The Central Waterfront is a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is the most urbanized portion of the Elliott Bay shore. It runs from the Pioneer Square shore roughly northwest past Downtown Seattle and Belltown, ending at the Broad Street site of the Olympic Sculpture Park.
The Central Waterfront was once the hub of Seattle's maritime activity. Since the construction of a container port to its south in the 1960s, the area has increasingly been converted to recreational and retail uses. As of 2008, several century-old piers are devoted to shops and restaurants. There are several parks, a Ferris wheel, an aquarium, and one over-water hotel.
Some docks remain on the Central Waterfront, under the authority of the Port of Seattle, including a cruise ship dock, ferry terminals, and a fireboat dock. There are many architectural vestiges of the area's past status as the heart of a port, and a handful of businesses have remained in operation since that time.
Location and extent
As with most Seattle neighborhoods, the Central Waterfront has no defined and agreed-upon boundaries. According to the Seattle Waterfront Plan, the Central Waterfront runs roughly from Jackson Street in the Pioneer Square neighborhood, north along the Elliott Bay shore through Downtown to Broad Street, near the north end of Belltown. To its south is the Port of Seattle's container port; to its north is the Olympic Sculpture Park. That plan makes no clear statement as to how far inland the "waterfront" neighborhood might extend.The New Seattle Waterfront: A Summary of the Seattle Waterfront Plan , City of Seattle, p. 3. Accessed online 18 October 2008.
Real estate and consulting firm Wronsky, Gibbons & Riely PLLC describe the Central Waterfront as a "predominately linear district running north-south along Alaskan Way" from Pier 48 to Pier 70.Chris Wronsky, Paul Bottge and Scott Mackay, Access to Central Waterfront Still a Problem, Daily Journal of Commerce (Seattle), precise date unspecified, 1996. Accessed online 18 October 2008. Pier 48 is at the foot of Yesler Way, three blocks north of Jackson Street (the city plan's southern boundary); Pier 70 is at the foot of Broad Street.
A 2006 study by the Department of Neighborhoods agrees on where to place the north end of the district, but puts its southern boundary at Columbia Street (a block north of Yesler Way at the water's edge). Below Battery Street, this study considers the neighborhood to extend inland to First Avenue. Above Battery Street, they consider the neighborhood to extend only to Elliott Avenue, taking in facilities such as the World Trade Center. The southern cutoff at Columbia Street completely excludes the Pioneer Square neighborhood, while the extension inland to First Avenue means that they consider the former warehouse district along Western Avenue and the entire Pike Place Market Historical District as part of the Central Waterfront..
In its southern portion, the waterfront is separated from inland Seattle by Alaskan Way, which continues northward through downtown. As one continues north, the land rises more rapidly away from the water, creating a sharper distinction between waterfront and uplands. There are several distinct passages between the Central Waterfront and the uplands: the Harbor Steps at University Street, leading to the Seattle Art Museum; the Pike Street Hill Climb from the Seattle Aquarium to the Pike Place Market; and, farther north, the Lenora Street and Bell Street Bridges. The last two are not heavily used, because they do not connect to any major upland destination.
Historically, Seattle's Central Waterfront continued farther south, with a similar character. Since the mid-1960s, the area to the south has been a container port.Paul Dorpat, Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 2: From Coal to Containers, Piers 46, 47, and 48, HistoryLink, March 24, 2000. Accessed online 18 October 2008.
Seattle's current pier numbering scheme dates from World War II; prior to that era, for example, the present Pier 55 was Pier 4 and Pier 57 was Pier 6.Summary for 1201 Alaskan WAY / Parcel ID 7666202485, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online 19 October 2008.Summary for 1301 Alaskan WAY / Parcel ID 7666202435, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online 19 October 2008.
Roads
As of 2020, the main route along the Central Waterfront is Alaskan Way. Alaskan Way follows the route of the earlier railway line and one-time Railroad Avenue along the "Ram's Horn" from just north of S. Holgate Street in the Industrial District to Broad Street at the north end of the Central Waterfront.Seattle Public Utilities City Property FinderPaul Dorpat, Seattle Central Waterfront Tour, Part 6: From Railroad Avenue to Alaskan Way , HistoryLink, May 24, 2000. Accessed online 20 October 2008.Google Maps.
The original Railroad Avenue was built as a planked roadway on pilings over the waters of Elliott Bay. The chaos of horses and buggies, pedestrians, rail cars, multiple railroad tracks and multiple sidings was somewhat relieved when the Great Northern built a rail tunnel (1903–1906) under Downtown. From that time, only rail traffic that actually needed to access the waterfront had to use Railroad Avenue; other trains could bypass the busy corridor. Still, there continued to be problems with the structural integrity of the planked roadway. Between 1911 and 1916, a concrete seawall strengthened the portion of the waterfront between S. Washington Street and Madison Street. By 1936 the seawall extended northward to Bay Street, its current extent as of 2008, and Railroad Avenue officially became Alaskan Way.. Still, it was not properly paved until 1940, during the administration of mayor Arthur B. Langlie.. In the early 1950s, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was built, paralleling Alaskan Way for much of its distance. It was demolished in late 2019 after its replacement by the State Route 99 tunnel.
