Food & Drink
Tracking Seattle’s Epidemic of Growth
The Department of Planning and Development has conveniently created a website that tracks projects
By Seattle Mag July 27, 2015
In our bi-monthly Seattlemag.com column, Knute Berger–who writes regularly for Seattle Magazine and Crosscut.com and is a frequent pundit on KUOW–takes an in-depth look at some of the highly topical and sometimes polarizing issues in our city.
Seattle loves to be at the top of various national lists, and a widely held belief is that we’re the fastest growing major city in America, which is not true.
We’re merely in the top five.
[Cue sound of developers whining that NIMBY’s are holding them back!]
Anyone who has lived here for any length of time—even if you arrived last week—can claim the city isn’t what it used to be. You cannot fail to notice the massive scale of development: landmarks are vanishing, high-rises are rising, the sidewalks are closed for construction, the sites of tear-downs are surrounded by cyclone fencing and filled with earth movers.
While the city is trying to boost development to accommodate expected population growth, it’s not like we’re standing around doing nothing. The issue of fairness is valid, but in the meantime, the cruel market is grinding on. The city’s Department of Planning and Development has conveniently created a website that tracks projects that are in the pipeline and underway.
Go to their map, the something less than poetically named “Shaping Seattle: Buildings,” and you’ll see a map covered with blue dots that will give you basic information and images from hundreds of current projects across the city.
If the dots were an epidemic, Seattle would be in an ICU with a case of the blue pox.
Taking an overview, one striking thing is where development is centered. A huge concentration lies south of Mercer, east of the waterfront, west of 23rd Ave., and north of Madison—territory that includes Downtown, South Lake Union, First and Capitol Hills. Call it growth’s Golden Wedge. There are more than 250 major simultaneous building projects here alone, ranging from apartments to commercial towers.
A slightly higher birds-eye view shows major pockets in expected areas—Ballard, Fremont, Eastlake—and the influence of light rail—the University District, Roosevelt, MLK King and Columbia City. Where commercial areas approach water—Elliott Bay, Lake Union, the Lake Washington Ship Canal–seems to be a magnet.
You’ll find relatively little going on north of Green Lake, or south of Brighton. And if you’re in a wealth enclave like Windermere, Laurelhurst or Broadmoor, well there’s zip-squat going on. Something the rich have in common with Rainier Beach.
You can spend hours on this site, clicking on and checking out individual projects—it’s better and more accessible than the white boards, but rather overwhelming in its scale. It’s a fascinating portrait of a boom-or-bust city in the middle of an extraordinary boom.
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