For 15 years, Analog Coffee has poured espresso out of a single storefront on Summit Avenue East, and its founders made a point of saying that was by design. Now a newly issued signage permit shows the Capitol Hill institution preparing to open a second location in a former Starbucks space along Westlake Avenue North, right on the shores of Lake Union.
The permit, first spotted by CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News, points to a ground-level, drive-through-capable space adjacent to a 10-story office tower at the AGC Building and Marina on the west side of Lake Union. Analog has not widely announced the expansion, and no opening date has been set, according to the outlet. The new café would mark the first time Analog Coffee has operated outside its original Summit Avenue address since Danny Hanlon and Tim Hayden founded the shop 15 years ago.
That original promise is what makes the move notable. When Hanlon and Hayden were planning their Capitol Hill launch back in 2010, the pair publicly declared that Analog would be the only coffee shop they would ever own, according to reporting from the time by CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News. The two met working at Cupcake Royale in Ballard, with Hayden having managed Herkimer Coffee on Phinney Ridge and Hanlon having run Upper Crust Bakery in Magnolia before the duo opened Analog Coffee on Summit Avenue in June 2011.
A Former Starbucks on Westlake
The space Analog is reportedly moving into has its own layered history. The ground-floor retail unit at 1200 Westlake Avenue North previously held a Starbucks in a drive-through-capable space. That Starbucks closed in mid-2025, leaving the space vacant inside the 10-story AGC Building.
The building sits on the west side of Lake Union, a different setting from Analog's original Summit Avenue location.
It is unclear whether the Lake Union café will carry over the character of the Capitol Hill shop.
What the Westlake Café Might Serve
Whether the Westlake café will offer food alongside coffee is an open question.
Part of a Larger Starbucks Retreat
Analog's expansion lands amid a broader Starbucks turnaround. Starbucks has been reducing its retail footprint both nationwide and within Seattle itself, according to CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News.
Independent operators across the city have increasingly looked to fill gaps left behind. Youth-training roaster Coffee TAB opened in a Central District Starbucks space that had sat vacant since 2022, and a Starbucks near the University of Washington was due to close, with a noodle shop lined up to take over.
CHS Capitol Hill Seattle News first wrote about Analog's first decade on Summit Avenue back in 2021, and the outlet continues to track the shop's next chapter.
