The entry point for my first ride to Northgate Station on Link light rail was Capitol Hill. It was early in the morning on the opening day, although so not as early as I had hoped, my plan to be on the first departing train at 4:51am proving too ambitious. Yet it was not too early for Erica Clausson, a wheelchair user who lives in the Licton Springs neighborhood near the west end of the John Lewis Memorial Bridge. Very enthusiastic about the newfound mobility the light rail expansion would bring into her life, Clausson may have been the first light rail rider to use the pedestrian and cyclist bridge to safely access the Northgate Station, arriving at the station before the departure of the first train.

“My doctors are all located at the UW Medical Center, so I’ll be using light rail a lot to get to my medical appointments,” Clausson said.

It cannot be stated enough that when we create accessible, affordable, climate friendly mass transit, we transform people’s lives for the better. Clausson is one example of the many people whose lives will improve as a result of the arrival of the Northgate light rail expansion. In my discussions with early morning riders on the first day of service, I encountered airport travelers, hospital workers, people heading to set up their farmer’s market stalls, grandparents meeting family in the International District for dim sum, and a little boy dressed up as a firefighter whose father was touring him around the new light rail stations.

We are standing quite literally at the precipice of a mass transit revolution in the greater Seattle area. The openings of the Tacoma Hilltop Extension (2022), East Link Extension (2023), and Lynnwood Extension (2024) are all around the corner. Further expansion plans passed with Sound Transit 3 (ST3) measure in 2016 have been kept mostly on track with a hybrid realignment plan that preserves planned stations and avoids major delays even facing some big jumps in project cost estimates. Plus, Seattle Subway is pushing its vision for Sound Transit 4 (ST4) expansion. There is so much more rapid transit coming, including 25 stations in the next three years.

At this moment in time, there is arguably no urban area in U.S. that is as hungry for new mass transit as Seattle. That’s why as soon as The Urbanist came into being, regional light rail expansion soon became one of our biggest areas for writing and advocacy. Related to the Northgate expansion alone, we have published approximately 40 articles — many more if you can consider ancillary topics like updates to Sound Transit station wayfinding, and the rollercoaster ride that surrounded securing funding for Sound Transit.

Northgate Link has finally arrived. As we celebrate this moment, let’s take a look back at what it has taken the greater Seattle region to get here. It’s story full of disappointment, twists, achievements, and most of all, unwavering belief that mass transit has a place at the center of our regional transportation system.

From the iron age, to the golden age of mass transit in greater Seattle

“If this is the golden age of light rail, I’m from the iron age,” joked Greg Nickels, former mayor of Seattle and King County Councilmember, in a recent event hosted by the Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) in which Nickels, and current Sound Transit board chair Kent Keel, spoke about the past, present, and future of the Link light rail system.

Nickels, who made creating a regional mass transit system a pillar of his successful run for King County Council in 1987, never imagined he would end dedicating much of his professional life to Sound Transit. “I suppose if I had known that [light rail] would occupy all 22 years of my public life, I may have had second thoughts –- but when I saw those first stations open, I knew it was worth it,” Nickels said.

But it would take decades to arrive at that moment. Both the failure of the rail plans included in the two Forward Thrust ballot measures of the late 1960s, and the even better known doomed Monorail expansion, which still haunts Seattle lawmakers today in the form of a state bill restricting Seattle from being able to independently raise revenue for grade separated rail transit unless it funds a monorail project, cast a pall over mass transit expansion efforts.

As a result of those defeats, enthusiasm for mass transit lagged until 1988, when Nickels co-sponsored an advisory measure asking voters if they wanted light rail. Nearly 70% of voters said yes, creating new political momentum for regional rail transit.

However, that did not mean smooth sailing lay ahead. It would take years for a regional rail measure to be presented to voters, and it would fail. In 1995, only a year before voters would approve the Sound Move ballot measure that would jumpstart the creation of Sound Transit, voters rejected a $6.7 billion regional transit plan put forth by the Regional Transit Authority, the agency’s precursor.

The plan would have constructed many transit system elements recognizable today including:

• Light rail rapid transit lines from Tacoma to Seattle and north to Mill Creek via the University District, Northgate, and Lynnwood. Light rail was also planned to cross the I-90 bridge to Bellevue and reach Redmond;
• standard-gauge commuter rail service from Everett to Tacoma;
• expanded HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on major freeways;
• a new express bus system.

The more ambitious regional transit measure actually won majorities in Seattle, Mercer Island, and Shoreline, but could not overcome resistance from the Eastside of King County, as well as Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Contemporary critics promoted an alternative plan called the Rhododendron Line, a grade level rail system that would have run on north, south, and east corridors, connecting Seattle to Everett, Tacoma, and Bellevue. The Rhododendron Line had the financial advantage of using existing right of way, but it was projected to have low ridership as a result of slow speeds and a lack of service to major destinations like First Hill and the University District in Seattle. Other critics, notably in the Eastside, preferred a less costly system centered on prioritized transit lanes for buses.

Additionally, residents of Everett were so offended by the proposal’s omission of a light rail connection to Everett, that according to Nickels, the plan proved to be “even less popular than prohibition” in the city.

Voters did approve the scaled back $3.9 billion Sound Move measure the following year, showing there was support for rail, though not at the ambitious scale, or expense, of the previous proposal. The 1996 Sound Move measure included the creation of 22 miles of light rail, with a line extending from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport through Seattle to the University of Washington and a separate 1.6 mile line from the Tacoma Dome to downtown Tacoma. Work was supposed to be completed by 2006, although the light rail service would not reach the University of Washington until 2016, where it opened with great fanfare, significantly increasing Seattle’s light rail ridership and putting us on the path to the “golden age” of mass transit for the region which we are entering into today, 25 years later.

Looking back at what it took to arrive at this moment, Nickels was ruminative, acknowledging the challenges and setbacks that occurred along the way.

“You have to learn that you can’t make everybody happy — even when it comes to good ideas. It isn’t fun to have to say no, particularly when you have this grand vision and you have to bring it back to being possible to get it done,” Nickels said. “I didn’t agree with all the decisions made, no one does, but I appreciate the work we did.”

Transit oriented development, an unforeseen game changer

As I entered the Capitol Hill Station early in the morning of the Northgate Extension’s opening day, the streets surrounding the station were quiet — yet, not as quiet as they had been before the introduction of over 428 homes, 176 with affordable rents, through transit oriented development project at the Capitol Hill light rail station. Anyone familiar with Capitol Hill can feel the dynamism these new homes have injected into the neighborhood — streets are more active with people throughout the day, but especially at night. What has always purported to be one of Seattle’s most urbanized communities finally feels like it earned the reputation.

Nickels, who moved to Capitol Hill as a middle schooler and whose parents continued to live in the neighborhood for many years, was especially proud of how the introduction light rail meant that Capitol Hill residents could “avoid having to drive that I-5 nightmare.”

