In another multimillion land deal for a Capitol Hill grocery, Hillcrest Market has new ownership

Another of Capitol Hill’s vital neighborhood markets has a new owner amid reminders that Capitol Hill’s relentless waves of redevelopment continue to churn.

In June, CHS reported on new ownership for Bellevue Ave’s much-loved City Market as part of a $7.5 million land deal for the property.

Now, Summit Ave E’s Hillcrest Market also has a new shopkeep.

Randhir Singh has taken over the grocery after buying the property for $3.95 million late last year, according to King County records. The litany of permits required to run a neighborhood market including licenses for cigarette, tobacco, and vapor product retailing, beer and wine sales, and lottery sales finally transferred under the new owner earlier this month.

Hillcrest, perhaps best known as the host for the original Carmelo’s Tacos, provides a mix of groceries, convenience items, and deli food typical of the neighborhood’s corner shops.

For now, it is business as usual at Hillcrest — that could, of course, change.

Singh’s transaction included the neighboring H Cleaners property where permit work is listed as “in process” with the city for a soil boring project typically part of environmental site assessment and “plume tracking” of potential contaminants from the decades of dry cleaning service done at the location. That kind of work is often part of pre-development engineering for mixed-use projects. Any redevelopment is years away.

As with City Market just down the hill, Hillcrest’s immediate daily operations remain intact even as the underlying real estate is primed for change. With plans for soil samples to be pulled from the sidewalk and major capital already deployed, the groundwork is being laid for the next changes along E Olive Way.