After Five Years, a Taker!
Even before the new, flashy Seattle City Hall was completed in 2003, officials and architects envisioned some of the airy space being occupied by vendors— a flower shop, a newsstand, maybe a deli. But the only amenity today (and a fine one at that) is a coffee cart operated by City Grind in the main lobby.
That is, for now. The city has finally found a taker for about 3,000 square feet on the Fourth Avenue side, ground floor. And it’s none other than Noah’s Bagels. Yes City Hall denizens, you’ll soon be able to eat all the lox and shmears you can stomach from the Starbucks of bagel bakeries.
Fleets and Facilities spokeswoman Katherine Schubert-Knapp says signing a local company was the city's preference. "But we couldn’t make it work." Why’d it take so long to find a tenant? “It’s a challenging space,” Schubert-Knapp says, adding that it doesn’t help that the location is across the street form the Columbia Center and its gigantic food court.
It’s an odd nook to be sure, tinted red from the paneled doors that separate City Hall from the street (the anger room as some city employees like to call it), just north of the waterfall. City council has to approve the lease and permits still need to be awarded, but if all goes as planned, Noah’s hopes to open before year's end.
Says Schubert-Knapp: “People are excited about bagels.”
Says the mayor’s spokesman Marty McOmber: “It’s been a goal of the city to find a tenant for that space for sometime. It will be nice having another food vendor in the area.”
But Council member Richard McIver, for his part, won’t be a patron. Though he says it’s good to see the space finally getting some use, he’s more of a doughnut guy. Top Pot. Frosted Chocolate Cake.
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