Seattle — Streetcar Approval

Rail Transit Online, November 2005

The Waterfront Streetcar line will be mothballed on Nov. 18 when construction starts on the Seattle Art Museum's new Olympic Sculpture Park on the site of the trolley’s maintenance facility and its Broad Street station.  Both will be demolished but the station will be replaced and connected to the sculpture park with a pedestrian sky bridge.  A new trolley barn will be built in Pioneer Square under a public-private deal with a developer, who will include the $9-million streetcar maintenance base in a new mixed use building at Main Street and Occidental Park.  The city and the Port of Seattle would each contribute $1 million, and the county would pay $7 million as part of a lease-to own agreement with the developer, Center of Pioneer Square LLC.  A previous proposal by the Port to locate the barn north of the new sculpture park would have cost more than $20 million. “This is a victory for streetcar riders, the Pioneer Square community, transit passengers, and the citizens of the region who will get to enjoy a spectacular new park,” said King County Executive Ron Sims.  “Having the streetcar maintenance garage in Pioneer Square not only saves $11 million, but it also opens new possibilities for extending the popular streetcar service and builds much-needed market rate housing.”  Metro Transit will provide free bus service along the streetcar route until the former Melbourne trolleys return, which city officials hope will occur during the 2007 tourist season.