Seattle City Officials Say Downtown Activation Plan Nearly Complete One Year Later

by Nimra Ahmad

A little over a year since the launch of Seattle's Downtown Activation Plan (DAP), 93% of 46 initiatives are completed or in progress according to Markham McIntyre, director of Seattle's Office of Economic Development.

DAP has seven overarching focuses, which are safety; affordability; retail spaces; work and office spaces; arts, sports, and entertainment; tourism; and health and sustainability.

A few highlights of the project include increasing police arrests, creating affordable housing, rebuilding Seattle's waterfront, building a new Memorial Stadium, and making Pier 48 an open green space, among several other items.

"Fundamentally, our entire plan runs on the thesis that downtown runs on people," McIntyre said.

Within the DAP Zone, which covers Belltown, the Chinatown-International District (CID), the center of downtown, Denny Triangle, Pioneer Square, and the Stadium District, violent crime is down slightly by 1.4% and property crime is down by 28%. Arrests have increased by about 17%. Additionally, drug overdoses are down 18% this year with plans for a new post-overdose treatment center to open in 2025.

"That's good, because for several years, the trend line was going up and going up very, very steeply, very radically, and we've seen that begin to get down," said deputy mayor Tim Burgess.

In addition to increasing public safety, the plan has also focused on activating vacant spaces and storefronts. The former Bergman Luggage on Third Avenue is now a second location of the Belltown art gallery Base Camp Studios, and the former KCTS 9 building at Seattle Center is now the M5 Creative Building, offering short-term affordable spaces for creative organizations. The Seattle Restored program, which fills empty storefronts with pop-ups by local businesses and artists, is growing and was provided an investment of $200,000 from JP Morgan Chase.

Beautifying downtown was another focus, particularly through illuminating the city with street lighting and removing graffiti. In the CID, there's now cleaning seven days a week, and a partnership with Uplift Northwest to remove graffiti, McIntyre said. Permanent lighting was installed at Hing Hay Park in the form of canopy lights and lanterns.

"Our office is in conversation with the mayor's office, many community members, councilmembers, as well as the CID [Business Improvement Area] about rethinking that organization and making sure that it (the BIA) has the resources that it needs to be an effective partner and leader in that space," McIntyre said.

The Waterfront Seattle project, which is focused on rebuilding the waterfront, will be completed in the spring of 2025 after 15 years of construction. Some of the final pieces are completion of the Overlook Walk pedestrian bridge and elevated park as well as the Park Promenade.

Longer-term infrastructure projects include rebuilding Memorial Stadium, upgrading the Monorail, making pedestrian and bike improvements at the Pike/Pine corridor connecting Capitol Hill, Pike Place Market, and the waterfront, investing and improving Third Avenue and developing south downtown.

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