However, when Sound Transit first set out to construct Link light rail, planning for housing and commercial investments near light rail stations was barely an afterthought. “When we started we didn’t have a good sense of how to connect transportation planning with land use planning,” Nickels admitted. But that awareness changed as the region continued to engage in Growth Management Area (GMA) planning, and by the time Nickels became mayor of Seattle in 2002, the City of Seattle in particular was beginning to plan for density around light rail stations.

That shift in perspective has resulted in a radically different approach today, one which prompted current Sound Transit board chair, Kent Keel, to joke that he feels he is equally engaged in housing as transit development. Keel also acknowledged, however, the constraints his agency confronts around ensuring density near light rail stations. “Upzoning is a city effort. At Sound Transit, we have almost no control over that, ” Keel said. “Of course transit most successful in my mind with density – we need density and walkable communities near transit.”

Keel said that while the Seattle neighborhoods of Roosevelt and and U District “rolled out the welcome mat” to both light rail and density, some of the “most aggressive zoning changes” have occurred in regional cities like Kent and Lynnwood. “I’m anticipating to get the same kind of reaction from Tacoma and Everett,” he said.

Covering transit oriented development has been one of our major focuses in our writing for The Urbanist, from the new development surrounding the U District, Roosevelt, and Northgate light rail to stations, to major transit oriented development projects like Bellevue’s Spring district.

Earlier this year, Stephen Fesler reported for The Urbanist that Sound Transit had announced it would provide at no cost to the city ten properties for affordable housing development in Seattle’s Rainier Valley. One hundred percent of the homes created on the sites will need to affordable to rent or own by households earning at or below 80% of the area median income level — a requirement that will remain in place for 50 years.

Thus the sea change of thought surrounding the coupling of transit and housing development continues onward.

Accessible transit for people with disabilities

When Nickels was asked what accomplishments he was most proud of during his time advancing regional mass transit, he cited the Seattle region’s reputation for creating mass transit accessible for people with disabilities as rising to the top. According to Nickels, years ago while attending a conference for American and Canadian transit agencies, disability activists chained themselves to the building to block attendees from entering in order to raise awareness of transit agencies’ failure to meet the needs of disabled people. However, when Nickels said he was representing King County Metro transport, they let him pass through in recognition of Metro’s commitment to accessibility.

Nickels said the same ethic of prioritizing the needs of disabled transit riders was present at Sound Transit, a statement that Keel, who shared that he has an adult daughter who uses her wheelchair for transportation, agreed. “It should be obvious that at a minimum we need to comply with all ADA requirements. We have a disability mobility committee that provides feedback and we will continue to work in consultation and negotiation with them and our host jurisdictions on how we implement and do our work around ADA,” Keel said.

Those statements bring me back to Erica Clausson, the wheelchair user who I interviewed early in the morning on the Northgate expansion’s opening day. Today Clausson, and many other people with diverse wants and needs regarding transportation, are benefitting from the expansion of light rail service. In a couple more years, those benefits will multiply with arrival of the East Link and Lynnwood Extensions.

The history that has led the region to this point has not always been easy; and especially in the face of the housing affordability and climate crises, it can be painful to look back at all the opportunities missed along the way. Still even in the face of what has often been an uphill battle, light rail has continued to expand in the Seattle region. Most of all, hope remains that the lessons of the past can help us arrive at an even better regional mass transit system in a not so distant future.

Note: This article was corrected to remove a reference by Greg Nickels criticizing highway spending in the 1995 transportation funding ballot measure. In his remarks for Transportation Choices Coalition, Nickels referred to a 2007 transportation measure that was also rejected by voters.

The post Northgate Link Light Rail Expansion: How We Arrived first appeared on The Urbanist.

The Urbanist has covered this trend as it unfolded, from the initial U District rezone in 2017 to the first tower winning design approval in 2018 to an early development roundup in late 2019 and a comprehensive update in June. The U District has added 2,173 new homes since 2015 and has about twice as many in development. That puts U District well ahead of the other neighborhoods getting a light rail station on Saturday. In his recent development updates, Shaun Kuo tallied more than 4,000 homes new, under construction, or in permitting in Northgate and another another 3,300 in Roosevelt since 2015, but U District is on another level, with more than 6,000 homes completed, underway, or in permitting.

Most of the new units in Northgate are still under construction or in permitting, but Roosevelt has already seen 1,626 new housing units since 2016, a 95% increase, Mike Lindblom reported. Impressive, but the U District still reigns supreme and has much more on the way.

Either station entrance provides a great view of the transformation, with half a dozen towers rising along Brooklyn Avenue. The north entrance is next to Neptune Theater and opposite UW Tower, U District’s tallest tower at 325 feet, though it may soon have company given the new 320-foot and 240-foot zoning in the core of the neighborhood.

Since most of this wave of development happened via Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) inclusionary zoning program, it also has come with major contributions to affordable housing. Developers have mostly opted to pay into the City’s affordable housing trust fund rather than set aside affordable MHA units inside their projects, but the influx of money has helped the City boost investments in social housing. With all the U District construction projects and proposals tallied, Kuo counted $133 million in MHA contributions. For U District highrises, MHA requires either setting aside 9% of units for tenants making less than 60% of area median income or paying a fee of $25.79 per square foot of gross floor area — the fee is adjusted annually to keep pace with inflation.

A growing neighborhood for a growing campus

Though station construction is complete, the area between the two station entrances will become a future construction site for a 13-story office building that will rise above the underground station and serve the University of Washington’s (UW’s) growing needs as part of the its plans for ambitious growth over the next decade.

“The university is growing rapidly and planning to add space for thousands of additional students in its master plan–already more than 32,000 undergraduates and 14,000 graduates are enrolled at the Seattle UW campus.” The Urbanist reported in 2019 “The university estimates that space needs at the main campus will grow through 2028 as another 8,675 students and 4,649 faculty are added. That equates to 20% growth over the total student and faculty population of 67,155 today.” The pandemic may have disrupted those goals a bit, but the University is welcoming students back to campus this fall and expecting its momentum to return.

To achieve this 20% growth in campus population, UW is also embracing high-rise development on its campus to fit all the new classroom space. Shaun Kuo detailed some of the large new projects in the works on campus, with UW aiming to add six million square feet of space in a decade. The West and South quadrants of campus would get much of the highrise attention, with towers of up to 240-feet envisioned.

Mapped below are the towers and some of the larger midrise projects on the way in the U District. Orange boxes denote construction sites, while the dark gray boxes are still in the design review and permitting process. Purple connotes completed towers, just “The M” so far.

No sign of drag from inclusionary zoning

Developers are projecting strong demand for housing in the U District and the expected growth in students and staff is a big reason why — and a eight-minute train ride to Downtown doesn’t hurt either. While some thought leaders were skeptical that the U District could support highrise zoning, especially with the intensified MHA requirements that comes with such a large jump in development capacity, it turns out the neighborhood is doing quite well with the zoning and requirements that came with them.

