(The Center Square) – Seattle officials are exploring a temporary change to the city’s land use code in order to fill up vacant storefronts in the downtown area.
Council Bill 120771 would adjust Seattle’s land use code to add more flexibility and variety to the uses required to occupy street-level spaces for an interim period of three years.
The proposal would apply to the majority of the downtown core, with the exception of Pioneer Square, Chinatown/International District, and the Pike Place Market Historical District. The bill would also include portions of the South Lake Union and Uptown Urban Center that have street-level use restrictions.
Currently, the city’s land use code only allows street-level uses to retail, bars and restaurants, and community facilities such as museums, childcare centers, and libraries. The limit to street-level uses was initially intended to establish environments that attract visitors and activity.
However, the high rate of vacant spaces now jeopardizes the intended environment.
If passed, Council Bill 120771 would allow street-level uses to include medical offices, food processing work, art installations, community centers, food processing work, and horticultural uses.
The bill would also reduce the minimum requirements for a street-level use from a minimum depth of 15 feet to eight feet.
The purpose of the proposed bill is to help fill vacant spaces, attract more daily activity, and provide a wider range of potential new tenants in the downtown area over the course of three years. Businesses that fill up the vacant properties can remain after the interim period if they find success.
Gordon Clowers, urban planner for the city, said that despite the downtown area’s slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, vacant spaces are still prominent.
“There have been chronic vacancies that have accumulated – with a little bit of relaxation of the rules, we can attract good tenants for those areas, build continuity of street activities, and promote positive evolution and reinforcement of the business climate,” Clowers said during the Land Use Committee meeting on Monday.
According to a 2024 report from the Downtown Seattle Association, total office vacancy rate for the downtown area was 21.5% at the end of the year.
A director’s report from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections states that vacancies along Seattle streets create gaps in the continuity of neighborhoods and deter the presence of shoppers and pedestrians.
These gaps also contribute to the inability to attract new tenants to the vacant properties.
The director’s report highlighted these streets as likely to benefit from the expanded street use including 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Avenues in Belltown, the Denny Triangle, 5th Avenue corridor, portions of Mercer Street, and the retail core vicinity.
The bill could be voted on by the Land Use Committee during its next meeting on April 2.
