Template revised April 12, 2018.
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
Item No.
11a
BRIEFING ITEM
Date of Meeting
June 25, 2024
DATE: June 17, 2024
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
FROM: Pearse Edwards, Sr. Director, External Relations
Rosie Courtney, Sr. Manager, External Relations
SUBJECT: Seattle Waterfront Update on Projects and Partnerships
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Today’s briefing provides an update on several downtown waterfront projects that will transform
Seattle’s central shoreline. Partner organizations will share final milestones to implement a
community vision to reconnect the waterfront to downtown. The decades-long effort made
possible with the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct includes the park promenade along the
water with a new roadway, east-west connections and dramatic new public spaces including the
new Overlook Walk. The Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion and the privately funded Elliott
Bay Connections project contribute to the new waterfront experience with a focus on our ocean,
and Puget Sound vistas, pedestrian and bicycle greenways and enhancements to Centennial and
Myrtle Edwards parks at the north end of the waterfront.
In addition to those investments along the Seattle waterfront, Seattle Department of
Transportation (SDOT) is working with the waterfront business community, including the Port of
Seattle, and bike enthusiasts to construct a protected bike lane along Alaskan Way from Broad
Street to the Seattle Aquarium. There the protected bike lane will merge with an existing bike
lane along Elliott Way. The project begins construction later this year. We intend to invite SDOT
staff to brief the Commission on this project and the transportation levy in September.
BACKGROUND
The Port has invested in Seattle’s central waterfront for decades. In the late 1990s, as part of its
economic development strategy and mission to foster maritime uses, the Port’s waterfront plan
included moving its headquarters from its original address at Pier 66 to a recycled cannery at Pier
69 in 1994. Pier 66 then became the focus of an 11-acre mixed-use development that spanned
the waterside and uplands. The waterside complex opened in 1996 with a recreational marina,
international conference center, museum, restaurants, cruise terminal, public plaza and rooftop
viewpoint. The development was named Bell Street Pier in tribute to the Port’s first wharf. The
Port-developed uplands included office and retail space with the World Trade Center Seattle as
its anchor and two parking garages. To spur private development in the corridor, the Port offered
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 11a Page 2 of 3
Meeting Date: June 25, 2024
Template revised September 22, 2016.
additional uplands parcels which resulted in the Waterfront Landings residential units and the
Seattle Waterfront Marriott Hotel.
The Port’s leadership to create a thriving waterfront continued as the community rallied to
remove the Alaskan Way Viaduct and create a world-class shoreline connected to the Port’s
development at the north end. In August 2013, the Port and the Washington State Department
of Transportation (WSDOT) entered into an agreement for a Port contribution of $281 million to
the Viaduct Replacement Program to achieve the best balance of retaining and creating jobs,
sustaining regional economic vitality, and benefiting the environment. Other direct funding to
the waterfront redevelopment included a $755k contribution as part of the Local Improvement
District levy for the new park in 2022. Additional Port investments in the central waterfront
include:
$281 million
Viaduct Replacement Program (2013)
$755k
Local Improvement District levy for waterfront park (2022).
$100k annually
Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) administered by the Downtown
Seattle Association for since 2002.
$5 million
Seattle Aquarium Ocean Pavilion with Port exhibit (2022)
$270k
Flaggers at the City’s delayed Pine Street Connector to support Pier 66 cruise
operations for 8 weeks (2024)
In addition, the Port continues to negotiate a partnership agreement with the City of Seattle’s
Office of the Waterfront and Friends of the Waterfront. We hope to conclude that agreement in
the coming weeks.
In August 2023 a private donation of $45 million driven by Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie
Scott established the Elliott Bay Connections project to connect, restore and revitalize public
parks along the Elliott Bay waterfront from Pier 62 (just north of the Seattle Aquarium) to The
Beach at Expedia Group.
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING
(1) Presentation slides –Office of the Waterfront and Civic Project – City of Seattle, Friends
of Waterfront Seattle, Seattle Aquarium, and Elliott Bay Connections
COMMISSION AGENDA – Briefing Item No. 11a Page 3 of 3
Meeting Date: June 25, 2024
Template revised September 22, 2016.
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS
July 25, 2023 – The Commission was briefed Joy Shigaki, Executive Director, Friends of
Waterfront Seattle and Angela Brady, Director, Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects
– City of Seattle on status of the Seattle’s downtown waterfront park and the City’s
Waterfront program.
