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In preparation for $10M overhaul, Freeway Park considered for Seattle landmarks protections

(Image: City of Seattle)

Part of the city’s connective tissue between Capitol Hill, First Hill, and downtown, and a possible first piece of a puzzle in someday capping I-5’s route through Seattle with parks, commercial development, and housing, Freeway Park could soon be an official landmark.

The Seattle Parks space’s nomination for protections of its 1970s era design and municipal brutalism will go up for consideration in front of the landmarks board Wednesday.

David Graves, a strategic advisor for the parks department, said it was time to consider the protections following its 2019 placement on the National Register of Historic Places and as the city gears up for a $10 million overhaul of the unique — and uniquely challenged — park.

Graves said the pandemic-delayed upgrades are now planned to begin early next year when the project is put out to bid in early 2023. “We will be working with the Landmarks Preservation Board to make sure all improvements are consistent with the landmarks designations,” Graves said.

The vibe in 1976 (Image: City of Seattle)

When it first opened on July 4th, 1976, Seattle’s Freeway Park was a busy, open-lighted space. It served as a connector between downtown and the neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and First Hill, and many felt it made helped artfully reshape the freeway’s presence slicing through the city’s core. Now, the park is still an intriguing and potentially attractive public space but has suffered from a variety of issues including poorly marked entrances, lack of proper lighting, confusing paths, and overall disuse.

Designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates, the architects behind the Pacific Science Center and San Francisco’s Ghirardelli Square, and constructed by Peter Kiewit and Sons, the uniquely modern Seattle park seems a lock for eventual landmarks approval. The park’s application would extend protections to “all of the park sites, inclusive of built features, landscape, hardscape and other park elements; excluding Park Place Plaza.”

Landmarks protections, however, won’t do much to address safety concerns around the park but city officials believe the coming major improvements and smaller efforts along the way will help change the environment around the space.

“Much of the concern surrounding safety in Freeway Park is perceived and not based on current conditions,” Graves said. “The park has had an incredibly low crime rate for the last 10 years. However, we do work closely with the Freeway Park Association to activate the park and the improvements planned for 2023 included better lighting and wayfinding. All these are strategies to help maintain safety in the park.”

The busy association has scheduled clean-ups, buskers, and events like weekly book carts to help draw more people into the park.

(Image: City of Seattle)

The park’s fountains and water features should also be reactivated soon. Graves said the concrete strike helped delay that work but that parks is hoping to have renovation work on all three of the park’s water features completed by July.

Following that work, 2023 should bring the start of some $10 million in improvements whittled down out of more than $20 million in possible upgrades to the 46-year-old park. Entrance improvements are one of the biggest aspects of the plan. But Capitol Hill’s main entrance to Freeway Park, from Pike Street and Hubbell Place, won’t receive much attention. The long corridor with a glass wall looking down on Hubbell is actually on Convention Center property, and not technically part of the park itself. Instead the three entrances that will see enhancements to make the park more inviting will be the one from the 8th Ave overpass, and the two entrances along Seneca Street, at 6th Ave and close to Hubbell Place. At 8th Ave, some of the most significant proposed changes to the park’s walls are proposed. The entire planter at the top of the stairway is planned to be converted to a platform that you will be able to enter, with a transparent panel installed in place of a segment of wall that overlooks the park.

New signage is coming (Image: City of Seattle)

As for lighting improvements, existing lighting fixtures throughout the park will be replaced, and new ones added everywhere as well. Lighting is envisioned at the pedestrian level, above the park to provide more illumination, and on the landscape level to expand the park’s visible boundary. The unpleasant 8th Ave underpass is planned to receive a special lighting treatment that matches art and function.

Seating improvements are planned in every corner of the park, mostly a refurbishing of the existing benches with new seats and metal arm rests in place of the current wood. Of course, the metal arm rests discourage people from fully reclining on the benches. The wayfinding improvements will consist of a new set of signs and maps intended to guide people through an infamously confusing park. Custom maps that simplify the park’s pathways should significantly improve navigability.

Landscaping will also be cleaned up with parks thinning out what is seen as an overgrown park including the removal of 106 trees and large shrubs, around 20% of the canopy in Freeway Park overall. Only 24 new trees are planned to be added, with a two-for-one replacement of other removed trees elsewhere in the city.

Wednesday’s landmarks session begins at 3:30 PM.

NOMINATION: Freeway Park
700 Seneca Street

Sign-up to provide verbal Public Comment at the meeting; see link below under
“PUBLIC COMMENT”.
Virtually attend the meeting (all attendees will be muted upon entry) via this WebEx
link / Password: 1234
https://seattle.webex.com/seattle/j.php?MTID=m2990de483966b7e3a98cc4b1dd52e1
34
Listen to the meeting by calling 1-206-207-1700 and enter meeting access code:
2499 976 1639 / Password: 1234
You may submit written public comment any time. We encourage you to submit
written comment well in advance of the meeting to give the Board sufficient time to
review them. If you would like to ensure that your written public comment is
forwarded to the Board prior to the applicable Board meeting, please submit your
comment to [email protected] and/or [email protected] no later than
3:30 pm the day prior to meeting.

 

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4 Comments
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d4l3d
d4l3d
1 year ago

One of my favorite places in the city but don’t get there often enough. Have always had a strong affinity for well done Brutalism.

CH Resident
CH Resident
1 year ago
Reply to  d4l3d

I agree – it’s a cool place and highly under-regarded by people living close to it.

bobtr
bobtr
1 year ago

Even earlier: The Seattle Times, April 25, 1999, p. F1: “The Seattle Police Department reports that Freeway Park has one of the lowest crime rates in the city.”

Large-scale tree removal (also done in 2005) seems to be popular with Parks; does it actually work?

For an interesting history of Freeway Park and competing interests, see Alison Hirsch’s “The Fate of Lawrence Halprin’s Public Spaces.” Fans of Charles Mudede will enjoy it.

Top 'O the Hill
Top 'O the Hill
1 year ago

I watched PBS’s “!0 Parks That Changed America” a few years ago. It was a pretty interesting program. Two of the parks in the show are in Seattle: Freeway Park and Gasworks Park.

https://www.tpt.org/10-changed-america/video/10-changed-america-freeway-park-10-parks-changed-america/