East Madison storefront could get apartments on top

Editor's Note: This article has been updated to include new information regarding the site and a tenant relocation.

Once the Losh family finishes repairing the old Gillespie building on East Madison Street, city records show the next step could be constructing apartments on top.

The mostly vacant building was constructed in 1926, and was purchased by Constance Gillespie’s family in 1937.

Under her ownership the building fell into disrepair, resulting in several code violations in 2014, including a decaying roof, which was discovered two years later to have partially collapsed.

The Losh family, which owns the neighboring Ewing & Clark real estate office, purchased the building from Gillespie for $1.38 million, after it had sat on the market for some time with a $3 million listing price. The transaction was carried out through a JBL Constance Court LLC — the JBL standing for John Brian Losh, Ewing & Clark’s founder.

Losh said he’s keeping a promise to Gillespie to restore the building, which he’s calling Constance Court, “to its former glory.”

“Our goal is to just preserve the building in its traditional form,” he said.

That includes fixing the roof and sidewalk out front, which puddles with water frequently when it rains.

“Things are taking a lot longer than we were hoping, so we’re kind of frustrated it’s taken this long,” said Casey Losh.

Casey Losh said they’re waiting to get the final approvals needed to finish the renovations, which his father thinks could be done by the end of the year.

If apartments do go up, it would be two 800-square-foot units on two added floors over a new section of the building at 4114-4118 East Madison.

“Everything takes time,” Casey Losh said. “Personally, I’m not that excited about it, putting two more units on it; I don’t think it’s worth the time.”

DHD Architects submitted a building and land use pre-application for the property with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections in mid-July.

Signs recently came up on the building announcing that a bookstore has leased the east side of the building.

“We’ve talked to a ton of people, but nothing’s really finalized other than that bookstore,” Casey Losh said.

The Loshes are still waiting for the owner of Spa Jolie to sign a new lease for her space at Constance Court.

“They’re pretty excited about their lease,” Brian Losh said.

He said as the timing for completion is still up in the air, they haven’t been too worried about leasing out the whole building.

There is an 825-square-foot space in the back that could be a restaurant, but Brian Losh said he’s not sure if that will be big enough.

“We’re just trying to restore a new car, piece by piece,” he said.