‘Our home and our history’ — A new era for Capitol Hill’s iconic El Capitan Apartments

(Image: Joe Mabel/Wikipedia)

(Image: City of Seattle)

A classic Capitol Hill apartment building is reportedly set to be sold by its longtime family ownership amid Seattle’s stubbornly expensive rental market and ongoing worries about the end of “small landlords” in the neighborhood.

Residents of Yale Ave’s five-story, 101-year-old El Capitan Apartments at the base of Capitol Hill above I-5 received a letter last week from the Hendricks family notifying them of the sale. The letter was posted to Reddit and residents of the 86-unit building have confirmed the notice.

“This building has been more than just a business to us; it has been our home and our history,” the letter about the iconic building’s future from Manny Hendricks reads. “My father, Alvin ‘Bubba’ Hendricks, purchased El Capitan in 1970, continuing a legacy started by my grandfather, who managed the building for years before that.”

In the letter, the building’s longtime owners do not identify the property’s buyer. A sale has not yet been reported to the county and there are no records with the city indicating any permitting activity for redevelopment at the site.

The property has been appraised at more than $19 million but was likely worth considerably more on the market.

In the letter, the Hendricks family outlined assurances for current residents including month-to-month tenancy protections under Seattle’s Just Cause Eviction Ordinance and what the family says is a commitment “to improving El Capitan and plan to renovate apartments as they become naturally vacant.”

“If a substantial renovation requires you to move, they must follow a strict legal process, which includes applying for a Tenant Relocation License, a process that typically takes 6 months. If a license is granted, you would also receive some monetary assistance,” the letter reads.

Under new state law, any subsequent rent increases will also be capped. For 2026, rent increases in Seattle are capped at 9.683% — calculated as 7% + the regional CPI of 2.683%.

Seattle Area Media Rent (Source: Relocity)

The building is not subject to Seattle’s landmark protections but city analysis lists the property as likely to “meet the criteria” of the ordinance. The building was originally known as the North Apartments for real estate investor Josephine North, one of a group of women developers who made their mark on the city in the early half of the 20th century. It was renamed El Capitan in the 1930s. Its years have grown the stories of the El Capitan as it made a Capitol Hill home for “countless artists and the occasional ghost.”

El Capitan is not the easiest to track as vacancies are rare but one recent listing showed a studio for around $1,400 a month. The average unit in the building is 578 square feet.

The old building is considered “affordable” — but it is not subject to mandated affordability programs like the Multifamily Tax Exemption typically utilized by newer construction or major renovations where a 20–25% set-aside is required for lower-income tiers or Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability program. Law requires all landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers and other subsidies as a valid source of income, provided the applicant meets other screening criteria.

While the El Capitan buyer has not yet been publicly revealed, the acquisition of family-owned buildings by regional and national real estate firms has been an ongoing trend. In 2023, CHS reported on a Small Landlord Stakeholder Group convened to address the changing market and sales trends that were resulting in the loss of housing in smaller, more affordable buildings. The El Capitan as it rises five stories and squeezes in nearly 90 units has been one of the biggest of Capitol Hill’s remaining “small landlord” buildings.

The El Capitan sale will come as Seattle’s rents have remained stubbornly high — more than 30% above the national median. The typical one-bedroom in the region is more than $2,500 a month.

New strategies are taking shape. Last month, the city’s new voter-approved Seattle Social Housing Developer got a shakeup as affordable housing advocate Tiffani McCoy was named to lead the authority created to build or acquire 2,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade in Seattle. Seattle voters approved formation of the public developer and later a 5% tax on employers who pay any employee more than $1 million in compensation to finance the program. The tax is expected to raise more than $50 million annually.

Could the 101-year-old El Capitan be the start of Seattle’s new development authority? It fits the program’s affordability mandates, is big enough to make a splash, and the timing is right. The only drawback might be those 101 years. Seattle Social Housing’s mandate includes “green building and Passive House Standards.” But long-term plans for expensive retrofitting might be worth the trade for preserving a historic and still relatively affordable Capitol Hill icon.

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