For inquisitive minds, here is a follow up to a Wallyhood article about Bartells closing, posted in February, found here.
With a chance encounter at the corner of N. 45th and Burke Ave. N., my husband Larry and I met the property manager for the building at 1820 N. 45th, formerly known as Bartells Drugs—Mr. Frank Gellen. We had stopped to thank a man painting out graffiti on the building—who turned out to be the 85-year-old handy man. Mr. Gellen came around the corner and started a conversation about the building and the difficulty he was experiencing with the constant tagging. As the previous article noted, the drug store closed early in March, and the building now stands vacant and attracts taggers on a nightly basis. Understandably, painting out graffiti almost daily is very exasperating. He has covered all the windows with plywood, that is now being covered with promotional posters—without permission. Endless litter from the bus stop to the back of the building along with human droppings is a constant issue. The challenges of owning a vacant building in Seattle are apparent here.
Mr. Gellen did share some information of interest. Some day in the future, the building will be redeveloped—but as of April 2024, that plan is not imminent, and they are currently seeking a tenant. The entity that purchased the building in 2019, Gellen Hall Lake East LLC, is a family operation that includes his mother. There is a small comfort that the future developer of this building is a local family rather than a hedge fund manager located in a Manhattan skyscraper.
Frank went on to share his frustration that police will not arrest taggers, but the city sends him letters informing him of his responsibility to clean up the graffiti. Hopefully there will soon be a shift in vandalism and graffiti enforcement. Since February, Seattle can once again enforce its anti-graffiti laws following a ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturning a previous court’s finding that the statute was unconstitutional. The City of Seattle offers advice for reporting, prevention and help for private property owners regarding graffiti removal found here.
Hopefully Mr. Gellen will take advantage of city resources to assist in the upkeep of the building. To keep Wallingford vibrant and livable we can visualize a new, positive tenant in this space soon. The community can support all the businesses in the neighborhood by adopting streets and walls to stay ahead of litter and tagging here.
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This is a great article Rhonda. Thank you for posting!
I’d love to see this whole block redeveloped. The gap between the bus stop on the Bartells building is too narrow. The building should be demolished. The parking lot in front of QFC is so small that it’s more of a nuisance than a convenience. Tear it all down and build a decent grocery store with a pedestrian-friendly facade, a wider sidewalk, and parking in the back.
All well said. What makes sense is for Kroger to use the space for a QFC expansion. The current store is obviously way too small for the needs of the neighborhood. I don’t know that they will though- they seem all too happy to just milk the current store for profit, and there’s no competition in the neighborhood.
Thank you, Rhonda, for sharing how hard it is to keep up with the tagging on a daily basis. I just found out the Tea Shop on 45th and Stone Way called it quits after 2 break ins. It is not easy for any of our small businesses sometimes to stay open and keep us with the cleaning up.
Solution: Arrest taggers whenever possible and put them on a graffiti work crew for a month. And make them paint over every one of their tags, or else it’s another month. If they don’t comply, jail.