“If passed as proposed, the U District high-rise MHA upzones will not only backfire on affordability by stalling high-rise homebuilding in the U District; they will also hinder the city’s progress on concentrating new homes around the U District’s future light rail station, and thwart equitable access to the neighborhood’s rich employment and educational opportunities,” Sightline‘s Dan Bertolet wrote back in 2017. “Furthermore, if the city sets the wrong precedent in the U District, it will likely ‘lock in’ the same affordability-defeating MHA requirements for other neighborhoods, such as Northgate, where high-rise construction is at best marginally feasible today.”

The U District is awash in highrise projects, so the first prediction didn’t come to pass — but the jury is still out on the second point about Northgate. Northgate has seen plenty of development, but it’s yet to see its first highrise proposal. This has much to do with the fact Northgate’s highrise zoning is on land owned by mall overlord Simon Property Group, which has been careful to phase those riskier projects toward the end of the redevelopment.

Likewise the County opted to play it safe with a midrise social housing project on a small portion of a large publicly owned land near Northgate Station (after bungling an earlier Request for Proposals) rather than immediately try to develop an affordable high-rise like the one coming to First Hill. Perhaps the County and Simon will find a way to make high-rises work in Northgate, but for now the U District is the only bastion of ongoing highrise development in North Seattle.

Walk around the U District and your bound to run across a construction site, as demonstrated by the photo tour below.

More than a dozen towers are on the way in The U District and the success of those projects could inspire more near transit stations across the region — breaking free of the pattern of Downtown Seattle and Downtown Bellevue being the only major highrise centers. That could help alleviate our regional housing shortage and put more homes on the doorstep of rapid transit. But will local zoning allow it?

[give_form id=”122182″]

The post U District Is a Hive of Construction Activity as Light Rail Arrives first appeared on The Urbanist.

Sound Transit pulled out all the stops with the first trains being the newfangled Siemens S700 (Series 2) light rail vehicles. The first trip from Northgate went off without any hint of problem, though it operated at lower speeds as is common for first trips. Later trains ran faster between stations closer to the tight schedule Sound Transit has adopted, which promises 13-minute trips from Northgate to Westlake.

As part of a first ride tour, we documented the many features of the stations, including platforms, corridors, art, wayfinding and signage, bus facilities, and bike facilities. One thing that did come as a surprise is broken escalators; several are closed at Roosevelt and U District — at least three broken escalators by our count — which will no doubt be a disappointment to riders who had expected better of Sound Transit.

Last night, our reporters were also present for the ribbon cutting and preview event, which offered a chance to get an early ride on the extension and explore stations. Sound Transit brought the big guns with a laser show, marching band, and even Sound Transit’s mascot Zap Gridlock. Ahead for the early ride, agency and local officials mingled and spoke on the hard work in getting the light rail extension done, the benefits of light rail expansion, and how it will become an important asset to communities. Sound Transit’s long-time and former Chief Executive Officer Joni Earl was also able to make it to the ribbon cutting and hopes to make many future trips.

Of course, Sound Transit isn’t done yet. There’s more ahead with extensions like: East Link in 2023 and Federal Way, Lynnwood, and Downtown Redmond Link in 2024. Sound Transit will also open the Tacoma Hilltop T Line streetcar extension in 2022, NE 130th Street infill station in 2025, Stride S1 and S2 Lines in 2026, and the Stride S3 Line in 2027. Further transit expansions then come in the 2030s and 2040s like light rail to Ballard, West Seattle, and Tacoma.

As for opening day events, Sound Transit will have a “museum-like” experience at stations with vendors, booths, and welcome ambassadors. In the U District, there will be a street festival that runs from 10:00am to 8:00pm where visitors can freely walk streets, listen to live music, and enjoy food and drink. Roosevelt will feature a similar experience with live music, dancing, food trucks, and more from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Ahead of this at 9:30am, the John Lewis Memorial Bridge will feature an opening ceremony, heralding in the new pedestrian and bike connection over I-5.

To recap, our coverage on all things Northgate Link, here’s a list:

1. Our full rider’s guide about Northgate Link;
2. Our detailed list of opening day events;
3. Information on service changes that are now in effect, including the Northgate Link bus restructures;
4. Our rider’s guides for things to do in Northgate, Roosevelt, and U District;
5. Development updates for Northgate, Roosevelt, and U District (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3);
6. Photo tour previews of Northgate and U District stations; and
7. King County Metro’s new spider maps.

Again, it’s worth emphasizing that with the Northgate Link Extension opening, major bus restructures have gone into effect today. This affects a long list of King County Metro, Sound Transit, and Community Transit routes. Many routes in North Seattle and North King County have been adjusted in terms of service levels and their alignments, which are generally meant to improve bus-to-rail connections. In some cases, routes have been eliminated and new ones created. Sound Transit and Community Transit are also trying to facilitate bus-to-rail connections. Route 522, for instance, now terminates at Roosevelt and Routes 542 and 556 now terminate at U District. Community Transit and Sound Transit are also running the 800 series and Routes 511, 512, and 513 only as far south as Northgate.

So when you’re ready to ride, get out there and try out the new light rail extension and visit the neighborhoods served by the new stations.

The post It’s Official: Northgate Link Is Open first appeared on The Urbanist.

The UW’s Seattle Campus also is home to the vast majority of the station area’s green space, fantastic educational places, and some fairly good food too. Scattered throughout central and west campus are places like Parrington Lawn, Denny Yard, the Quad, and Rainier Vista. East Campus is home to the Union Bay Natural Area with 74 acres of wetlands and pathways that snake through the space. South Campus has Portage Bay Vista and a long stretch of waterfront green space.

UW’s Campus also features cavernous libraries and the Burke Museum. Currently limiting access to the public during the pandemic, the UW library system is a collection of welcoming and beautiful buildings. Suzzallo is the most picturesque one and a prime spot for selfies and other photo ops.

But thanks to being zoned as an urban center, the densest mixed-use zoning designation in Seattle, the U District has become known for more than just the university campus and University Way, the nearby dining and shopping street otherwise known as the Ave. Let’s take a closer look at the many places that make the U District such a vibrant destination.

Museums, Parks, Theaters, and a Famous Trail

Burke Museum – Recently transformed into an “inside/out” museum in which visitors can watch museum staff engaged in their work examining fossils, animal and plant specimens, cultural and historical artifacts, and Northwest Native art, the Burke Museum offers a unique way to learn about our region and world. It’s located on the north end of the UW campus near 15th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street.

Henry Art Gallery – Revolving contemporary art exhibits curated by the UW are on display at the Henry, which is situated at the intersection of 15th Avenue NE and NE Campus Parkway.

Fritz Hedges Waterway Park – One of Seattle’s newest parks, Fritz Hedges is set along the shoreline of Portage Bay at the south end of the UW campus. Its bright yellow lawn chairs are a great place to relax and watch the boats passing by.

Grand Illusion – Seattle’s oldest operating cinema has become a nonprofit and features indie and foreign films. It recently reopened following Covid safety protocols. It’s located at the corner of NE 50th Street and the Ave.

