Pike Place Market unveils plans for $73 million upgrade
Mar 6, 2014, 3:58 PM | Updated: Mar 17, 2015, 1:15 pm
An artist's rendering shows the new western front of the Pike Place Market after the Alaskan Way Viaduct comes down. (Miller Hull Partnership)
(Miller Hull Partnership)
Pike Place Market will get a dramatic new look in the near future as plans were unveiled this week for a $65 million renovation that would significantly expand its size, transform the western side, and connect it to the Seattle waterfront.
The Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority announced Thursday it hopes to break ground within the next year and finish the expansion by the end of 2016.
Plans call for a low-rise, mixed-use development with added retail and restaurant space, low income-housing and expanded social services, with parking for the Market and the central waterfront. The renovation also would connect the market with the Seattle Aquarium for easy pedestrian access.
“The development of this project not only preserves the Market’s unique identity, but it also benefits Downtown Seattle by integrating destinations spanning the length of the Pike and Pine corridor from Capitol Hill to the Waterfront and connecting key transportation hubs including the cruise and ferry terminals and the Westlake transit center,” said Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority.
Franz-Knight said the removal of the viaduct and development of the central waterfront are key factors in making the project possible.
“We want to carry the character of the market into this space and create that great connection to the new waterfront and the aquarium.”
Funding for the $65 million project will come from the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority, the Washington Department of Transportation, City of Seattle, and low-income housing grants.
