Businesses nearby an encampment inside an old Burger King in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood are growing concerned about escalating issues from vandalism to break-ins and violence.
The encampment is located at 2025 Rainier Ave South. Those who work nearby said it’s been there for months, with people moving in shortly after the Burger King shut down and setting fires inside. The vacant property is also located on the next block from two schools, and some are concerned problems with the encampment may get worse.
Businesses nearby said they’ve dealt with numerous car break-ins, graffiti and had their windows smashed and kicked in. KOMO News spoke with employees of Grease Monkey across the street who said they are shutting down after the recent issues.
“It’s been getting progressively worse and worse,” Ken Heagy, who works nearby, said, “The Burger King shut down, they burned that place down and moved into that place, then the 7-Eleven got chased out because of all the vagrancy.”
Employees at AAMCO Transmissions said other businesses have also moved out and are concerned about more people moving into the vacant businesses that have shut down.
"They’re destroying the property, they’re just throwing garbage everywhere, they walk around here half naked, I found a woman inside my vehicle one day," Heagy said.
Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales represents the area, her office shared this statement on the status of the property:
The former Burger King at 2025 Rainier Ave was issued a permit for demolition on December 13, 2022. Rat abatement is required at least 15 days prior to and up until the demolition. Sometimes that can hold things up, but I see the owner submitted knowledge of this requirement back in September 2022. They are required to obtain a “first ground disturbance” inspection from us before beginning work, but they failed that inspection on 1/20/23. So, the good news is that they appear ready to begin but need to make sure they have completed rat abatement and erosion control measures before passing their inspection and beginning the demolition.
City officials have not shared an estimated timeline on when the next inspection on the property will be, or when demolition might begin, but they did say they're working with the property owner and demolition contractor to bring outreach workers in to connect those living at the site with shelter so demolition can start. Businesses are concerned about what might happen in the meantime.
"Is the building going to get broken into and all my stuff stolen, is the thing going to get so bad the boss has to shut it down because he doesn’t have a choice and all of us are out of work because of this like the previous businesses? It’s really unfair," Heagy said.
(Update 2/10/23): After this story aired, the property owners contacted KOMO News to share they have a demolition permit and are prepared to start demolition on the property on Saturday morning, February 11. They also said it is the city's responsibility to remove campers on the right of way along Hill Street. KOMO will continue to follow this story and post updates as we get them.