Capitol Hill Parking Scene (Seattle, Bellevue: fit in, apartment, to rent)

[BiCoastal0514]

Am relocating to Seattle soon, is it advisable to rent a parking spot or go with the RPZ street parking?

[mkarch]

It depends entirely on where you live on the hill. On the West side, you may as well rent a spot. Further East of Broadway the parking isn't as tight.

[kdpetersen]

I agree that it depends on where you are. If you're close to Volunteer Park or east of 15th, parking seems fairly easy. If you're in the Pike/Pine area or closer to Broadway, you'll probably want to rent a spot.

[GatsbyGatz]

I live on the west side of Cap Hill at the corner of Summit and Thomas, a couple blocks west of Broadway. I highly advise you to rent a parking spot. Rarely will you ever find much available parking on the street. At least for the western side of Cap Hill where I live in, I don't even bother trying. It's impossible most days. I rent a parking spot in a garage two blocks away from my apartment.

You can find parking spot adds online. The general price for most spots here is $150 / month.

[es_em]

Like everyone above me said, depends on where you live. I'm west of Broadway, where parking is a nightmare. I somehow managed to get *two* parking spots when I purchased my place. And, I swear, if I didn't have that 2nd spot I don't think any friends from outside the neighborhood would ever visit me ;-)

Watch out for proximity to SU and the hospitals too. I used to live up on 17th/Union area, and parking was nearly as bad as it is down here.

[Kayela]

Yep - I also live west of Broadway. I have no desire to spend my life circling the neighborhood in ever-widening circles, only to be walking 8 blocks home (after finally having wedged my car into the smallest spot ever) and have someone leave a spot right in front of my place. It is so worth it to have a spot that you can just pull straight into and be done.

There is also the additional fact that cars parked on the street in Cap Hill tend to show it after a bit - scratches, broken mirrors, scraped up bumpers, and then periodically you'll have the morning of broken glass where every car on a block will have a puddle of broken glass under the driver's door. Sadly break-ins are not uncommon. Since car alarms are usually the result of bad parking, and the owner is likely 1/2 mile away - no one pays them any heed.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by Kayela

There is also the additional fact that cars parked on the street in Cap Hill tend to show it after a bit - scratches, broken mirrors, scraped up bumpers, and then periodically you'll have the morning of broken glass where every car on a block will have a puddle of broken glass under the driver's door. Sadly break-ins are not uncommon. Since car alarms are usually the result of bad parking, and the owner is likely 1/2 mile away - no one pays them any heed.

I'll attest to this. If you care about your car not having dents or scratches, I would recommend that you not park on the west side of Cap Hill. It's not uncommon to see cars stacked upon each other just to fit into tiny spaces.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

I'll attest to this. If you care about your car not having dents or scratches, I would recommend that you not park on the west side of Cap Hill. It's not uncommon to see cars stacked upon each other just to fit into tiny spaces.

Here's a great example - this was in front my BIL's building on Bellevue Ave when we helped him move:

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

I live on the west side of Cap Hill at the corner of Summit and Thomas, a couple blocks west of Broadway. I highly advise you to rent a parking spot. Rarely will you ever find much available parking on the street. At least for the western side of Cap Hill where I live in, I don't even bother trying. It's impossible most days. I rent a parking spot in a garage two blocks away from my apartment.

You can find parking spot adds online. The general price for most spots here is $150 / month.

We live just a couple blocks from you. (howdy neighbor!) I will echo what others have said in that northeast Capitol Hill is manageable but northwest is bad. I wouldn't call it "impossible"- we've dealt with street parking for a year now, but I will say it's... tight.

Evenings are the worst. If you can arrange it so that you only park/re-park in the area during the mornings or afternoons, that's best. (We don't use our car to commute so this is possible) But after, say 7:30, it's rough.

As mentioned, it's nice to have a spot, but they often seem to be upwards of 100.

[SitoUK]

I lived three years at Belmont Ave and Olive Way Parking is a nightmare in that area. In the evenings you always see cars circulating there, looking for a spot. If you live int hat area you have to either rent a spot or do the same as I did and live carless and make yourself a member of the car sharing schemes like Zipcar or Car2Go.