Third Murder in Less than Six Months at Hotel of Death

The death of a 49-year-old-woman Tuesday at the Frye Hotel marks the third murder at 223 Yesler Way in less than six months. Initially regarded as "the finest hotel in Seattle," the Frye has ironically degenerated into a portrait of violence and despair.

The Frye, converted into low-income housing in the 1970s, accounts for a disproportionately high percentage of Seattle’s recent homicides. Compared to the 29 reported murders in 2006, the Frye alone accounts for nearly 20 percent of the city’s homicides over the past half year, and stands as a macabre figure of death and failed public housing on the fringe of one of Seattle’s most popular tourist neighborhoods.

Coupled with the notorious, open-air drug park across the street, the shadiness of this corner of Pioneer Square is growing exponentially. Hopefully it won’t take another rash of murders to call attention to the plight of this once proud building.

Photograph courtesy of SlightlyNorth from the Seattlest Flickr Pool