Harrell's plan to activate downtown Seattle includes taller towers

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell on Wednesday unveiled details of the Downtown Activation Plan he's been talking about since February.

"The mayor has made it very clear downtown is a top priority for his administration. We recognize it has significant challenges and needs some urgent action, which is why he's put together this comprehensive play to try to reactivate downtown," Markham McIntyre, director of the city's Office of Economic Development, said in a press briefing Tuesday.

The plan includes what the mayor's team says are bold, immediate actions, near-term initiatives and visionary "Space Needle thinking."

In the first category is a rezone to allow taller towers on Third Avenue between Union and Stewart streets and east on Pike and Union toward Fourth. It increases maximum heights from 170 feet to 440 feet and offers height bonuses of 20 feet to projects with educational and child care facilities.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/06/28/harrell-proposes-towers-downtown-activtion-plan.html

Swift action coming on Seattle's Downtown Activation Plan, council members say

Protestors rattled Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell Wednesday, chanting throughout the kickoff celebration for his Downtown Activation Plan.

Around 200 people gathered at Westlake Park, including around a half-dozen noisy protestors whose nonstop sloganeering forced Harrell off message as he plowed through his prepared remarks.

"I know a lot of you are distracted by that," he said of the protestors, who accused him of lacking compassion. But, he added, their shouts were "music to my ears because that's activation."

Key parts of the activation plan hinge on City Council action, including rezoning several blocks in the heart of the central business district to encourage more housing by allowing towers up 440 feet tall, or 460 feet if the projects include child care and educational facilities. The current limit is 170 feet.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/06/28/swift-action-downtown-seattle-rezone-councilman.html