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.
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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