Capitol Hill chamber works to keep eye on neighborhood
■ Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce executive director Jack Hilovsky and program manager Jessica Norouzi at the chamber headquarters, 925 E. Thomas St. photo/courtesy of Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce
The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is 2 years old, and its 170 members are dedicated to increasing the vitality of Capitol Hill. With the demolition of buildings at the heart of the Broadway business district's main intersection, a good deal of the chamber's focus now is on Broadway.
Sound Transit has bought the whole block between 10th Avenue East and Broadway from East John to Denny Way and is demolishing it all for a proposed underground light-rail station.
It has also bought a half-block bordering East Denny Way, Nagle Place and Broadway that will be demolished for the same project.
The chamber has worked with Sound Transit leading up to this project, making sure that more than a dozen small businesses displaced by the construction had help relocating and were treated fairly by Sound Transit.
"This is a new chapter for Broadway," said Jack Hilovsky, the chamber's executive director. "I'm hopeful they will create an opportunity to build up [Broadway], but it is a shame to lose brick buildings of character."
WORKING WITH THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY
At this time, some suggested uses for inclusion in the ultimate design of the area around the station (called transit-oriented development, or TOD) includes community meeting space, cultural and performance space and the Broadway Farmers Market.
Hilovsky and the chamber are encouraging the community's different groups to think about ways to get the public-oriented spaces included in the development. Although no final plans have been developed, multi-use buildings (with street-level commercial spaces and living spaces above) are expected to be the model.
Besides Broadway, the chamber is committed to all of Capitol Hill's business areas. Those are the Pike-Pine corridor, from Interstate 5 to East Madison and East Pine; the 15th Avenue East shopping district, from East John to East Mercer streets ("it's kind of like Capitol Hill's Mayberry"), and smaller districts on 23rd Avenue East, 19th Avenue East and Broadway East.
"We want to continue working with the community. We want to represent the entire community," Hilovsky said.
In that role, the chamber is an advocate for both businesses and residents of Capitol Hill. Among other things, the chamber watches developments and monitors them to be sure they conform to whatever performance criteria have been included in the building permit.
"Broad chamber membership increases our ability to speak up and represent the whole of the Capitol Hill neighborhoods and community regarding issues and organizations around the city," Hilovsky said, talking about why businesses should join the chamber.
Although the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce boasts 170 members, it would like to attract 200 more to give it a stable financial base. The chamber started with a three-year, $500,000 grant from the city, and this is the last year.
That total, 370 businesses, sounds like a lot - maybe most of the businesses on Capitol Hill, but it's not. According to Hilovsky, there are more than 3,000 businesses on Capitol Hill. Not all of those are brick-and-mortar businesses, but they do all call Capitol Hill home.
"We recognize [Capitol Hill] is a very diverse community throughout our neighborhoods," Hilovsky said. "We want to maintain the attractive qualities of Capitol Hill."
MARKETING THE NEIGHBORHOOD
But where is Capitol Hill? There is some flexibility in perceptions of Capitol Hill: Is Broadway from Pike to Madison part of Capitol Hill? How about Seattle University? What about the south side of East Madison between 15th and 12th avenues?
Maybe it doesn't matter.
The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is working with neighborhood stakeholders to build a branding and marketing campaign strategy for the neighborhood. Part of this is an effort to mitigate negative perceptions of traffic on Capitol Hill that may be generated by the heavy truck traffic and freeway ramp closures that will be necessary as part of the Sound Transit light-rail station construction.
Funding from the chamber's Sound Transit mitigation agreement will be applied toward marketing the neighborhood and supporting retail- and technical-consulting seminars for area businesses. These investments are intended to help the Broadway and surrounding business districts to "not only survive but thrive" during Sound Transit construction.
The chamber and Capitol Hill Housing have begun discussions with neighborhood stakeholders about sidewalks, trees and other amenities that may enhance business districts on Capitol Hill.
