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(Image: Starbird Chicken)
The mystery of new commercial life hatching in the failed 10,000-square-foot Amazon grocery on E Pike has been revealed. The arrival of Starbird Chicken on Capitol Hill will mark new energy for a block that has been darkened for two and a half years.
It will also be an example of what happens when highly optimized, fully leveraged, and fluidly designed corporate strategies cross lines, overlap, and push all their eggs into the same basket in a neighborhood with finger lickin good demographics and spending habits.
“Starbird has built something truly special by reimagining what a chicken restaurant can be, from the bold flavors and hospitable, modern restaurant design to the overall guest experience,” Vin Mehta, the Portland-based entrepreneur and franchisee leading a 17 location expansion of the chicken chain into the Pacific Northwest, said in a company press release quoted by industry tracker FastCasual.com. “Together, we’ll combine Starbird’s innovative approach with our team’s operational experience and passion for building lasting connections.”
CHS reported this summer on signs of new life in the Pike at Belmont space in the AVA Capitol Hill mixed-use redevelopment of the neighborhood’s old Mercedes-Benz dealership where the massive Amazon Go was abruptly shuttered in 2024 as part of what would become a nationwide retreat for the global giant.
This week, Starbird’s construction team filed new paperwork with details of their plans for a new 3,000-square-foot restaurant to serve the company’s tenders, wings, and sandwiches in a major chunk of the former cashier-less, tech-powered grocery space. An ambitious $620,000 base construction budget is attached.
The expansion has already been on the burner. A West Seattle Starbird is scheduled for its ribbon cutting on Fauntleroy Way SW on Monday.
Starbird is a Northern California-born, premium fast-casual restaurant chain founded in 2016 by culinary incubator The Culinary Edge, a company that operates as a gun for hire in revamping menus and operations for large national chains while also establishing its own brands.
Starbird specializes in “fresh, scratch-made food” and “always antibiotic-free, never frozen” fried chicken including tenders, sandwiches, wings, and “house-made sauces,” positioning itself around “reinventing the fast-food experience” with “feel good crispy chicken.” With an emphasis on “tech-enabled, omnichannel dining” and virtual kitchens alongside brick-and-mortar restaurants, the brand has expanded beyond California through multi-unit franchise partnerships.
The name also has a familiar ring. Yes, it sounds like Starbucks. And, hey, we’re not sure what the folks at the 1910-era Starbird Apartments around the block on Boylston will think.
One of the most recent Starbird openings was in Colorado (Image: Starbird Chicken)
The first Starbird opened in 2016 in Sunnyvale, California, on W El Camino Real a few miles from Apple Park and a shorter drive from the LinkedIn headquarters. The Silicon Valley debut served as the pilot location for the concept, testing their app-based curbside pickup model alongside standard dine-in service. Like most big chains, in-store ordering is heavily automated via digital kiosks and integrated mobile app check-ins.
Starbird’s traditional real estate footprint favors car-oriented, suburban-style corridors over dense, pedestrian neighborhoods but there a few different formats of stores. In San Francisco, Starbird developed a commercial ghost kitchen hub in SoMa, serving the area through bike and scooter couriers and delivery apps.
Capitol Hill, circa 2026 and 2027, is up to its ears in chicken joints. And the flock is growing even with the now permanent loss of neighborhood favorite Bok a Bok.
This month, CHS reported plans from Puget Sound-based Conscious Hospitality Group for a re-start of its 11th Ave restaurant space with a new roasted chicken venture fronted by celebrity influencer chef Matt Broussard. The Seattle Times gushed over the prospects but didn’t report that the plan is a re-heat. The 11th Ave space was originally the flagship location of the company’s scuttled “1,000 location,” sustainable, and tech-optimized chicken sandwich chain concept Mt. Joy.
Starbird, meanwhile, has pushed past the 20 location mark and is on a skyward trajectory.
“From day one, we saw something special in Starbird. This innovative concept is in a league all its own,” investor Greg Dollarhyde said in an announcement five years ago as the company raised $12 million in funding. “Starbird continues to beat every expectation.”
Starbird Capitol Hill is under construction at 600 E Pike. Learn more at starbirdchicken.com.
$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE
Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month — or choose your level of support
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