A new rooftop restaurant with room for 225 guests and sightlines stretching to the Space Needle, Lake Union, and Puget Sound opened Tuesday, September 15, 2026, atop the Level hotel in South Lake Union. Solette Rooftop occupies 6,500 square feet on the hotel's 13th floor, and it arrives as Seattle's hospitality industry works through what one executive called an uneven recovery from the pandemic.
The opening marks the second location for Solette, following its original restaurant in Chicago, according to KIRO 7 News. The Level hotel itself is a 272-suite luxury apartment-style property built and operated by Vancouver-based developer Onni Group, with three swimming pools and spa facilities rounding out the amenity mix. Solette serves as the hospitality dining arm of Onni's Level property brand, and the Chicago original operates in that city's Financial District.
Phia McDonnel said Seattle was a natural fit for the company's expansion plans, according to the same report. McDonnel added that Solette is designed to serve residents, visitors, and the tech workers who still populate the surrounding neighborhood — a mix the restaurant is leaning on rather than a strict corporate lunch crowd. The menu spans steak, sushi, pasta, burgers, and salads, and the rooftop plans to host DJs on Friday and Saturday nights along with a recurring Wine Wednesdays series. Wellness programming is also planned near the pool and pool bar, with the space open to both hotel guests and the general public.
Filling a Gap Left by mbar's Closure
Solette's arrival fills a rooftop dining vacancy that opened when mbar, South Lake Union's previous premier rooftop venue at 400 Fairview Ave. N., closed permanently on November 1, 2025, after nine years under the Mama Restaurant Group, according to Secret Seattle. The KIRO 7 report notes mbar's closure came in fall 2025, leaving the neighborhood without a signature high-altitude dining spot until now.
Downtown Seattle Association reported that 63 new street-level businesses opened downtown in 2025, with restaurants accounting for nearly half of those openings. Jon Scholes said some businesses have seen revenue rebound even as profitability remains a challenge, and he said investors and business owners are seeking confidence and stability before they commit to new investments. Scholes also said Seattle has assets that other places do not have, per the KIRO 7 account.
An Office Market Still Under Pressure
The rooftop's debut lands against a backdrop of steep commercial office distress. Seattle's downtown office vacancy reached 35.6% by the end of 2025 and climbed to 36.5% by mid-2026, the highest downtown office vacancy rate among major U.S. metro cores, according to FOX 13. Amazon has been part of that contraction, planning to let its lease lapse at an 87,000-square-foot South Lake Union building after cutting nearly 595,000 square feet of Seattle office space between 2024 and early 2026, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of the vacancy spike.
Not every tech giant is retreating, however. Apple moved to expand its South Lake Union footprint in May 2026, entering negotiations to lease space at Arbor Blocks East adjacent to its existing 193,000-square-foot lease at Arbor Blocks West, a deal Hoodline covered as Apple's second Arbor Blocks commitment. Regionally, the Seattle Central Business District recorded 83,000 square feet of positive net office absorption in the second quarter of 2026, while Bellevue's Eastside market posted 323,000 square feet of absorption and a lower 23.6% vacancy rate, according to CBRE.
Residents and Visitors Fill the Gap
Downtown Seattle's residential base has grown substantially even as office towers empty out. The neighborhood's population reached 109,845 by early 2026, a 53% increase over the past decade, with more than 1,600 multifamily units delivered in 2025 alone, per the Downtown Seattle Association. Those residential gains are part of the backdrop for downtown's recovery.
Public safety is also part of the downtown picture. Downtown hotel occupancy is generally back to pre-pandemic levels, though hotel costs run 30 to 40% higher than before the pandemic, according to the KIRO 7 report.
Solette's operators are betting on that shifting foot traffic. Phia McDonnel said the rooftop aims to serve people celebrating birthdays alongside those simply relaxing after work, and the company believes Seattle remains a strong market for hospitality and entertainment. Seattle business leaders continue to track whether new investments, returning workers, and increased tourism can sustain downtown's recovery, and the KIRO 7 report frames Solette's opening as another vote of confidence in the city's urban core.
