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South Lake Union Redevelopment – ULI Americas Awards for Excellence Finalist
May 4, 2021
Photo By Patrick Bennett
Looking south from Lake Union across the South Lake Union redevelopment area toward the Seattle CBD. The north portion of the redevelopment project features the renovated Lake Union Park with a regulation model boat pond, the new Center for Wooden Boats Wagner Education Center and the Museum of History and Industry in the former naval armory building. Immediately south of the park is Google’s urban campus and the Allen Institute whose mission is to unlock the complexities of bioscience and advance our knowledge to improve human health.
Photo By Lara Swimmer
Retail establishments along the Westlake Avenue sidewalk welcome people and dogs alike. As part of its redevelopment project, Vulcan has added hundreds of retail and restaurant spaces totaling nearly 400,000 square feet.
Location: Seattle, WA, USA
Developers: Vulcan Inc.
Designers: Ankrom Moisan; BOLA Architecture + Planning; Callison RTKL; CNA Architects; CollinsWoerman; GGLO; Graphite Design Group; Johnson Architecture & Planning Inc; LMN Architects; Miller Hull; NBBJ; Perkins+Will; Runberg Architecture Group; ZGF Architects
Site Size: 340 Acres
Photo By Lara Swimmer
Completed in 2019, Google’s 600,000 square foot urban campus comprises four LEED Gold buildings topped with two luxury apartment towers (Helm and Mera) that anchor the north edge of the South Lake Union neighborhood.
Vulcan’s revitalization of Seattle’s South Lake Union (SLU) neighborhood exemplifies vibrancy, diversity, complexity, authenticity, tranquility, culture, and perseverance. Located adjacent to the CBD to the south, and Lake Union to the north, SLU served for many decades as a light industrial district with surface parking lots, gas stations, and low-rise warehouses. Between 1996 and 2004, Vulcan assembled 60 acres in SLU and established a vision for a mixed-use neighborhood that would be a thriving center of innovation.
Project goals included:
- Creating an economic engine: new jobs and tax revenue
- Developing a mix of commercial, residential and retail uses: 18-hour activation
- Building transit and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure
- Creating a model for sustainability
Photo By Top: (L) Dave Kronstad, (R) Keith Brofsky Bottom: (L) Lara Swimmer, (M) Benjamin Benschneider, (R) Miles Harris
Infrastructure improvements were critical for the redevelopment project, helping draw world-class employers, residents and retail establishments to the neighborhood. Community groups built strong support for multiple public-private partnerships that funded street and transit improvements, a modern streetcar line, new and renovated parks and playgrounds for children, and a new electrical substation and underground network to provide sufficient and reliable power for leading edge technology and life sciences firms.
Today, SLU’s 340 acres features:
- Community amenities: public art, parks, plazas, museum
- Expansion of life-sciences base: many leading edge biotech enterprises.
- 14 million SF of commercial space
- LEED-certified buildings
- Renovated historic buildings
- Preservation of existing low-income housing
- 12,000 units of new affordable to luxury housing
- 2,140 hotel rooms
- Numerous transit options including a modern streetcar
- 75,000 employees
- Thousands of residents
- Hundreds of retail establishments
- Major employers: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, UW School-of-Medicine
Photo By Kevin Scott
The University of Washington School of Medicine occupies 750,000 square feet of research laboratory, office and clinic space in buildings developed by Vulcan in South Lake Union.
Vulcan’s $4 billion investment in SLU has leveraged an additional $7 billion of investment from other private developers and public entities, including $800 million of infrastructure improvements. The success of South Lake Union relied upon a strong collaboration between the public and private sector and Vulcan’s determination to be a catalyst for change, positioning SLU to capture strong regional growth.