03 Feb With 46 vacant lots in South Downtown, we need more development

DSA has decided to “join the conversation” with City Council and DPD regarding the South Downtown Plan – supposed to be voted on Council in the next few months.

DSA are calling the plan a “once in a generation opportunity to increase residential density and encourage development of many of the surface parking lots in South Downtown into market-rate and workforce housing.”

Although we all acknowledge the years of effort that have gone into this plan, the hope is that City Council will push it just a little bit further so that we get it right this time around, instead of increasing the heights, and not getting any development out of it.

Numbers from DSA show that South Downtown hasn’t received the positive development that other neighborhoods have in the past. We currently only have 3 permitted projects south of Yesler, while there are almost 20 permitted projects north of Yesler. 

So how many vacant lots do we have right now in South Downtown? According to this interactive map (complete with photos), a total of 46 lots are sitting empty.

If we were zoned for increased heights, instead of this drab, empty parking lot:

We could get some version of this development (originally planned for 200 Occidental):

The DJC recently came out with an article that states that the rezoning planned for South Downtown “could bring new life.” Developers don’t seem to agree, however, as the changes don’t provide the heights they need to make building market rate housing worth it:

There are still a number of issues to be decided. The biggest is building heights in Pioneer Square. Currently, DPD proposes heights of 120, 130 and 150 feet in the area, so a residential structure could range between 12 and 15 stories.

But developer William Justen wants to be able to build to 180 feet, or 18 stories, to make market-rate housing feasible.

An overriding theme for most revitalization efforts in the square is that we need more residents. And developers and [most] residents are in agreement that to do that, we need better incentives for developers to build to the heights they need for market rate housing.

And although it will go a long way, we can’t just keep banking on the North Lot to fix all of our housing problems — all of the other vacant lots need to have development potential that contributes to a balanced residential population in Pioneer Square.