Downtown is the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S.

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats. It is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which are

Lower Queen Anne Lower Queen Anne (officially known since 2021 as Uptown) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, at the base of Queen Anne, Seattle, Queen Anne Hill. While its boundaries are not precise, the toponym usually refers to the sho ...

(sometimes known as "Uptown"), Seattle Center, and

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Denny ...

; on the east by Interstate 5, beyond which is

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

to the northeast and Central District to the east; on the south by S Dearborn Street, beyond which is Sodo; and on the west by Elliott Bay, a part of Puget Sound.

Neighborhoods

Belltown, Denny Triangle, the retail district, the West Edge, the financial district, the government district,

Pioneer Square Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and dev ...

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

, Japantown, Little Saigon, and the western flank of

First Hill First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington ...

west of Broadway make up downtown Seattle's chief neighborhoods. Near the center of downtown is the

Metropolitan Tract The Metropolitan Tract is an area of land in downtown Seattle owned by the University of Washington.University of Washington; prior to 1895 it served as the location of the university's campus. Downtown is Seattle's financial and commercial maritime hub as well as its center of nightlife and shopping. The downtown shopping mall Westlake Center is connected to Seattle Center by a monorail.

Landmarks

Downtown Seattle's Columbia Center has 76 floors, a greater number than any other building west of the Mississippi River (although there are taller buildings in Texas and California). Smith Tower, in the Pioneer Square area, once held the title of tallest American building west of the Mississippi. Other notable buildings are the

1201 Third Avenue 1201 Third Avenue (formerly Washington Mutual Tower) is a , 55-story skyscraper in Downtown Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the third-tallest building in the city, the eighth-tallest on the West Coast of the United States, and t ...

(formerly the Washington Mutual Tower),

Two Union Square Union Square is a skyscraper complex at Sixth Avenue between Union and University Streets in Downtown Seattle, Washington, adjacent to Freeway Park. It consists of two skyscrapers built in the 1980s and primarily used for office space. The entire ...

, Nordstrom's flagship store,

Benaroya Hall Benaroya Hall is the home of the Seattle Symphony in Downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. It features two auditoria, the S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium, a 2500-seat performance venue, as well as the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital H ...

, the Seattle Central Library designed by

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...

, and the main building of the Seattle Art Museum (built 1991, expanded 2007), the main facade of which was designed by Robert Venturi. Downtown parks include

Westlake Park Westlake Park can mean: *Westlake Park (Seattle), a park in Seattle, Washington * MacArthur Park, formerly Westlake Park, in Los Angeles, California *Westlake Park (Houston) Westlake Park is a office complex located in the Energy Corridor, Housto ...

Freeway Park Freeway Park, officially known as Jim Ellis Freeway Park, is an urban park in Seattle, Washington, United States, connecting the city's downtown to the Washington State Convention Center and First Hill. The park sits atop a section of Interstat ...

, and

Victor Steinbrueck Park Victor Steinbrueck Park is a 0.8 acre (3,000 m²) park in Downtown Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States, located just northwest of Pike Place Market overlooking Elliott Bay. Named for the Seattle-based architect Victor Steinbrue ...

. The Olympic Sculpture Park was completed on the Belltown waterfront in January 2007. Downtown is also home to the landmark Pike Place Market, the oldest continually operating farmers' market in the United States and the core of activity in the area.

History

After abandoning " New York Alki", the Denny Party moved across the then-named Duwamish Bay in April 1852 to a low level marsh situated with a safe deep water harbor, located roughly in the city's

district. They named this new frontier "Duwamps". In the late 1850s, present day Downtown Seattle became the main residential outskirts of the city. After the Great Seattle Fire, the business district was moved to the area. Several of the city's hills around downtown were regraded starting around 1876.

Expansion

With about 65,000 people living in Seattle's core neighborhoods as of 2015, the downtown area's population is growing. Downtown saw a 10 percent increase in the number of occupied housing units and an 8 percent increase in population between 2010 and 2014, outpacing growth in the city as a whole. As of the end of 2014, there were 32 apartment and 2 condominium projects under construction, representing over 5,000 units. In 1989, building heights in Downtown and adjoining Seattle suburbs were tightly restricted following a voter initiative. These restrictions were dramatically loosened in 2006, leading to the increase in high-rise construction. This policy change has divided commentators between those who support the increased density and those who criticize it as " Manhattanization." , Downtown Seattle has 82,000 residents and 300,000 jobs, including 48,000 added since 2010 in the Denny Triangle area. The downtown area has of office space, representing 79 percent of citywide inventory and 55 percent of commercial properties in the city. Office construction continues apace in Downtown Seattle, with planned to open in 2019, along with 161 projects.

Economy

Downtown Seattle is the largest employment center in the Puget Sound region, with an estimated employee population of 243,995 in 2013, accounting for half of the city's jobs and 21 percent of King County jobs. Several

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

companies headquartered in Downtown Seattle include Amazon, Nordstrom, and

Expeditors International Expeditors (Expeditors International of Washington) is an American worldwide logistics and freight forwarding company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Financial information Expeditors became a publicly traded company in 1984 with the listing ...

Government and infrastructure

The United States Postal Service operates the Seattle Main Post Office (also known as the Midtown Post Office) at 301 Union Street at Third Avenue.

Seattle City Hall Seattle City Hall (also known as the Seattle Municipal Building) is the home of the offices of the mayor and city council of Seattle, Washington, located between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue in the downtown area of the city. Most city departments h ...

is located at 600 4th Ave, adjacent to the King County Courthouse. Downtown is serviced by the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel, which carries Link light rail trains between Westlake and Chinatown–International District. The terminus for the Seattle Center Monorail is located at Westlake Center. A large number of bus lines also run through; those operated by

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

were previously free of charge while in the now-defunct

Ride Free Area King County Metro, officially the King County Metro Transit Department and often shortened to Metro, is the public transit authority of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It is the eighth-largest transit bus agency in t ...

. Other buses from the suburbs operated by Sound Transit Express and Community Transit also terminate in downtown.

References

External links

* *
Downtown skyline
from the Smith Tower {{Seattle neighborhoods Seattle Economy of Seattle Articles containing video clips