Neptune Theater – Constructed in 1921, the Neptune Theater is only steps away from the U District light rail station and features live music and performances. It also has reopened following Covid safety protocols.

The Burke Gilman – One of the region’s best known multi-use trails runs through the south end of the U District. It spans from Woodinville to the east to Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood to the west.

Bubble Tea, Coffee, and Booze

• Bubble Tea – Boba, or milk tea, is by far the most pervasive drink of choice throughout the U District. Not listing more spots may be a disservice, but we’ll be able to sneak in other shops that serve milk tea later. All sorts of flavors, cheese foam, and other options for your bubble tea are available in the U District Station Area.
  • Citra – A cozy little cafe that serves bubble tea at a great value, the ube soft serve and other frozen treats are also great here.
  • Oasis Tea Zone – A local family-owned chain with a litany of options for your bubble tea and comfort food options to pair with it.
  • Don’t Yell At Me – Looking for something a bit more elaborate? Then Don’t Yell At Me will cater to you with its chic interior, higher quality and prices, flavored pearls, cheese milk foam, and solid ingredients mixed in.
  • Sharetea – Another international chain, Sharetea started in Taiwan in 1992. The boba is great here, but I prefer getting the pudding. Alternatively, get both toppings.

• Cafe Allegro – With an entrance that faces an alley behind the Ave near NE 42nd Street, entering Cafe Allegro feels a bit like joining a secret society, especially since it purports to be Seattle’s oldest espresso bar.
• Bulldog News – A news stand featuring an impressive selection of magazines and journals, including a large international section. Their walkup espresso stand on the Ave is not to be missed.
• Ugly Mug Cafe – Steps from the U District Station on NE 43rd Street, this coffee shop has a cozy vibe and well-crafted coffee made from their in-house roasted beans.
• Herkimer Coffee – Another cafe that also serves as a roaster, Herkimer has made a reputation for itself among Seattle coffee aficionados. Located on the quieter north end of the Ave, near NE 55th Street.
• College Inn and Pub – The College Inn’s basement pub is what you might imagine it to be: cramped, wood paneled, and often bustling with university students, faculty, staff, and neighbors. It closed in 2020, but was brought back under new ownership earlier this year. Easily one of the best places in Seattle to mix intellectual argument with beer. Located on the Ave near NE Campus Parkway.
• Flowers – Oh, Flowers, why did you have to flaunt Covid safety protocols and get (temporarily) closed earlier this year? One of the oldest bars on the Ave, and also a restaurant serving mostly Mediterranean fare, Flowers has a divey vibe all its own. The cocktails are recommended.
• Big Time Brewery and Alehouse – Brewing their own selection of beers directly on the Ave, Big Time Brewery also offers pub fare.
• The Mountaineering Club – Located at the top of the Graduate Hotel at NE 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue, the Mountaineering Club’s rooftop bar offers some of the best views in Seattle. Prices are higher than many spots in the neighborhood and reservations are required.

Restaurants

• Off The Rez Cafe – Contemporary Native American cuisine that started out as a popular food truck selling Indian tacos with handmade fry bread and moved into a permanent location covering a more expansive menu at the Burke Museum.
• Mee Sum Pastry – Pastries, Taiwanese street food, standard Chinese dishes, and of course bubble tea can all be found in this Taiwanese eatery just north of the light rail station.
• Korean Tofu House – Located in the basement of a building off of the main drag on Brooklyn Avenue, pre-pandemic you could often find this restaurant packed with customers enjoying its generous portions of meals served with tasty banchan (Korean side dishes).
• Chi Mac – Chi Mac, the Korean term for Chicken and Beer, serves, you guessed it, Chicken and Beer. Well, it’s allowed to serve beer when they have a license for that again. The Korean fried chicken is still great though — try the Sichuan pepper flavor.
• Beetle Cafe – Serving Indonesian food, Beetle Cafe has Southeast Asian favorites like Hainan chicken, satay, Mie Tek Tek, nasai padang, and of course milk tea.
• Cafe on the Ave – A long time favorite among UW students, the large interior space of Cafe on the Ave makes it great for study groups. Its menu offers sandwiches, burgers, pasta, breakfast fare, and desserts made in house. It’s also a spot you can head to just for a cup of coffee.
• Donut Factory – Looking for a large variety of donuts? Donut Factory is where to go for maple bars, buttermilk donuts, rolls, crobars, and more.
• Morsel – Some of the best breakfast food on the Ave can be found at Morsel. An assortment of biscuit options, biscuit sandwiches, and coffee are served here.
• Xi’an Noodles – At the northern end of the Ave, Xian Noodles serves hand-pulled noodles and other Shaanxi cuisine. Come for the noodles, stay for the “burgers.”
• Agua Verde Restaurant and Paddle Club – Located on the shore of Portage Bay near the south end of campus, Agua Verde serves up Mexican fare, including one of the city’s best selections of homemade salsas. Outdoor seating is plentiful and often scenic. They also rent kayaks and paddle boards.
• Guanacos Tacos Pupuseria – A specialty of El Salvador, if you haven’t tried pupusas, thick corn tortilla stuffed with savory fillings, you should soon. Located in a colorful building facing Brooklyn Avenue one block north of NE Campus Parkway.
• Chili’s South Indian Cuisine – One of the only places in the whole Seattle region to get South Indian specialties like sambar and dosa. It’s a delicious find, especially for vegetarians. Located on the Ave near 42nd Street.
• Sweet Alchemy Ice Cream – Small batch ice cream with distinct flavors like Black Sesame and Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. The company also uses many local ingredients, is committing to reducing food waste, and was named as one of the top ice cream makers in the country by USA Today. Located on the Ave just around the corner from the U District Station.

Shopping

• Shiga’s Imports – Currently closed for remodeling, this is one of Seattle’s oldest import shops. Specializing mostly in Japanese goods, it’s one of the best places to buy a futon mattress, selling more types and sizes than you can imagine. The family-owned businesses also sells clothes, gifts, art, and packaged snacks on the Ave.
• The University Bookstore — Actually an independent bookstore, the University Bookstore offers a great selection of books for all readers on the Ave. They also used to offer great in-store events, which will hopefully ramp up again as the pandemic winds down.
• Magus Bookst – A used bookstore with an expansive selection that’s great to get lost in. Open on NE 42nd Street just off the Ave since 1978.
• Crossroads Trading – A consignment clothes shop that thrives off of students wiling to trade and sell clothes, Crossroads can offer great finds ranging from contemporary to vintage fashions.
• Red Light Vintage and Costume – Probably the best place in Seattle to pick up a Halloween costume, but this well-known vintage store on the Ave is worth perusing at any time of the year.
• Artist Craftsman and Supply Store – Maybe the largest selection of arts and crafts supplies in Seattle. Staff are knowledgeable and can help you make the best choice for your creative needs. Located on NE 45th Street close to I-5.
• Neptune Music Company – Located in a basement beneath the Neptune Theater, this store selling vinyl, CDs, tapes, and more is probably the closest destination to the U District light rail station.