From May 29, 1982Walt Crowley, Seattle Waterfront Streetcar inaugurates service on May 29, 1982, HistoryLink, January 1, 2000. Accessed online 1 November 2008. to November 19, 2005, the George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line ran parallel to Alaskan Way on the land side. The trolley barn was demolished to build the Olympic Sculpture Park, and since 2005 a roughly equivalent route has been served by a bus.Seattle Post-Intelligencer staff, Waterfront trolley's last lullaby until 2007, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 19, 2005. Accessed online 1 November 2008.George Benson Waterfront Streetcar Line / Metro Route 99, King County Metro. Accessed online 1 November 2008.
Piers and buildings
The piers of Seattle's Central Waterfront are numbered from Pier 46, at the south end of the area, to Pier 70 at the northern end.
Piers 46–48
Pier 46, and land filled, is the southernmost pier on the Central Waterfront and the northernmost pier of the Port of Seattle's container port. For two years in the early 2000s part of it was operated by the Church Council as a homeless shelter.SHARE/WHEEL—Calling a Bluff or Accepting an Offer?, Church Council of Greater Seattle, August 23, 2007. Accessed online 18 October 2008.Myles Sundin, Port of Seattle Demo report, Labournet.net, 14 March 2002. Accessed online 18 October 2008. South Korean container shipping company Hanjin Shipping has a lease at the pier through 2015 with a 10-year renewal option.Jim Brunner, New downtown arena plan long on hope, short on details , Seattle Times, April 2, 2004. Accessed online 18 October 2008. Nonetheless, there has been much discussion about the future of Pier 46. Proposals have included a sports arena,Chris Daniels & Travis Pittman, Privately funded $1 billion Seattle arena proposed, NWCN Sports / KING-5 News, April 1, 2008. Accessed online 18 October 2008. mixed-income or low-income housing,Waterfront For All, Allied Arts of Seattle. Accessed online 18 October 2008. condos and a shopping center, or continued use as part of the port.John McLaurin, Condos, shopping center wrong direction for Pier 46, Seattle Times, December 28, 2004. Accessed online 18 October 2008. Opinion piece by the president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.
Pier 48, at the foot of Main Street, also incorporates the former Pier 47. Nirvana, Cypress Hill and the Breeders performed a concert at Pier 48 on December 13, 1993, which was recorded for MTV.Kurt St. Thomas & Troy Smith (2004), Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects, Macmillan, , p. 192.Liner notes, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, DGC Records, 1996. Until 1999, the pier was the Seattle terminal for a ferry service to Victoria, British Columbia using the ship Princess Marguerite.Arthur C. Gorlick, Marguerite's Fate in the Balance: Talks Under Way to Save Victoria Ferry Run, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 29, 1999. Accessed online 18 October 2008. After the final departure of the Princess Marguerite, Pier 48 became home to a museum ship, the Soviet-era Foxtrot class submarine Cobra.Home page , Russiancobra.com. Accessed online 18 October 2008. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) purchased the pier from the Port of Seattle in 2008.Kristen Millares Young, Port takes step to sell Pier 48 to the state, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 8, 2008. Accessed online 18 October 2008. Citing safety and the expense of maintaining the buildings on the worm-eaten pier, WSDOT demolished the warehouse on the pier in July 2010 in order to use the space as a staging area for the coming demolition of the nearby Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Piers 46–48 are roughly in the area once occupied by Ballast Island. Pier 48 began life in 1901 as Pier B of the Pacific Coast Company's Ocean Dock, which also had two other piers (A and C, the latter also known as City Dock). In the early 20th century, there was a terminal here for the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad..
Harbor Entrance Pergola
As of 2008 there is no Pier 49 as such; the site used to be the Washington Street Boat Landing, but is closed off and unused.Summary for Washington Street and Alaskan Way, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online 18 October 2008. This was roughly the site of both the pre-fire and post-fire Yesler's Wharf and of Piers 1 and 2, built by the Northern Pacific some time between 1901 (when the post-fire Yesler's Wharf was demolished) and 1904.. The one prominent remaining feature of the crumbling wharf is the Harbor Entrance Pergola, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.National Register of Historic Places, ID #74001961, under the name Washington Street Public Boat Landing Facility. Originally it functioned as a landing point for boats bringing passengers from ships. Over the years since the boat landing was closed, various uses have been proposed, including a terminal for the King County Water Taxi route to West SeattleGeorge Foster, Water Taxi Riders Want All-Year Service: West Seattle Commuter Run Ends on Monday, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 4, 1999. Accessed online 18 October 2008. or a mooring point for the historic tugboat Arthur Foss.First Annual Centennial Strategy for Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park - Seattle, August 2007, p. 3. Accessed online 18 October 2008.
On September 26, 2010, a water taxi carrying 78 passengers failed to reverse its engines and slammed into the pier. 7 were injured.
As of 2013, the site hosts the maintenance and moorage barge for the King County Metro water taxi.