central District grocery remains emptied. And, a year ago, Seattle leaders were vowing to help fill the 40,000-square-foot space at Broadway and Madison where Whole Foods was suddenly closed. It, too, remains empty.

Back on E Pike, there is new hope in smaller spaces.

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(Image: CHS)

Ballots for the August primary election have been distributed with a few big decisions for Capitol Hill and Central District area voters.

Don’t fret too much. Because of the top-two format, you’ll likely have a chance to change your mind in November.

The largest political battle underway around the Hill this summer will only go so far in determining the ultimate winner. CHS reported here as the 43rd District Democrats group chose to endorse “Tax the Rich” upstart Hannah Sabio-Howell over State Sen. Jamie Pedersen, the current Majority Leader in the Washington State Senate, an architect of the Millionaires Tax, and a veteran lawmaker who has been part of 43rd District leadership for twenty years.

Under the top-two format, both are all but guaranteed to go through but Sabio–Howell’s camp is hoping a strong primary performance will help keep the candidate’s momentum headed into what will be a much tougher battle in this fall’s general election.

One vote that will stick is the proposed renewal of the city’s library levy. The 2026 proposal would nearly double the city’s library tax rate to $0.23 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Over the course of the proposal’s seven-year run, the median Seattle homeowner would pay about $163 a year, according to the city’s analysis. Officials say the bump would raise around $480 million over the seven-year span.

CHS reported here on the proposal that includes millions for security and social services including a planned $11 million to fund security personnel and $1.2 million to support social service referrals across the 27 library system. The bulk of the funding — $218.4 — would support maintaining current operating hours at the branches while increasing spending on all-ages programs and the new security. A council committee added another $70 million in spending to the package including millions for a renovation of the Central Library branch.

Area ballots also include some important decisions on judges at the State Supreme Court, and the city’s Municipal Court. The League of Women Voters has published interviews with the Supreme Court candidates.

Meanwhile, some of your neighbors in the Central District are deciding in the first round of a political battle involving a familiar face at City Hall. Former District 3 City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is running as an independent socialist candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington’s 9th Congressional District, challenging long-time Democratic incumbent Adam Smith. Sawant, CHS reported, launched her campaign a year ago after ending her time at Seattle City Hall and setting out to build her Workers Strike Back organization into a national labor movement.

As usual, King County and Washington’s elections remain by-mail and by-drop box and, so far, the Trump administration’s attempts to erode the process have been rebuffed. In a June decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law allows individual states to determine their own ballot receipt deadlines, upholding state laws that count mail-in ballots received after Election Day as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day.

If a King County voter loses their ballot or needs a replacement, they can access a new ballot online by logging into the state portal at MyVote.wa.gov or King County’s online ballot system, where they can mark, download, and print a replacement ballot along with the required declaration signature page. Voters can obtain a physical replacement in person by visiting the King County Elections Office in Renton or an open Vote Center, or by calling King County Elections directly at 206-296-VOTE (8683) to request one by mail if time permits before Election Day.

Ballots can be returned via an official King County drop box including the Broadway box by 8:00 PM on Election Day, August 4th — or postmarked by mail on or before Election Day.

You can find CHS coverage of the races and issues at capitolhillseattle.com/tag/elections.

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CHS reported on the community session and updates on the project last week.

The center in the former Polyclinic medical building at Broadway and Union is planned to be the second in a network of five county facilities providing 24-7 walk-in and emergency care mental health clinics funded by a 2023 voter-approved levy.

The county says it is responding to concerns about public safety raised by nearby residents, building owners, and businesses and partnering with site operator Connections, Seattle city officials, and the Seattle Police Department to shape policies and resources.

You can also stop by the July edition of Hill Talk safety and business gatherings sponsored by the GSBA starting at 4:30 PM at 12th Ave’s Mint and Martini.

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It appears Seattle Parks and Recreation sorted out its plans after a 4th of July bonfire fueled by burning Lime bikes damaged the Bobby Morris Field artificial turf in Cal Anderson Park.

CHS found repairs underway over the weekend near the field’s center circle.

CHS reported here last week as a parks department spokesperson said officials were still figuring out the best way forward, weighing the repair against a much larger project involving the scheduled replacement of the entirety of the field’s artificial surface planned for the summer of 2027.

For now, it looks like that big project for one of the hardest working fake grass fields in the world can wait as there is now a nice big green square of new turf safely added to replace the burn patch.

It has been a busy few months for Cal Anderson repairs. CHS reported in May on the movement to “Save Cal Anderson skate park” that was stirred up during parks and rec’s “standard maintenance and repair work” on the west side of Cal Anderson.

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