Kent's Hawthorn Suites another shuttered affordable housing for "extended stay" residents

Can’t we just admit that the world is bullshit and just leave it at that? People with power, fame and money got “problems” few us “normal” people can understand, and it is just better to let them play in the mud and make themselves ridiculous. World leaders, political figures and social activists can make buffoons of themselves, but just don’t make their “problem” my problem. If they don’t like what people have to say about them, then they can just bugger off.

Of course that is much easier said than done, but I can give it a try, like I did last July when I spent the whole month just watching movies. Today I wanted to discuss my new 12^th Gen Intel laptop with that f$&ked-up Windows 11 or my favorite “pick-me-up” musical group, The Rascals, but I encountered something yesterday that I want to get out of the way. One of the more interesting items you can find on YouTube are videos of people exploring abandoned buildings or houses, and I just happened to come across one yesterday.

Well, not exactly an “abandoned” building, at least for the time being. I used to spend time at a Wendy’s located just across the street from the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Kent, where people didn’t seem to mind that I spent hours in there with my laptop plugged into an electrical outlet, as long as I bought something. But after the pandemic hit, the dining area was shut down and has been ever since, like most of brand-name fast-food establishments in the area; they must have an “agreement” not to do so, because if one of them decides to do so unilaterally, they will see a significant uptick in business, and that would be “unfair” competition.

Anyways, I hadn’t been in the area in a few years. Yesterday morning it seemed like an actual spring day so I decided to take a little stroll. Actually I don’t take a “stroll” unless there is some purpose to it, and this time I was curious about if there was anything left of the backside of the old Boeing Space Center, which I talked about a week ago. There wasn’t, just some more warehouses and the Amazon facilities. Since it was in the vicinity, I decided to check to see if Wendy’s was open, and of course it wasn’t, but I noticed something else “odd”—there was a fence around the next door Hawthorn Suites:

 

I found this somewhat interesting because although it was billed as an affordable “extended stay” hotel servicing visitors arriving from Sea-Tac Airport, it appeared to me more like an apartment by the “type” of people who occupied it; perhaps it was used for subsidized housing, although I couldn’t find any information confirming that. What I did find were “reviews” like this on the Trip Advisor website, all in the latter half of 2021:

“The worst place I’ve ever been to.”

“Rude, ZERO customer service.”

“A True Dump.”

“Do NOT stay here, unsafe, dirty, rude, not as advertised.”

I suspected that these were out-of-town people who were enticed by views like this for rooms available for the purpose:

 

However, one reviewer did mention “permanent residents,” so the Hawthorn probably was used for “affordable” housing, which was why I found it a little disturbing that it was shuttered. According to the Kent Reporter, it had been abandoned earlier this year after the property had been sold to a developer whose intention was to renovate its 19 buildings and convert them into full-time apartments. The developer happened to be the same one behind two of the “yuppie”-price range apartments I intimated at in the Boeing/homeless encampment post, and I suspected the previous tenants probably wouldn’t be able to afford to come back to this location.

Anyways, I walked past the front of the buildings when around the corner I noticed this:

 

Since the grounds looked to be in disrepair and overgrown with weeds, I decided what the hell, I’ll go onto the property and take a few pictures. First from the outside I admit the buildings looked a little more run-down than they did from a distance…

 

…the sidewalks were damaged from tree roots…

 

…and there was evidence of carpet removal and lack of lawn care:

 

But more interesting was the fact that some of the doors to the units were open:

 

 

I expected to find evidence of squatting, but I didn’t see anything such in the several units I investigated (those tubs were really tiny):

 

To be honest, these units did look fairly small for “extended stay,” more like cheap motel rooms. The ground floor units appeared to be one-bedroom, with tiny kitchenettes and bathrooms. The upstairs units had staircases…

 

…leading to a second bedroom and bathroom, but otherwise had the same cramped “look.” Some of the units appeared to have fireplaces, this one which appeared to have charred wood inside of it, and a framed picture someone forgot to take with them (I can’t figure out why they put up these meaningless pictures anyways):

 

This tour would have been more interesting if the place had been in greater disrepair and personal items and furniture had been left behind, but as can be seen the innards were pretty much stripped bare. At this point I should mention that I had begun hearing what sounded like motion detector alarms, and there apparently was one situated inside the last room I wandered into, so I figured I better skedaddle. The alarms shut off soon after motion was out of range, so their purpose was likely to scare people away than attract the attention of police, but it was better to be safe than sorry.