A new park space in the heart of one of Seattle's densest neighborhoods became one step closer to a reality in April, with Seattle Parks and Recreation officially soliciting bids for a landscape architect to design a future park on the former Battery Street tunnel portal property. Located at Western Avenue and Battery Street, the site used carry cars between Aurora Avenue and the waterfront as part of State Route 99. The property has been envisioned as getting a second life for a long time, but still sits inaccessible behind a fence.
Though the neighborhood is relatively close to the new waterfront park and other swaths of open space like Seattle Center, much of Belltown lacks direct access to park space. City officials and community members anticipated that the Battery Street portal property could help fix that, even going back to the development of the waterfront project over a decade ago. Its redevelopment was a key component of a concept for a "Belltown bluff" presented during that project's early stages, something that never really materialized.
In 2021, the portal site was considered for a potential downtown Seattle Public School (SPS) location, with a park element expected to be included in any final design. Despite a letter of intent signed between the City and the District that year, that idea appears dead, as SPS faces significant budget issues.
Sitting on a steep slope, most of the nearly 70,000-square-foot site is owned by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) after a transfer from the state. The City of Seattle is now exploring another property transfer that would hand the site over to Seattle Parks, with creating open space a priority for both Belltown community advocates and District 7 Councilmember Bob Kettle.
The City allocated $600,000 over the past two years to fund an analysis of site conditions and conduct community outreach.
"City Council has provided funding to SPR to begin planning and early design of a park at this location," a new project engagement site notes. "This project will include a design study and public outreach to explore possible park uses for the current [right-of-way] and placement of accessibility features, investigate site conditions and requirements, and develop a proposed schematic design for the park. This is a Planning project and does not currently fund completion of the design phase or construction."
The entire parcel isn't owned by SDOT, with a corner piece currently occupied by a Seattle City Light-owned parking lot. This adds another hurdle to getting the entire block under Seattle Parks control.
In 2022, City Light had proposed to swap this lot with a nearby SDOT-owned property closer to Blanchard Street, and construct an electric vehicle charging lot, but that plan fell through after City Light determined the parcel's grade presented challenges. That lot, which had initially been deemed the Belltown "opportunity site" during early waterfront planning, still sits unused, despite an early plan top add a children's playground there.
Another small triangle of land on the west side of the alleyway belongs to Bellwether Housing, which operates the nearby Oregon Apartments. Seattle Parks confirmed that the city is looking at potentially utilizing that parcel as well.
"We’re determining the feasibility of using the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) property in addition to adjacent properties owned by Seattle City Light (SCL) and a community-based organization to construct a park," Seattle Parks spokesperson Christina Hirsch told The Urbanist.
If the Portal Park is going to advance toward construction, it likely won't be until the next round of Seattle Parks District funding, with the current cycle extending through 2028. A number of other park projects are already getting into the queue, including the redevelopment of the former estate of philanthropist Kay Bullitt in North Capitol Hill.
SDOT has already gotten creative with how the city uses the property, building a small stretch of public space along the First Avenue frontage in 2023 thanks to a $500,000 earmark secured by former D7 Councilmember Andrew Lewis.
In the meantime, the majority of the site sits behind a fence, with Belltown residents frequently scaling that fence to enjoy the rare patch of green amongst the Belltown skyscrapers. In West Seattle, Seattle Parks has opened the future Morgan Junction park space as a grassy lawn for interim use. While the Portal Park's steeper slope might present an impediment to doing the same in Belltown, it's certainly worth exploring. As Mayor Katie Wilson noted in her inauguration speech in January, city residents deserve both bread and roses. Certainly they deserve grass as well.
Ryan Packer
Pauly Tarricone
