SaveTheMarketEntrance

Seattle was born of grit. Our history and our stories nourish our spirits and give us a greater sense of what matters in the long run. Today, the historic four corner entrance into Pike Place Market at 1st & Pike is under threat of the wrecking ball. Developers plan to demolish the oldest of the historic buildings known as the landmark Hahn Building (a.k.a. the Green Tortoise and T-Shirt Shop) and replace it with a 14-story steel and glass high-rise. This will forever change the character of this historic entrance to the Market. And other historic buildings are likely fall, including another landmark next door, The Showbox. 

Please support Save the Market Entrance, a grassroots nonprofit founded to protect the historic area around the Market. The first $5,000 received will be matched by an anonymous donor. If you helped to save the Market in the 60’s and 70’s, we see you and thank you for continuing to care so deeply. If you are new to town, we welcome and need your help. The fight continues today to protect historic buildings, like the Hahn Building, which still stand in the yet unprotected historic buffer zone on the east side of 1st & Pike.

The threat to demolish the Hahn Building is real.  The Hahn is now going through the Landmark Board’s Controls & Incentives process with the developer.  The developer is seeking no controls and intends to demolish the building for replacement with a 14-story hotel.  Save the Market Entrance is a grassroots community advocacy group that is intelligently at work submitting extensive public comments, defending our appeal to the Hearing Examiner, and expanding our petition on change.org with over 91,000 signatures.  Your gift will be wisely spent.

The Hahn Building is a landmark, but it is not yet protected from the wrecking ball. The developer's plans just don't fit here. They dismiss the importance of this place. They eliminate the last affordable place for lodging where visitors and seasonal Market workers frequently stay to follow the steps of generations before them in search of adventure and a dream. They disregard the impacts on carbon emissions, traffic, and pedestrian safety. They ignore quality of life for existing residents, workers, and visitors in a neighborhood that is already one of the most densely peopled areas in the city. They put short-term profits above long-term impacts that will forever erase a chapter of our shared history we must embrace, acknowledge, and learn from.

All progress requires change, but all change is not progress. Some things are worth saving. The entrance to Pike Place Public Market is one of those things. Please join in support of Save the Market Entrance today. $5,000 in support will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

Background:

Now is the time to act! Successful outcomes against all odds is what we do at Save The Market Entrance (STME). Recent accomplishments include:

• Obtaining landmark status for the Hahn Building, the oldest structure of the buildings on the four corners of 1st & Pike. STME submitted the landmark nomination by working closely with historic preservation experts and rallying public support for the nomination. The Landmark Preservation Board voted 6-1 in favor in January 2021. 
• During the landmark process, STME called attention to the fact that the Hahn Building falls within the original boundaries set forth in Victor Steinbrueck’s 1960’s nomination of the Pike Place Public Market historic district to the National Register of Historic Places. (The original eastern boundary is News Lane Alley, which runs mid-block on Pike Street behind the Hahn Building.)
• Blocking the City of Seattle from issuing final permits to demolish the Hahn Building.  STME has also filed appeals to the Hearing Examiner regarding pending permits.
• Fighting to preserve the flowering Cherry Trees in the 100 block of Pike. STME helped to elevate the story of how the cherry trees honored the Japanese American farmers and vendors who co-founded Pike Place Market and were interned without due process during World War II. While STME could not save those trees, we extracted a promise from Mayor Harrell that 24 new cherry trees will be planted in this block and elsewhere on the waterfront in memory of Seattle’s connection with Japan and Seattle’s respect for its Americans of Japanese descent.
• Calling attention to traffic safety concerns when large trucks back out of mid-News Lane alley into crowds of pedestrians on Pike Street. STME successfully lobbying SDOT to install one-way street signs to address this problem. 

Save the Market Entrance needs your support. Voice your commitment. Protect the Hahn Building from demolition and preserve the history and stories of those who built, served, and continue to serve the extended, yet unprotected, Pike Place Market historical area. 

When you donate to Save the Market Entrance, your investment supports efforts to protect the authenticity, human scale, and sense of history of this unique part of Seattle.