The city of Seattle and Pike Place Market are planning a new building and walkway that will snake down to the waterfront. They’re hoping to begin construction as soon as next summer and have it done before the viaduct comes down.
Right now, if you’re down at the Ferris wheel and you want to get up to Pike Place Market, you have to find the elevator or go up a long set of stairs. It’s confusing.
Now the city and Pike Place Market hope to build a promenade that zigzags up from waterfront level to a new building at the market along Western Avenue.
"This is the thing probably more than anything that’s really going to connect the city in this part of town," Seattle Planning Director Marshall Foster said. "To be able to walk from the market straight down to the aquarium, or to be able to walk up from the waterfront to go have dinner or go buy your produce in the market—we think is going to be really transformational."
The new building will be at the site of the old Municipal Market Building that burned down in 1974. There’s a small parking lot there now, just to the south of Victor Steinbrueck Park.
The new building will house shops, stalls for vendors, some low-income housing units, and about 300 parking spots. Foster says the market will fundraise for the project, and the city council will vote next year on whether to create a local improvement district to help pay for it.
This is all part of a huge makeover along the city’s waterfront that includes the new deep-bore tunnel and a new seawall.
A Seattle City Council committee will get a briefing on the project Monday afternoon.
