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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Century 21 Settles on a Plan for Seattle Center

posted by on February 28 at 9:00 AM

The City finally has a plan for the Seattle Center. Wednesday afternoon, the Century 21 Committee—tasked with revamping the aging Center—selected a plan for a redesign of the 74-acre campus.

Century 21 documents published in January indicate the selected plan—which is still being fine tuned—will connect the Center with a more linear east-west path through the campus. The Center will also increase green space by demolishing the Fun Forest—replacing it with a water feature and “active open space”—and redeveloping the hideous Mural Amphitheater site.

The plan also mentions a possible acquisition of Memorial Stadium, which is owned by the Seattle School District. Century 21’s plan calls for Memorial Stadium to be demolished and replaced with 1300 underground parking spaces, topped with green space, a new 5,000 seat sports field and an amphitheater.

The Center House and Mercer Arena would both be revamped—the latter at the hands of the Seattle Opera—and Century 21 wants to redesign the Broad Street Green, to create a central entryway to the Center. The Northwest Rooms could be also replaced with a 5 story building, which would include ground floor retail space.

The future of Key Arena has been a big x-factor in the Seattle Center redesign, but Center spokeswoman Deborah Daoust says the City plans to refurbish and preserve the facility even if when the Sonics leave town.

“[The City sees] key arena as a multi purpose venue,” Daoust says. “There are revenue implications if the Sonics leave, but [the city thinks] they can make it up with increased concert traffic.” Daoust estimates the city would need to put forward a long-term investment of $20-30 million to improve Key Arena.

There is no indication if Century 21’s approved plan would require yet another reconfiguration of the long-delayed SeaSk8 skatepark replacement.

RSS icon Comments

1

Well, it could have been worse. Vera Project gets fucked (sorry about wasting all that $$, kids), but at least the arts orgs in the Center House get to stay put.

Posted by COMTE | February 28, 2008 9:37 AM
2

"Active open space" and a water feature sound okay to me.

Posted by Katelyn | February 28, 2008 9:42 AM
3

@2
right on.

a plaza and a fountain and benches and maybe a restaurant in the outdoors....all the stuff they got all over Europe NY all those other cities we visit and enjoy the urban-ness of....it's not rocket science.


but this post was a bit strange. there was no price tag. is all this going to be free?

Posted by unPC | February 28, 2008 9:56 AM
4

Every time I'm at Seattle Center, I think, "Oh, what a lovely place. I should come here more often."

Shouldn't we be spending precious dollars and resources on spaces in the city that evoke a far more negative reaction? I mean, even if you don't love it there, can't you still name a few dozen projects around here far, far more deserving of attention?

Posted by JW | February 28, 2008 9:57 AM
5

Parking sounds good to me- it sucks over there. Just saw a show at the Rep last night and half of Seattle was trying to crowd into the same parking lot for everything else happening in the Center too that was all starting at the same time.
Are they going to fix the lights on Denny too?

Posted by defman23 | February 28, 2008 10:03 AM
6

@4: "Every time I'm at Seattle Center, I think, 'Oh, what a lovely place. I should come here more often.'"

But do you go back more often? Probably not, for most of us, because there's nothing there to draw us back. Unless there's an event, the Seattle Center feels like a ghost town.

Posted by cmaceachen | February 28, 2008 10:04 AM
7

Does the price tag include gold real estate agent blazers for everyone?

Posted by Spoogie | February 28, 2008 10:11 AM
8

1400 parking spaces? The roads nearby can't handle 1400 more cars.

Maybe there should be an elevated rail system to get people there.

Posted by Steve | February 28, 2008 10:18 AM
9

The Sonics issue has definitely NOT been decided, and the city has serious momentum right now. Slog might want to pay attention to this story. Whether or not you care about basketball, this is about the city getting fucked with by asshole millionaires. How it turns out will affect how pro sports owners interact with their local governments for years to come. It's a pretty big deal.

http://sonicscentral.com

Posted by elliott | February 28, 2008 10:37 AM
10

@8 - there is, it's called the monorail.

Maybe they could extend it to Fremont or Ballard?

Posted by Will in Seattle | February 28, 2008 11:35 AM
11

Talk about a very expensive solution in search of a problem.

BTW - the Mural Amphitheatre is one of the best places in town - if not the best - to see an outdoor show (even if Pain in the Grass concerts did piss off neighboring residents in Lower Queen Anne).

Renovating the Center House is a good idea, the rest of this overpriced yuppification effort should go straight into the round file.

Posted by Mr. X | February 28, 2008 11:51 AM
12

Still plenty of time to kill this plan.

Posted by NapoleonXIV | February 28, 2008 1:42 PM
13

Memorial Stadium is a gigantic, glaring blemish on what should be Seattle's premier destination. Tear it the hell down.

Posted by Cale | February 28, 2008 2:25 PM
14

"a water feature and 'active open space'" -- Oh, I see. It's going to be bland and boring. Another fountain. Ho-hum. Maybe a place where some hippies can play hackysack.

In other words, they don't have any ideas.

"and redeveloping the hideous Mural Amphitheater site."

Hideous? A great site for a lot of outdoor shows, is what it is. And damned picturesque on a summer day. Redevelop how, exactly? This is a vague, awful plan. We can do much better.

Posted by litlnemo | February 29, 2008 6:26 AM
15

I am baffled by a Committee that says they want entertainment for all ages but refuse to consider a re-imagined Fun Forest. Another fountain? A play area? Where is the entertainment for teens? The skateboard park? That's and important part of the mix but affects a relatively small number of people. The city is missing a huge opportunity.

Posted by John | February 29, 2008 8:23 AM
16

I am baffled by a Committee that says they want entertainment for all ages but refuse to consider a re-imagined Fun Forest. Another fountain? A play area? Where is the entertainment for teens? The skateboard park? That's and important part of the mix but affects a relatively small number of people. The city is missing a huge opportunity.

Posted by John | February 29, 2008 8:23 AM
17

seriously, and I am not kidding, they should talk to Disney about this.

I doubt Disney would come back with just "parking spaces, some new theaters, more green space and a water feature."

no, I'm not kidding.

Posted by Brian | February 29, 2008 11:48 PM

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