University Village, an outdoor mall, is also now comfortably accessible from the station area with Route 31 and 32 rerouting to run directly there from the station via NE 45th Avenue. You can also walk, bike, or roll on the Burke Gilman Trail all the way to the mall. While the University Village, with its car showrooms and parking garages, seems at odds with the U District Station, there’s still plenty to do there between its mix of large chains and small local shops. Good food is also available — Rachel’s Ginger Beer, Ding Tai Fung, and Ma’ono Fried Chicken are all tasty choices. And of course, you can get great bubble tea there at Happy Lemon.

If you’re getting off at the U District light rail station and heading to campus, don’t forget to explore the wealth of destinations and food in the U District station area. UW’s campus has the green space, the Ave has the food and drink options, and University Village rounds out the Station area with more places to explore. As new buildings continue to rise, the neighborhood will continue to expand in options, but there are already many reasons to come out and explore the U District Station area.

The post An Urbanist’s Guide to the U District Station Area first appeared on The Urbanist.

The U District Station to celebrate with a big street party

The U District Partnership is welcoming light rail into the neighborhood in a big way with a neighborhood street fair running from 10am-8pm on opening day. Streets will be closed on University Way NE between NE 41st and NE 43rd Street where the Xfinity Main Stage will offer a lineup of live music. A beer garden sponsored by neighborhood favorite Big Time Brewery will be located nearby. Outside the U District Station at NE 43rd and NE 45th, the street will be also closed to traffic, opening up space for vendors and a kids’ activity corner.

However, the most exciting part of the opening day celebration in the U District might be the $3 food walk. Over 40 U District restaurants and cafés are participating in the event, which is sponsored by Graduate Hotels. The boutique hotel chain is also offering a raffle for free airfare for two and a two-night stay at any one of its 30 plus hotels located across the U.S. To enter the raffle, collect and redeem five stamps from participating U District merchants.

“We are really excited for the Station Opening festival and are looking forward to it bringing more foot traffic to the U District area, especially after a year and a half without students,” said Cecilia Rikard in a press release for the event. Rikard is a co-owner of Off the Rez Cafe, located in the Burke Museum.“It’ll be a new way for people to come to the cafe! Stop by Off the Rez during the festival that day for our Blackberry Cedar Tea Latte and Naked Frybread as part of the Food Walk.”

The U District was hit particularly hard during the pandemic by the University of Washington’s transition to remote learning, and small merchants are hoping light rail will help to invigorate the neighborhood and lift it out of difficult times. To make the atmosphere even more celebratory, a musical performance by the nationally acclaimed Roosevelt High School jazz band, a lion dance by Seattle’s Mak Fai Kung Fu Club, and drumming demonstration by Taiko Kai, group from the University of Washington, will all take place during the street festival.

The U District Partnership businesses also partnered with Sound Transit to create a new outdoor seating area and sidewalk improvements near the station. Mark Pinkaow, owner of Wann Yen / Mark Thai Food Box located adjacent to the new U District Station on NE 43rd, is excited about additional outdoor seating near his restaurant. “The new station and street improvements have really elevated the neighborhood,” Pinkaow said.

Roosevelt neighborhood offers food and performances

The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association (RNA) is excited about the new community plaza the light rail station has brought to the neighborhood, in addition, of course, to mass transit access it offers. To celebrate, RNA has organized a family friendly opening day event with live music and dance performances on a stage located at 12th Avenue NE and NE 66th Street. Food trucks will also be available, including a food truck from Don Lucho’s, one of Seattle’s only Peruvian restaurants — and a favorite restaurant of mine. Check out our Roosevelt destination guide for more restaurant and activity options in the area.

John Lewis Memorial Bridge ribbon cutting at Northgate

Pedestrian and bike advocates are encouraged to come out for a community event to celebrate the new John Lewis Memorial Bridge. The event will feature a series of speakers and ribbon cutting ceremony on the west end of bridge, near North Seattle College. Then community members will walk, bike, and roll across the new bridge to the Northgate Station. Speakers are scheduled to start at 10am and the event is planned to run until noon. Refreshments and secure bike parking will also be available.

Before or after the event, readers might also want to check out some of the destinations included in our guide to the Northgate Station area, which is more than a big construction site — we promise! At the very least, day-lit Thornton Creek, located a short jaunt from the Northgate Station, is worth checking out for a pleasant stroll between natural wetland habitat and dense apartment housing.

The post Celebrate Northgate Link Light Rail Expansion with Opening Day Events first appeared on The Urbanist.

Parks and other places

Nearby neighborhoods provide amenities that will make Roosevelt Station a destination for park-goers. Next door are the Green Lake and Ravenna neighborhoods and their namesake parks provide two vastly different and excellent park experiences in Seattle. Direct bus transfers also allow for light rail riders access to other major parks. There’s also some retail, including quirky mom and pop establishments, in the area.

• Green Lake Park – Arguably Seattle’s signature park, Green Lake is a brisk walk away from Northgate station, quick bus transfer from Roosevelt Station, or fast bike ride with excellent lanes — the City recently completed a two-lane protected bike lane on the road ringing the eastern half of the lake. If you walk there from the station, make sure to take advantage of the green street between NE Ravenna Way’s east- and westbound lanes. At the park, you can run/walk/roll/bike the 2.9-mile loop, play tennis or pickleball at the tennis courts, boat around the lake, play your activity of choice in the sports fields, or picnic on the sprawling lawns. You can do a lot in a park as big as Green Lake Park.
• Ravenna and Cowen Park – A handful of blocks southeast of Roosevelt station lie the connected Ravenna and Cowen Parks. These parks form a green valley tucked in-between two sleepy residential neighborhoods — a verdant oasis where barn owls have been known to nest. Bridges arc above and snake throughout the park, creating a unique experience for exploring the park and surrounding areas. Play areas flank the valley trails. On the other side of the park, you’ll suddenly find yourself at the University Village mall.
• Magnuson Park – Jump onto the 62 from the station to get to Magnuson Park. There’s 350 acres of green space in this now-retired navy air field, second only to Discovery Park. It offers all the amenities that Green Lake Park has, except that the dog park is inside it rather than close by.
• Other Parks – Froula Park, Ravenna-Eckstein Park, and Dahl Playfield. The 45 Metro bus will even take you to Golden Gardens Park.

• The Trading Musician – One of Seattle’s largest independent musical instrument stores, offering new and used merchandise, rentals, and lessons at the corner of Roosevelt and Ravenna Boulevard.
• Hawthorne Stereo – The Roosevelt corridor has several audio equipment stores; this one has been selling new and used gear since 1946.
• Aquarium Zen – A store selling everything you need to add tropical fish and plants to your home décor, located on Roosevelt Way.
• Third Place Books and Pub – One of Seattle’s most atmospheric book stores with a cozy wood paneled pub tucked beneath. Walk, bike, or roll a half mile east, or take the number 62 Metro bus running along NE 65th Street.

