New permit filings revive McDonald’s plans on Capitol Hill — with a Broadway Trader Joe’s twist

Paperwork rumors early this year of a McDonald’s coming to Broadway across from Capitol Hill Station were half-baked and incomplete. New filings are now turning up the heat — and adding an interesting late-summer side dish to what might come next at the busy intersection of Broadway, John, and E Olive Way including a possible big change for the neighborhood’s Trader Joe’s.

Or, it all could just be paper.

Tuesday, a Building & Land Use Pre-Application was filed for the former Rite Aid building for a tenant remodel of the long-shuttered space. The signee on the financial responsibility filing for a pre-application coaching process is a project manager for the burger giant. Her Linked In updates include posts celebrating “new store” McDonald’s openings across the country.

There’s even more. A second related filing describes a “Trader Joe’s Tenant Improvement and Expansion” project at the same address. That filing came from an advisor for the grocery chain whose name has also appeared on market projects in other cities including Portland.

He is also, curiously enough, the listed applicant for the McDonald’s paperwork.

For now, the only company with their name on the line is McDonald’s but we’re following up to find out if Trader Joe’s could also be in the mix — or if the advisor simply left an old project name on a template when submitting the applications for the burger chain.

While there is no record of any previous joint McDonald’s-Trader Joe’s joint development in the country, some kind of link-up might make sense at the corner to fill the large space. The 5,000-square-foot former pharmacy has been marketed for lease along with another 2,200-square-feet in the building. Trader Joe’s operating two markets on Capitol Hill in such close proximity would be highly unlikely.

The long ago Broadway Theater building has been empty since 2023 as a wave of bankruptcy shut down big-chain pharmacies across the city. In February, CHS joined a wave of media speculation after an early McDonald’s paperwork filing.

The area has been without a nearby source of Big Macs since the First Hill McDonald’s served its final fries in 2017 to make way for new development.

The Broadway building remains held by its longtime family ownership. McDonald’s typically signs long-term leases for its locations in urban neighborhoods and business districts, subleasing the spaces to franchisees.

CHS has questions out to relevant parties including the building’s longtime ownership. The Daily Journal of Commerce is also reporting on the filings.

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