Walking through the Central District today, with over 40 brick-and-mortar, Black-owned businesses in operation, it’s hard to remember a time when many of those businesses were under threat and others didn’t exist. However, the past decade has been a turning point, where community-led development has turned the once uncertain future of Black business ownership into the emerging renaissance of today.
Ten years ago, 24th and Union was a vacant lot, major road work threatened Black-owned businesses across the 23rd Avenue corridor, and Midtown Center businesses were being displaced to make room for development. This year we recognize the power of transformative impact – uncertainty is being replaced with the systems and structures to support Central District entrepreneurs, starting with three cornerstone Black-owned businesses at Liberty Bank Building (LBB).
For Earl’s Cuts and Styles, the retail space at LBB has meant continuity and 34 years in business after being displaced from its original location across the street at Midtown Center. For Avole, the café and single source coffee roaster found a new home at LBB, moving from Rainier to the Central District after failed lease negotiations. And the community has seen Communion flourish, receiving local, national, and international accolades as Chef Kristi Brown and Damon Bomar’s first restaurant venture, given space at Liberty Bank Building.
While the stories of these successful Black-owned businesses are recent, the powerful history of their location is decades-old. Today’s Liberty Bank Building and the Black businesses that occupy its retail spaces serve as a continuation of the legacy of the original Liberty Bank, the Pacific Northwest’s first Black-owned Bank established in 1966, with a 20-year history of providing accessible loans and mortgages to community homeowners and Black-owned businesses that faced financial discrimination from local institutions. It is a legacy that community members refused to let be erased.
Son of original Liberty Bank co-founder Holbrooke Garrett, Omari Tahir Garrett was the catalyst for nominating for the former Liberty Bank location on 24th and Union for historic landmark status when the property became vacant and was up for sale. In a 6-5 vote, the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board denied the designation, however, the community still saw it as a critical corner to reclaim and rebuild in the rapidly gentrifying Central District.
Pushed by strategic community advocacy and pressure, a partnership was formed with Capitol Hill Housing (now Community Roots Housing), Africatown, Black Community Impact Alliance and Byrd Barr Place to develop Liberty Bank Building, a 100% affordable housing development with affordable retail spaces. During this time, Africatown Community Land Trust was formed and during ACLT’s first project development, Black businesses were involved at every stage. This including the hiring of Black contractors during construction and commissioning work from Black artists to integrate into the building’s external façade and internal design in addition to providing retail space for Black businesses.
Since its opening in 2019, Liberty Bank Building has provided proof positive of a successful anti-displacement model for equitable community-led development that honors the Central District’s Black history by ensuring that its Black-owned businesses are included and supported as the community moves into the future.
Africatown’s subsequent memorandum of understanding in partnership with Forterra NW and honored by Lake Union Partners for development of Midtown Square provided a detailed outline for participation of Black-owned consultants, contractors, and workers through the design and construction process along with prioritizing long-term affordability in the design and planning of retail spaces to support Black business tenants.
The impact of this intentionality is reflected in the presence of Black businesses and vibrant cultural legacy distinguishing the projects that Africatown has engaged in from others on the same block . Of the developments in the 23rd and Union Street corridor led by traditional commercial developers, only 1 out of 9 new retail spaces is leased to a Black owned business. In contrast, all three of Liberty Bank Buildings retail spaces and 6 out of 8 retail spaces at Midtown Square are occupied by Black businesses. At the Africatown Plaza building on the same block, innovative development strategy broke historic barriers that excluded Black contractors from large construction jobs, paving the way for Black-owned MAD Construction to be a General Contractor on this project through a joint venture with Absher Construction, and for over half of the projects subcontracts to be awarded to Black-owned businesses.
As the success of Africatown’s community-led development continues to reverberate throughout the Central District as a both a precedent and a model for recent projects on Jackson and Cherry Streets, we remain steadfast in our mission to serving small Black-owned businesses vulnerable to commercial displacement and lacking access to capital. Our vision of a Black and thriving Central District, requires a thriving Black business ecosystem as the economic backbone of the community.
In the next ten years, we look forward to celebrating the new Black businesses that this mission brings to life the Central District.
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