Food, coffee, and booze

The area near Roosevelt Station has a small retail core in the area that provides a fair number of options. If you’re looking for something quick, Whole Foods’ hot bar and other prepared foods is just across the street from the station. There are also some nearby cafes and restaurants.

• The Counter at Old Ballard – Despite the name, this eatery is not in Ballard. Rather, it’s a block south from Roosevelt High School. Serving all sorts of comfort food, they do it well and with fairly good portions. Their gyro sandwich and chicken strips are good. Fish and chips could sometimes use a tiny bit more seasoning.
• Rising Sun Produce – Looking for fresh produce? This small store sells fresh fruits and vegetables right across the street from The Counter at Old Ballard.
• One Bite Café – This café gets a shout-out because of my egg tart bias; otherwise it’s your standard boba/milk tea place with a selection of bakery goods.
• Rain City Burgers – Check out this local burger joint before they close or relocate — their building is being replaced with a permitted 20-unit mixed-use development.
• Sushi Tokyo – This restaurant offers a range of Japanese dishes in addition to sushi. The lunch menu offers particularly good deals.
• Wayward Vegan Café – A well-established vegan restaurant that serves up comfort food and diner classics on NE 65th Street.
• India Bistro – Tasty North Indian fare with good lunch specials kitty-corner from the southwest station entrance.
• Bengal Tiger – Across the street from India Bistro, another solid Indian cuisine option with a long history in the neighborhood.

• Frelard Tamales – On the other side of I-5 in Greenlake, rather than between Ballard and Fremont. I’m not fluent in tamales, but Freland Tamales does them very well in my opinion. Beans, rice, pickled vegetables, and agua fresca are great to pair with their tamales.
• Latona Pub – Next door to Frelard Tamales on Latona Avenue is the eponymous Latona Pub with a nice patio, a big tap list, and good mix of pub fare.
• Don Lucho’s Restaurant and Pisco Bar – A tasty Peruvian restaurant with excellent outdoor seating at the intersection of NE 80th Street and Roosevelt.
• Mojito – Latin American and Cuban food on Lake City Way near Roosevelt.
• Santo Coffee – I hear Santo Coffee Co is good for coffee-drinkers; it’s located in Mio Apartments. Sounders fans, take note — it’s owned by Sounder Fredy Montero.
• Broadcast Coffee – On Roosevelt near NE 65th Street, this outpost of the local chain offers drinks in a minimalist café setting.
• Cowen Park Café – Excellent coffee and pastries in a small family-run grocery store across from Cowen Park.
• The bars – The Atlantic Crossing, Teddy’s Tavern, Triple R Brewing Alley tavern, and Die Bierstube are all great places to enjoy a brew. Teddy’s Tavern has been open for 35 years years and offers ping pong, pool, and pinball.

It’s important to point out that the Green Lake and Ravenna neighborhoods are less than a mile away and offer many other retail and dining establishments. As a whole, the Roosevelt Link light rail station may be a neighborhood stop, but it shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s absolutely one of the best stops for park enthusiasts. The food and drink options are good and will only increase with several planned mid-rise buildings with planned retail space coming soon to the neighborhood.

The post An Urbanist’s Destination Guide to the Roosevelt Station Area first appeared on The Urbanist.

However, the pace of new construction and permitting could now begin to slow with many mid-rise buildings completed, a scarcity of underdeveloped sites, and static mid-rise zoning. With readily developable land decreasing, midrise construction and permitting has continued to spread to the outer stretches of Roosevelt’s limited midrise zoning. Over 1,100 units have been completed between 2015 and September of 2019 when The Urbanist published its last update on development in Roosevelt.

In addition to the light rail station, transportation infrastructure is also slowly improving in the neighborhood with the paving project on the other side of the high school coming in addition to other improvements, such as safer walking and biking infrastructure brought to NE 65th Street through its Vision Zero project. With Roosevelt Station opening within a few couple of days, let’s check in on the construction ongoing in the neighborhood.

Recent completions and active construction

Around 900 new homes, which includes the sleeping rooms of a new congregate residence, have come on line since our last update in 2019. These homes are distributed across six residential projects ranging from 54 to 289 units.

• 7011 Roosevelt Way NE – Vista 7011
  • A five-story, 56-unit apartment building, three of the units are live/work and the other 53 are apartments.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy on 8/30/2019.
• 7001 Roosevelt Way NE – Vivid Apartments
  • A five-story, 54-unit apartment building.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy on 9/14/2019.
• 829 NE 67th Street – Rise on Sixty-Seventh
  • A congregate residence with 178 sleeping rooms.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy on 9/16/2019.
• 838 NE 66th Street – Track 66
  • A seven-story, 78-unit apartment building, three of the units are live/work and the other 75 are residential.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy in 2019.
• 802/828 NE 66th Street – Iron Flats
  • A 289-unit apartment complex across three buildings.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy on 8/25/2021.
• 1420 NE 65th Street – Centerline
  • A seven-story, 235-unit apartment building with 7,450 square feet of retail and parking for around 187 cars.
  • This project received its certificate of occupancy in 2021.

Under construction is Fireside Flats at 841 NE 68th Street, Cedar Crossing at 660 Roosevelt Way NE, a small apartment building at 800 NE 64th Street, and Corner 63 at 6300 9th Avenue NE. Fireside Flats will be an eight-story, 102-unit apartment building. Cedar Crossing is the affordable development by Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing Northwest. It will have 253 affordable homes, a public village square, retail, a community room, and affordable childcare. At 800 NE 64th Street, a four-story 26-unit apartment building is under construction. Corner 63 will be a seven-story, 77-unit apartment building.

Right by Centerline is the ongoing 15th Avenue NE paving project. This project will add new protected and unprotected bike lanes, new flashing beacons, and new left-turn pockets. Parking will be removed from one side of the street, sidewalks will be repaired, and curb ramps will be upgraded. At Roosevelt High School, the City is adding Safe Routes to School and neighborhood greenway crossings improvements and expects to finish in spring of 2022.

What’s Next

Eleven other projects are currently at various stages of the permitting process. These can be roughly split between those within a block of Roosevelt Way NE and those on NE 65th Street east of 12th Avenue NE.

• 7012 Roosevelt Way NE
  • A proposed five-story, 91-unit apartment building.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 1011 NE 68th Street
  • A very recently proposed multifamily building with retail.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 811 NE 66th Street
  • A proposed five-story, 20-unit apartment building with a basement, and a roof with residential space.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 815 NE 66th Street – Theo Apartments
  • A permitted seven-story 79-unit apartment building.
• 831 NE 66th Street
  • A proposed seven-story, 36-unit apartment building.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 6501 Roosevelt Way NE
  • A permitted seven-story, 20-unit apartment building with no parking.

