(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

2022 is the tenth anniversary of the rebirth of Cafe Pettirosso. It will also be the year the much loved Capitol Hill hangout closes down as owners Miki and Yuki Sodos say a planned redevelopment of the building has come as a final blow to an already struggling business.

“Pettirosso loves you Seattle, but the path of small business is crushing right now,” the cafe’s owners said in their goodbye announcement for the 27-year-old 11th Ave business. “We would have stayed forever but are exhausted and frustrated on all fronts. We stayed open every day during the pandemic, the protests, snow storms, years of construction, and gentrification, but it is now our time.”

The thought of having to keep fighting through Covid only to go straight into having to pay for yet another build out of Café Pettirosso after the building is slated to be gutted in the near future, and then straight into a massive raise in the rent, is too much.

Cafe Pettirosso’s last day will be February 6th.

The closure makes for a sad trio of popular restaurants shutting down across Capitol Hill.

The other favorites will be replaced by new ventures. On 19th Ave E, 17-year-old Vios shut down to end 2021 to make way for TacoOx and the Money Frog bar. On 12th, 15-year-old Cafe Presse will close February 13th to make way for MariPili.

A sale will not be the exit plan for Pettirosso’s ownership. In 2019, CHS reported on developer Liz Dunn’s plans for the more than 100-year-old H.W. Baker Linen Supply Co. building including a full seismic overhaul of the 11th and Pike structure and construction of new penthouse office space plus a redesign of the old freight elevator. Those plans have been on ice through the pandemic but are apparently ready to be thawed:

The proposed project maintains the commercial use of the building, with retail at the ground floor and mezzanine levels, and office spaces at the floors above, while adding two stories of additional office space and updating core circulation elements to provide code-compliant stair egress and modern elevator service. Although the zoning would allow for additional height to 85’ above the Average Grade Level, which could accommodate up to 4 additional stories, the proposed massing strategies limit new work to two floors. The reasons for this are threefold: 1) to not visually overwhelm the existing building, 2) to stay slightly lower than the adjacent buildings, and 3) to not block the public view deck of the neighboring building to the east.

Dunn purchased the building in 2014 for $5.4 million. It is also home to retailer Retrofit Home. The onetime home of Seattle Automobile Company is now a Seattle landmark.

In 2019, Dunn told CHS there was no timeline for the overhaul project and that construction would hinge on the city’s passage of mandatory unreinforced masonry upgrade legislation. There’s no telling when Seattle might finally see that long anticipated legislation but CHS reported here last week on the Seattle City Council resolution calling for Mayor Bruce Harrell to add spending to ramp up staff in the city’s Department of Construction and Inspections to prepare for the new rules.

UPDATE 1/24/2022 12:54 PM: As CHS reported, Dunn says her development company is “NOT gutting the Baker Linen building in the near future” and tells CHS that Pettirosso held an option to extend its lease another five years combined with right of first refusal to come back into a new space if developer Dunn and Hobbes “cut that five years short in order to renovate the building.” For now, Dunn isn’t sure when the seismic project and renovation will finally move forward and says her company is now looking for a business to take over the Pettirosso space.

“COVID has been exhausting for all of the restaurants in our buildings, so we understand and respect Miki and Yuki’s decision not to extend their lease, and we will miss them,” Dunn writes.

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

The vegan mac (Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

(Image: Cafe Pettirosso)

Robin Wright, standing, in 2011 (Image: CHS)

2022 marks ten years since Pettirosso was reopened and reinvigorated by the Sodos sisters. Yuki had previously managed the popular cafe and joined her sister in taking over the business from Robin Wright who founded Pettirosso in 1994.

Nearly 30 years later, Pettirosso’s final lease is ending this month “and we have decided to end our tenure on our terms,” the cafe’s goodbye message reads.

“We love you Robin Wright for creating Café Pettirosso and we love you Capitol Hill! Thank you Seattle for an amazing 27 years!!!”

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