County Raises Budget for Broadway Crisis Center

King County is assessing uses for a vacant Capitol Hill lot as it moves forward with the Central Crisis Care Center on Broadway.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Remote Work

Fenced vacant urban corner lot with a weathered concrete stairway and a brick building wall behind it under overcast daylight. — King County raised the construction budget for its Central Crisis Care Center on Broadway in Seattle and will assess uses for a vacant triangular lot north of the facility. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

King County released a higher construction budget for the Central Crisis Care Center on Broadway in Seattle. County officials will also assess potential uses for the vacant triangular lot north of the facility.

Why it matters

The triangular lot has sat vacant for more than 30 years, and community members have asked for green space there, which the county is now exploring. The project affects residents of Capitol Hill and the broader Seattle area as crisis care capacity expands.

The vacant lot has sat empty for more than 30 years, and a $3 million county mitigation fund is being allocated for street disorder and public safety around the project. The final use of the lot and the revised construction total have not yet been determined.

The players

King County

King County is the Washington county that includes Seattle and operates the county-run crisis care network funding this project.

Polyclinic

Polyclinic is a Seattle medical group that acquired the triangular parcel and nearby real estate and is developing a medical facility there.

Seattle Community Advisory Group

The Seattle Community Advisory Group is a citizen-led body formed to help shape Crisis Center planning and allocation of the mitigation fund.

The details

The Central Crisis Care Center is planned for Broadway, where the county has raised its construction budget. Officials will assess potential uses for the fenced triangle where Broadway and Harvard meet north of Madison, which contains only a concrete stairway. The site originally housed the Scottish Rite Cathedral, opened in 1911, before the building was demolished after Club Broadway closed around 1988.

1911: Scottish Rite Cathedral opened on the site.
Late 1950s: Scottish Rite organization relocated further north.
Around 1988: Club Broadway closed and the building was later vacated.
June 2009: City Council passed legislation enabling Polyclinic medical development.
Late 2027: Earliest targeted opening of the Crisis Center.

Season Trajectory

The site's path runs from the Scottish Rite Cathedral opened in 1911 through the Club Broadway era to the 2009 City Council legislation that opened it to medical development. The Central Crisis Care Center now extends that medical-use trajectory on Broadway, with the 2009 council action as its direct precedent.

Residents near Broadway and Capitol Hill will see a crisis care facility open in the area once construction is complete. The county's assessment of the triangular lot could eventually add green space to the neighborhood.

The takeaway

Community input is shaping how a long-vacant Capitol Hill site may be used, from crisis care to possible green space. Residents who want to follow the project can watch for county assessments of the triangular lot.

What happens next

Officials are targeting late 2027 at the earliest for conversion of the former Polyclinic medical building and opening of the Crisis Center, and the county will continue assessing uses for the triangular lot.