• 6550 Brooklyn Avenue NE/1309 NE 66th Street – Brooklyn 1B
  • A proposed seven-story, 77-unit apartment building.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 1300 NE 65th Street – Brooklyn 1A
  • A proposed eight-story, 199-unit apartment building.
  • This project is in permitting.
• 6420 Brooklyn Avenue NE
  • A permitted four-story, 35-unit apartment building.
  • Permits have been issued for this project, but have expired.
• 1403 NE 65th Street
  • A permitted four-story building with 65 small efficiency dwelling units.
  • Permits have been issued and recently renewed for this project.
• 6502 15th Avenue NE
  • A proposed six-story, 149-unit apartment building with 5,044 square feet of retail and parking for 84 cars.
  • This project is in permitting.

Planning for the future

If all of the permitted projects are completed, the amount of more liberally zoned and undeveloped land in Roosevelt will severely decrease. Mid-rise zoning in the neighborhood is limited to two intersecting narrow corridors, which are already getting rather crowded with apartments. Having the light rail station located on the outer perimeter of this zoning means that on the opposite side of the station there’s a baffling amount of very low density housing that decreases the potential light rail ridership at the Roosevelt Station.

The limitations placed on development in the neighborhood are already showing. If we include all the completed projects from 2015 to today, those under construction, and all those in permitting, the total arrives at around 3,300 units. By contrast, Northgate could see over 4,000 new units, and the Northgate Station area has barely exhausted nearby underdeveloped sites. Perhaps the Roosevelt Station area is running into the limitation of mid-rises, but a clear cause of the limitation to new housing near light rail in the neighborhood is a zoning map that protects single-family home zones, locking in low density — and expensive — housing, right next to the station.

In his article for The Urbanist, Ron Davis called for a zoning refresh in the Roosevelt urban village. Davis identified roughly 86 acres of low-density zoning within a 10-minute walkshed of the Roosevelt light rail station. He uses that number to argue that 18,000 more homes could be added to the station area if they were zoned as ambitiously as Centerline or Cedar Crossing. This number is lowered artificially by the fact that the close by, single-family home zoned Ravenna-Cowen Historic District is not counted in the low-density zoning acreage.

There clearly is a lot of room for Seattle to rezone the Roosevelt Station area to increase urban density with an eye toward making sure the light rail station gets the ridership a multi-million dollar public investment deserves. Roosevelt is also a strong demonstration of the willingness of developers building to the extent of the neighborhood’s mid-rise zoning — surely developers would be willing to build a tower with double digit stories in the neighborhood. Let’s upzone Roosevelt and make appropriate use of that $633 million station.

The post Catch Up on Development in the Roosevelt Station Area first appeared on The Urbanist.

So, you’ve taken the light rail up the new Northgate Station and you’re looking for things to explore and do. Well, Northgate has its fair share of options to entertain and The Urbanist is here to provide a guide that will help you make the most out of visiting what at first glance looks like little more than an active construction site. But, for those willing to take a closer look, the Northgate Station area actually offers plenty of fun activities. Additionally, after all that hanging out and exploring, you might want a bite to eat. No fear, Northgate also offers diverse food scene with options including cuisines from around the world.

Places and Green Space

While the Northgate neighborhood is still very much a work in progress for placemaking, it is already home to quite a few unique destinations for Seattle. Northgate’s old shopping center, one of the first modern malls to be built in the U.S., has mostly been converted into a construction site with only a few outcroppings and the Seattle Kraken’s ice hockey practice facility open to visit. For parks, the Northgate Station area has a handful of smaller parks and other green spaces located mostly outside of the immediate station area and embedded into nearby residential areas.

• Kraken Community Iceplex – Recently completed, the Seattle Kraken’s community ice rinks will likely be the main draw for many visitors to Northgate. The facility hosts three NHL-sized ice rinks, the Seattle Kraken’s training facility, a team store, other retail, and a restaurant. The facility is also unique to the city with multiple permanent ice rinks that can be used by the public for ice skating and curling. 1,576 people will be able to be seated in the three ice rinks, while the primary practice facility rink will be able to seat 1,000 visitors.

• Thornton Place – The most immediate attraction in the station area is Thornton Place with its theater, restaurants, retail, creek, and pedestrian links. The creekside walkway hovers next to and above a daylit and restored segment of Thornton Creek. The path also functions as a connection between the light rail station and the Northgate Neighborhood Greenway that also neighbors other accessible parts of Thornton Creek.

• Thornton Creek – Throughout Northgate there are a couple narrow corridors and patches of Thornton Creek that the public can access. Right across the street from Thornton’s place daylit part of the Creek is the Beaver Pond Natural Area.
• Northgate Library, Northgate Park, and Northgate Community Center – Across the street from the Kraken Community Iceplex is the triumvirate of the Northgate Branch of the Seattle Public Library, Northgate Park, and Northgate Community Center. The community center features a basketball court, game room, childcare, teen programs, and fitness facilities.
• North Seattle College Campus – On the western side of the John Lewis Memorial Bridge is North Seattle College. The college’s campus is home to plenty of green space, with a community garden and Bartonwood Natural Area.
• Mineral Springs Park – Northwest of the college is Mineral Springs Park which is home to Seattle’s only disc golf course.
• Other parks in the area include Hubbard Homestead, Licton Springs Park, Maple Leaf Reservoir Park, and Victory Creek Park.

Food

Northgate and nearby neighborhoods are home to a highly diverse food scene where you’ll be able to find cuisines that span the globe. To get to many of these places you’ll have to walk north and outside of the 10-minute walkshed of the station, as the immediate station area has yet to adjust to the mixed-use nature of its zoning. In the future, more options will trickle in with the opening of the Northgate Station mall development’s ground floor restaurant spaces.

In Licton Springs, Cafe Banh Mi serves fantastic and large banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) and fresh rolls, but is still closed for Covid unfortunately. Close by is the highly acclaimed Family Donut Shop, which does your standard donut affair with higher quality than the competition (without higher pricing). You can also find teriyaki, a taqueria, Indian cuisine, and a few national chains on this side of the highway.

Around the former mall, a personal favorite of mine is Tian Fu. This restaurant serves Sichuan/Szechuan cuisine, any of their dry hot pots or fish dishes will do the trick — but beware if your spice tolerance is low. Thornton Place has sushi, Thai food, ramen, a pub, and national chains. You can also find Mexican cuisine, pizza, poke, Indian cuisine, a gyro spot, and breakfast places.

Pinehurst also has a cluster of restaurants relatively close by that complete the global tour of food that you can do in the Northgate Station area. There’s a trio of Ethiopian restaurants, more Mexican food options, and Thai food. El Parche Colombiano has great empanadas and Zylberschtein’s Jewish deli makes some damn good pastrami.

A growing neighborhood brings new destinations

While the most immediate thing to do in the Northgate Station area is to get to a parking lot/garage or board a bus to leave the neighborhood, if you stick around a while you’ll see there’s plenty to do and eat in the surrounding area. More retail, green space, and food will come to Northgate as the remainder of the mall development is completed over the next few years. For now and the foreseeable future, construction — and urban density — enthusiasts will be able to appreciate the progress being made on 4,000 housing units, office buildings, and two hotels.

The post An Urbanist’s Destination Guide to the Northgate Station Area first appeared on The Urbanist.

