CoStar
Arts collective Common Area Maintenance acquired the property in a gift transfer from Sound, a behavioral health provider that operated the building as a treatment facility before being forced to move out in 2020 due to long-running maintenance concerns.
Common Area Maintenance, also known as CAM worked out a deal to take over the 1909-built brick building in what the group's Executive Director Timothy Firth called "one of the most unconventional real estate transactions in Seattle in recent memory."
Seattle Times
“When Seattle artists Timothy Firth, Amy Hirayama and Aramis Hamer found out early this year that the wrecking ball was coming to the historic El Rey, they felt it was a call to action.
The red brick, early 20th century building had been vacant and boarded up for more than four years. It stands next to Common AREA, a community art space in Belltown co-founded by Firth in 2015, now part of an arts organization called Common AREA Maintenance.”
KUOW: Seattle Now
A non-profit arts organization is celebrating the best Seattle real estate deal in years. purchased an abandoned Belltown building – the El Rey for 20 bucks. The plan is to into a gallery and event space, and provide affordable housing for artists. We talk about the project with CAM's executive director Timothy Firth.
The Stranger
The Urbanist
