I’ve noticed recently more people safely walking the streets of downtown and Belltown than I’ve seen since before the pandemic. People are talking, smiling and interacting helpfully with tourists. Forget the Seattle Freeze.
South Lake Union is crowded with people, and few storefronts are empty. Mello Fellos bicycle shop is now open seven days a week. Among the crowds were dog walkers, people riding scooters, which I never had the agility to ride, and the persistent homeless.
Seven Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in or near downtown Seattle.
As I write on Wednesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell is joining the city’s Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects and community leaders to celebrate completion of pedestrian and bicycle improvements on Pike and Pine Streets.
Deputy Seattle Mayor Tim Burgess told me “the enhancements, designed in coordination with the Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Department of Transportation, strengthen east-west connections between Seattle’s new iconic Waterfront Park, the downtown retail core and surrounding neighborhoods.”
Beginning in February 2023, construction started on improving 23 blocks in the corridor between Capitol Hill and Pike Place Market.
Improvements include more than a mile of new or better-protected bike lanes, push-button crosswalk signals, curb ramps and crosswalks with contrasting colors, new seating and more than 1,400 plants. Artwork by Derek Bruno and Gage Hamilton is also offered on railings and planters.
Part of this renewal is because of tourist season — including the ongoing controversy of being a major cruise ship port of call — and more people working in the office five days a week at Amazon and other companies. The apartment and condo buildings near me are close to full of residents.
According to the DSA, a trade group that represents corporations, nonprofits and residents, about 108,000 people live in the central core.
As of March, the association reports, downtown averaged nearly 101,000 daily workers — the highest since the same month in 2020. This is only 60% of March 2019’s average daily worker foot traffic but a 12% increase over the same month last year.
As of March, more than 2.5 million visitors came downtown, 92% of the visitors seen in March 2019.
The DSA’s James Sido told me that the central core “has made significant progress in a number of areas critical to revitalization: record residential population, more locals coming to downtown, more retail openings than closings and even with a decrease in Canadian visitors we’re entering what should still be a busy summer tourist season.”
Local visitors — people who live within 10 miles of downtown — are returning at a rate higher than prepandemic levels.
New spaces opened, offering significant draws in bringing people downtown, notably the Overlook Walk and additional components of Waterfront Park, the Ocean Pavilion and a new plaza at one of the most iconic intersections in Seattle at First and Pike.
On blighted Third Avenue, the city and DSA have increased lighting and art with more installations on the way — including the stretch from Pine to Pike.
Seattle is one year away from welcoming around 750,000 people from across the planet to downtown for the FIFA World Cup at Lumen Field. The economic benefit is expected to total a minimum of $929 million.
Still, as my colleague Greg Kim reported in December, while Harrell’s Downtown Activation plan has reduced crime and homelessness, among other urban ills, some of them have migrated elsewhere.
Sido said, “The Downtown Activation Teams have made progress in some central core neighborhoods but we need to ensure the resources are available for that effort to meet the scale of the problem, including treatment and housing.”
Burgess told me that the large crowds for the World Cup would add to “the test run for the Pike Place Market limited street use pilot, which began last month and is going very well.”
A new partnership between the city and the nonprofit Market Preservation and Development Authority is limiting vehicle entry, helping to link the waterfront and Market.
Because of the new federal administration’s destruction, Seattle is expecting fewer international visitors this year, especially from Canada, Burgess said. “This means that it is great time for local/regional visitors to come, and there are plenty of watch parties/events around the city including at Westlake Park, Occidental Park, and Seattle Center.”
The city is proposing interactive digital kiosks downtown in time for the World Cup. These kiosks are used in many other cities to provide information like transit routes and emergency alerts, promote local events, and advertise small businesses and business districts. They will be accessible and multilingual and help visitors exploring Seattle for the first time or locals looking for something new around the corner.
Many businesses have opened recently, including hotels and restaurants like the Populus Hotel in Pioneer Square and 1 Hotel Seattle in South Lake Union. Both hotels have a focus on sustainability and Populus features a new rooftop bar. Molly Moon’s opened a waterfront location at the historical boat landing pergola; Tom Douglas rebooted his Pike Place Market location; and one other highly anticipated opening is Reuben’s Brews’ new location on the Harbor Steps.
The city has also taken steps to expand downtown beyond new small businesses, hospitality and food. Harrell recently signed legislation to expand ground-floor commercial uses for businesses to help fill vacant stores by expanding the pool of eligible tenants, and launched the AI House at Pier 70, creating the nation’s first AI Town Hall to attract more AI companies and jobs to Seattle.
According to a report by Ipsos, a global market research firm in Seattle, we ranked No. 9 among the nation’s best cities; first was New York City. Ipsos used a variety of metrics, including nightlife, restaurants, professional sports teams, shopping, walkability, transit scores, biking, cost of living, rent prices, museums and other cultural attractions.
Much of this is because of an improving downtown. I live on the edge of Belltown and downtown and thanks to abundant transit, including light rail, haven’t been car-burdened for 16 years.
The 2024 Ipsos report states, “You won’t find Seattle among the panicky headlines chronicling the decline of U.S. West Coast metropolises.”
“But it also boasts a growing population fueled by talent seeking … greener pastures and pulled by the influential titans of industry in town, from Amazon to Starbucks to Zillow. …. Heat waves (and, for some, politics) in the American South will only accelerate immigration.”
It adds that Seattle boasts the 11th-most-educated population in America.
As the Times’ Paul Roberts has written, Seattle, like most American cities, continues to struggle with office vacancies, as seen in the troubles of developer Martin Selig.
About six developers and building owners citywide seem to be exploring a possible conversion with some degree of seriousness but progress will be difficult. Older office buildings aren’t easily changed to apartments. The “hopeful estimate,” Burgess said, is planning documents for six to 12 total conversions within seven years. Yet only two developments are queuing up to submit permits.
Legislation is before the City Council that would provide relief from the sales tax on the construction of a conversion development.
The new Waterfront Park will fully open in early summer. Much of it is open already. The view from the new Overlook Walk is stunning. The decision to remove the viaduct and build the tunnel is affirmed every time I look down the waterfront.
The city removed 1,000 graffiti tags from Waterfront Park in 2024. Zero encampments were present in the park last year.
Construction will begin this month on the waterfront extension project in the area north of the aquarium through Sculpture Park, Myrtle Edwards Park and Centennial Park adjacent to Expedia headquarters.
Local coffee shops are replacing central city locations abandoned by Starbucks. Yet the former location outside Westlake Center still remains an empty shell. Still, from sports and cultural attractions to the flagship Nordstrom, downtown Seattle remains one of America’s best central cores.
It’s axiomatic that downtown is never done — something I’ve covered at newspapers from San Diego to Phoenix, Denver, Cincinnati and Charlotte, N.C.
Overall reported crime here was down 3.2% in 2024 compared with the previous year, a dramatic decline compared with 2019. But the perception of crime is more important to how people feel.
Downtown Seattle, critical to the city’s employment and tax base, remains in a fragile state, yet has proved resilient.