With Northgate’s light rail station opening imminent, let’s revisit the station area’s existing and incoming conditions. The entrance of Link light rail into Northgate delivers rapid grade-separated transit into one of the least walkable and newer areas of Seattle. Anchored by its mall, Northgate is a newer, fairly suburban Seattle neighborhood, but the promised light rail station has provided the impetus to slowly begin the transition to a more urban and multimodal friendly neighborhood. When Northgate Station opens on October 2nd there will still be much construction going on and ground to break.

In June, we reported Northgate’s wave of development includes more than 4,000 units — including 600 affordable units and those completed in 2019 — that could be added within a mile of the Northgate light rail station if projects in permitting eventuate. Since then, not many more proposals have surfaced, but a significant construction project has been completed at the site of the former mall.

Around transportation, conditions in precarious North Seattle have improved for bikes and pedestrians with new connections and infrastructure significantly reducing the barrier posed by I-5, notably the arrival of the John Lewis Memorial Bike and Pedestrian Bridge, which connects the Northgate Link light rail station to North Seattle College on the opposite end of the freeway.

Improved bike and pedestrian connections

Long simmering and recent developments are coming together to make walking and biking around the Northgate Station area easier and safer than ever. In Northgate, construction of the Northgate Neighborhood Greenway is underway, which will stretch between Hazel Wolf K-8 and Maple Leaf Reservoir Park. Outside of a small segment of new sidewalk at 5th Avenue NE/NE 103rd Street, no new sidewalk is being added, despite North Seattle’s well known gaps in its sidewalk network. Major new improvements are coming to Roosevelt Way NE with a new crossing signal, marked crosswalks, and curb bulbs at NE 103rd Street. Marked crosswalks and curb bulbs will also be introduced at NE 117th Street. At NE Northgate Way and 8th Avenue NE, the safety median was rebuilt, crosswalks were marked, and marked bike crossings and protected left turns were added.

Meanwhile, Licton Springs had a network of Stay Healthy Streets implemented during the pandemic to complement existing bike infrastructure and better connect the neighborhood to Aurora/Greenwood. These Stay Healthy Streets are on N 100th Street, N 92nd St, Ashworth Avenue N, and Fremont Avenue N, directly connecting them with the Interurban Trail and Greenwood Stay Healthy Streets on 1st Avenue NW. These improvements were integrated with existing bike lanes on Meriden Avenue N/College Way N and N 92nd Street with improved crossings at N 100th Street/College Way N and N 92nd Street/Wallingford Avenue N.

Licton Springs’ Stay Healthy Streets and bike lanes are linked together with the Northgate Neighborhood Greenway at the center of these improvements, where the light rail station’s attached bike and pedestrian bridge extends over the I-5. Multi-use paths on North Seattle College Campus, NE 100th Street, and 1st Avenue NE ensure no missing links in the connection of Northgate neighborhoods and Licton Springs all the way to Greenwood.

Mall redevelopment update

When Northgate Station opens on October 2nd, the only newly completed building at the former mall — now also named Northgate Station — will be the Kraken Community Iceplex. The Iceplex hosts three ice rinks for public use and the Seattle Kraken’s training facility, Kraken offices, and retail. In raw numbers, the NHL site will be able to seat 1,576 people, have 21,660 square feet of training facility, and 23,000 square feet of office space. Having already opened, the new street network at Northgate Station has already started to take shape around the Iceplex.

Other developments at Northgate Station are expected to see occupancy years from now. In a transportation response memo, it was noted that the 167-room hotel was anticipated to be ready for occupancy in July 2023, and the 173-room hotel was anticipated to be ready for occupancy in October 2024. The documents also reflect a recent clarification that the two mixed-use apartments will have 416 units between them, 230 for site “M2” and 186 for site “M3.” M2 and M3 will be connected by skybridge and have anticipated dates of occupancy for May 2024 and December 2024.

Little detail seems to exist for a few of the sites closest to the light rail station, leaving an underwhelming walkshed by lack of immediate transit-oriented development. Directly east of the station in the old transit center and parking lot, only a single affordable housing project taking up a fraction of the site is planned to break ground in 2022. Much of the original vision has been shelved until funding is found. However, if projects envisioned in the 2013 Northgate Urban Design Framework materialize, the old transit center could be a series of mixed-use midrises.

Concepts created in partnership with VIA Architecture also imagined midrise infill on the parking lots and underdeveloped sites in close proximity and just south of the Northgate light rail station. Outside of a finished hotel on 1st Avenue NE, none of this vision has come to be. This leaves the Northgate station area with a car-oriented southern half dominated by surface parking lots with the Northgate Transit Center Park and Ride, parking lots of the office buildings directly south of the station, and North Seattle College’s parking lots all in the immediate station area.

When passengers exit the first trains to Northgate Station, they’ll immediately be greeted by parking lots and garages. There are amenities and dense development nearby, but visitors will have to walk or bus a half mile to get to the epicenter of Northgate’s activities. That being said, it won’t be that difficult or dangerous for visitors to walk or jump on a bike to all of Northgate’s destinations with all of the new transportation infrastructure with the bridge, Stay Healthy Streets, and Neighborhood Greenway coming into place.

The post With Light Rail’s Arrival, Northgate Urban Center Takes Shape first appeared on The Urbanist.

With travel times between Westlake and Northgate of just 13 minutes, the time savings for riders currently taking buses along the corridor will be tremendous. Here’s a sneak peak inside the station, which will see its first in-service train depart for Angle Lake at 4:51am on Saturday, October 2nd.

The south station entrance will be the primary entrance most riders at this station will use. This entrance opens out onto the primary station plaza and will be close to most direct bus connections. Twin escalators carry passengers here but there is also a stairway available.

Northgate Station has a mezzanine level, which is where the ticket vending machines are located and where the proof-of-payment area begins. There is some seating available in this area, outside the fare paid zone. There are also public restrooms available on the mezzanine!

The mezzanine is also where the John Lewis Memorial bike and pedestrian bridge connects to the station. That bridge, a Seattle Department of Transportation project, will open to the public at 10:00am on the morning of October 2nd.

Following the main twin escalators up to the platform level, riders will board trains on both sides from a center platform, with the main station escalators bringing riders into roughly the middle of the platform.

There is another escalator at the north end of the platform, but only one. It was set to bring riders up when I toured the station, so most riders disembarking will end up directed to the main escalators if they don’t opt for the stairs.

On the south end of the platform is a public stairway that provides great views of trains arriving and departing the station on either side.

Outside the station, bus stops are well-integrated into the station vicinity, in contrast with stations like UW’s “Husky Stadium” Station. Riders will only have to go a short distance between bus stops and station escalators, and bus-only lanes will ensure traffic is mostly clear for them.

Northgate, Roosevelt, and U District Stations open in just nine days. Make sure to check out our guide to the entire light rail extension and watch for more coverage to come.

The post A Peek Inside the Northgate Link Light Rail Station first appeared on The Urbanist.