October 31, 2024
Huge potential for revitalizing SoDo and the Stadium District
Seattle’s new waterfront offers an important opportunity to reimagine neighborhoods near stadiums, but will the city ultimately step up?
Written by Scott Surdyke
special to the journal
Surdyke
Seattle now joins many cities across the country that are making significant efforts to revitalize their downtown waterfronts. The impressive new Overlook Walk and Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion are part of an $806 million investment in new public spaces and cultural facilities along the waterfront in downtown Seattle.
With millions of new visitors expected, this decades-long project has the potential to bring real change to downtown Seattle at a time when it really needs it. However, despite the enormous economic potential, restrictive zoning that favors traditional industrial uses and prohibits residential land is still in place, leaving some areas around downtown in the future. It can remain dilapidated and underutilized for years.
If city leaders want to leverage the new waterfront park as a catalyst to revitalize downtown, they could not only provide more housing options and new space for entertainment-oriented retail, arts, and cultural facilities. , we should consider adopting more inclusive zoning that fosters new jobs. .
Tacoma: Leading the City’s Waterfront Transformation
Over the past two decades, cities in the Pacific Northwest have made great strides in redeveloping their central waterfronts. Cities like Tacoma, Bremerton, Bellingham, Vancouver, and Everett are cleaning up, master planning, and ultimately transforming once blighted, contaminated, and underutilized industrial sites into vibrant new neighborhoods. We’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars.
For the most part, industrial uses that rely on water and rail have been preserved and prioritized. But in addition, a broader and more comprehensive mix of uses is being introduced to improve public access, foster economic development, increase housing options and provide new jobs that will also encourage tourism.
The most impressive and complete example is Tacoma’s Foss Channel. The City of Tacoma partnered with the Port of Tacoma to transform an underutilized surplus rail yard into a thriving new district that puts public access, culture, and recreation at the forefront. The Museum of Glass is a cultural hub connecting the Museum District, which includes the Washington State Museum of History and the Tacoma Art Museum, to the University of California, Tacoma campus.
Additionally, hundreds of new housing units have opened, as have new businesses and business incubators. During the 20-year transformation of this once blighted region, the Port of Tacoma has maintained and increased its investment and commitment to Tacoma’s maritime industry. The once highly polluted Foss waterway is now a national model for environmental management and sustainability, and the strong partnership between city and port is fostering collaborative success and creating a new gateway for the city. We provide.
Sodor and the Stadium District
Ironically, back in Seattle, the downtown area that would benefit most from the new waterfront is also the area that currently has the most stringent zoning. The area near the stadium just south of Pioneer Square on SoDo’s north end is a kind of no-man’s land on non-game days. Despite $1 billion worth of stadium investments (T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field), Seattle’s so-called Stadium District has been in decline for decades. New development is poor, with the exception of the Silver Cloud Hotel and two mid-rise office buildings. Still, while Seattle’s Stadium District is located in a relatively quiet and undeveloped location, most other U.S. cities are developing new mixed-use districts, leveraging sports and entertainment retail. It takes advantage of the huge economic impact of the stadium.
Vibrant and welcoming, these new stadium districts showcase just how fun downtown can be, with entertainment venues, small businesses, restaurants, hotels, and even multiple housing options. Cities like Oakland, Denver, Milwaukee, San Diego, Anaheim, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Kansas City have all experienced major changes within their stadium districts.
“With the completion of the new waterfront, I believe there is a tremendous opportunity to further revitalize downtown Seattle with a vibrant new stadium district,” said economist Matthew Gardner. “However, rest assured that without a unified vision and leadership, current zoning provides very limited opportunities and is likely to result in minimal economic development.”
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Seattle
For urban economists, planners, and enthusiasts, Seattle’s stadium neighborhoods offer great opportunities for economic growth, new jobs, and downtown revitalization. The stadium itself attracts millions of visitors each year and generates significant pedestrian traffic. Additionally, a new pedestrian railway that serves as Waterfront Park’s southern terminus provides the area with easy access to the Seattle Ferry Terminal, LINK light rail, and multiple bus lines.
Despite this great potential, the city has maintained an “urban-industrial” zoning that prohibits housing of any kind and instead encourages industrial, office, retail, and hotel uses. The housing project was proposed and supported by most of the area’s property owners, but was ultimately eliminated by the City Council two years ago.
No new projects have been proposed in the area since then. Instead, the property owners are planning a mixed-use project that includes housing, which they believe will help transform this underutilized area into a more complete, safe, and vibrant neighborhood.
“The reimagining of the stadium precinct to include a moderate mix of residential and light industrial space will complement and facilitate the development of commercial and hotel space near the two stadiums and help improve public safety in the area,” said Joshua Curtis. I believe that,” he said. Executive Director of Washington State Baseball Stadium Public Facilities District. “The addition of residents and workers to this area will boost economic activity for struggling businesses in the Chinatown International District and Pioneer Square.”
In addition to thousands of square feet of new light industrial “maker space,” entertainment-oriented retail, and a hotel, property owners near the stadium are proposing more than 900 units of workforce and market-rate housing. All of these plans point to tremendous momentum, but there’s still one big problem. That means housing is currently not permitted.
Considering that nearly every other stadium district in the country is thriving with all of the above uses, and considering that downtown Seattle is in trouble and facing a severe housing shortage, With that in mind, shouldn’t the city consider a compromise that allows for more uses? Comprehensive combination of uses?
Fueled by Mayor Harrell’s Downtown Revitalization Plan, city leaders and planners are thinking outside the box to revitalize downtown. One sign of progress is the WOSCA site, a 5-acre parcel just west of Lumen Field, which is going through a city-sponsored RFP process. Development of this site could serve as a catalyst to incorporate Seattle’s maritime and industrial heritage while also including a more appropriate mix of uses that reflect the site’s proximity to the stadium.
To its credit, Seattle has done more to protect its maritime industry than most cities. While there is no question that water-dependent uses need proximity to the shoreline, other industrial uses such as warehousing and distribution centers do not require prime locations near the downtown core.
Cities are organic in nature and change is inevitable. The fact that Seattle’s Stadium District has declined over the past two decades while Kent Valley and other more affordable industrial suburbs have flourished suggests that the best way to promote a healthy and vibrant downtown is It asks us to stop and consider what it is.
With the new waterfront park nearing completion, the mixed-use stadium district, which will include housing, offers a unique opportunity to integrate Seattle’s thriving maritime industry with the rest of downtown.
Preserving Seattle’s industrial heritage while celebrating sports and entertainment, the new district will result in a safe and prosperous destination, creating hundreds of new jobs, multiple opportunities for small businesses, and a highly coveted location for all income levels. There is a possibility of creating new housing. This could be a win-win situation for downtown Seattle, with the undeveloped stadium district finally being allowed to thrive.
Scott Surdyke is a development manager and land use consultant specializing in transit-oriented and mixed-use developments.
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