(Image: City of Seattle)
A key land use process has begun as officials aim for a planned end of 2027 opening of the Central Crisis Care Center emergency mental health facility on Broadway.
The Master Use Permit application for the 1110 Harvard Ave medical facility marks an important regulatory milestone in King County’s $56 million push to transform the three-story former Polyclinic building.
“The Project consist of the renovate an existing building into an acute behavior health care center,” the paperwork begins.
A Master Use Permit serves as the city’s official land-use gatekeeper, legally establishing changes in building use and occupancy before physical construction permits can be issued. According to project filings submitted on behalf of property owner King County, the renovation will convert the site into an acute behavioral health facility designed to maintain a “no wrong door’ approach” and an “open-door, 24/7 walk-in policy to serve all individuals who come to the center.”
Project plans call for interior and exterior upgrades that “apply the principles of trauma-informed design, and recognize the unique needs of individuals across the lifespan.”
The MUP also formalizes substantial exterior and access reconfigurations. it proposes eliminating 17 existing on-site parking stalls to rely on two proposed accessible on-street spaces, while managing more than 2,000 square feet of earth disturbance across public rights-of-way on Harvard, Broadway, and E Union as entrances to the facility are reconfigured.
The south end has been an empty lot for decades (Image: City of Seattle)
The plan does not specify any planned upgrades or use of the parcel’s empty southern portion long ago home to the Scottish Rite Cathedral.
Litigation and administrative appeals can delay or halt a Seattle Master Use Permit though the legal threshold required to substantially alter or kill a project is high. In most cases, litigation forces additional environmental studies, or extracts design concessions rather than outright stopping a permitted land use.
For renovation projects like 1110 Harvard Ave, standard building work without major exterior expansions or rezoning applications have limited targets for appeal.
On top of the $41.5 million acquisition cost of the building, officials have earmarked $11.5 million to $14.5 million in spending for renovation and operational start-up costs.
Recent filings also will enroll the property in the city’s Vacant Building Monitoring program as medical use of the building winds down.
This land use review intersects with neighborhood public safety efforts.
As the citizen-led Seattle Community Advisory Group formed to help shape planning for the project works to allocate a $3 million county mitigation fund to address street disorder and crime gaps, MUP filings dictate physical crime prevention through environmental design updates including sidewalk grading, frontage lighting, and secure access corridors.
CHS reported on the advisory group’s early work around public safety improvements focused heavily on surrounding street conditions. During an April session, members raised worries over “open-air drug markets, gun violence, property crime, and disorder,” warning that without strong post-crisis discharge planning, “people across King County could concentrate issues in Capitol and First Hill.”
CHS reported here on the 2025 approval of the $56 million plan to acquire the property, overhaul the building, and hire an operator for what 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.
Last November, CHS reported on the selection of Connections Health Solutions to operate the center.
With officials targeting an opening in late 2027 now at the earliest, securing MUP approval is a critical step needed to clear contractor bidding and keep renovations on schedule.
The Central Crisis Care Center advisory group will hold its monthly meeting Thursday:
Notice of Regular Meeting:
Meetings are hybrid
Date: Thursday, October 22, 12-1:30pm
Location: King County Department of Community and Human Services, 401 5th Ave., Seattle, WA 98104, Room 124 and Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/257653745895211?p=F6gpUoUTgKZBWlxv3D
Meeting ID: 257 653 745 895 211
Passcode: 8pJ2eb2k
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