University Village (colloquially known as U-Village) is a

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

in northeastern

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States, located in the south corner of the

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

neighborhood to the north of the

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

area. It is an open-air shopping center which offers restaurants, locally owned boutiques, and national retailers, and is a popular retail destination in the region for home furnishings, popular fashions, gift items, and restaurants. It is currently owned by multimillionaire Stuart Sloan.

History

Creation

University Village was originally developed by Continental Inc. who also developed Westwood Village in

West Seattle West Seattle is a conglomeration of List of neighborhoods in Seattle, neighborhoods in Seattle, Washington, United States. It comprises two of the List of neighborhoods in Seattle, thirteen districts, Delridge, Seattle, Delridge and Southwest, ...

and Aurora Village in

Shoreline, Washington Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was ...

. it was once home to a

Coast Salish The Coast Salish peoples are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak on ...

village named sluʔwiɫ, which means "Little Canoe Channel" in

Lushootseed Lushootseed ( ), historically known as Puget Salish, Puget Sound Salish, or Skagit-Nisqually, is a Central Coast Salish language of the Salishan language family. Lushootseed is the general name for the dialect continuum composed of two main di ...

. The shopping center was built in 1956 across NE 45th Street on an earlier part of the Montlake Landfill (since 1911, 1922–1966), taking out what remained of the Union Bay Marsh that was drained by the lowering of

Lake Washington Lake Washington () is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest lake in King County, Washington, King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington (state), Was ...

as a result of the opening of the

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal is a canal that runs through the city of Seattle and connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington to the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately diff ...

(1913–1916). Some wetland was later partially restored as the Union Bay Natural Area with the Center for Urban Horticulture.

Early history

Until the early 1990s, the character of University Village was decidedly different. Most of its businesses were small, and the chain stores were all local: Ernst Hardware and Malmo Nursery,

Lamonts Lamonts was a chain of department stores founded in Seattle, Washington. The chain was started in 1970 when Pay 'n Save renamed its suburban branches of Rhodes, a department store chain the company acquired in 1965. Lamonts remained a division of ...

department store (acquired by Gottschalks in 2000), Pay 'n Save Drugs (sold to

PayLess Drug Thrifty PayLess Holdings, Inc. was a pharmacy holding company that owned the Thrifty Drugs and PayLess Drug Stores chains in the western United States. The combined company was formed in April 1994 when Los Angeles–based TCH Corporation, the ...

in the early 1990s), and QFC supermarket, then a much smaller facility on the western side of the property, formerly an A&P store. The present QFC store on the east edge opened in 1996, it was formerly a

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

facility from 1955 to 1991. There was even a

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a clubhouse or dwelling ...

, Village Lanes, which was originally a

roller rink A roller rink is a hard surface usually consisting of hardwood or concrete, used for roller skating or inline skating. This includes roller hockey, speed skating, roller derby, and individual recreational skating. Roller rinks can be located in ...

in the 1950s, located near the northwest corner. Many of the businesses began to falter toward the end of the 1980s, however, and in 1993 the owners of the mall decided to sell. For much of this period, University Village was owned by the

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent c ...

Retirement Investment Fund.

Modern

QFC chairman Stuart Sloan and his business partner Matt Griffin bought the property, and other tenants began to move out.

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

was an

anchor tenant In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

after the mid-1990s renovation, but closed at the end of 2011. University Village began to attract upscale retailers in the 1990s and 2000s after its renovation into a lifestyle center with outdoor spaces. Despite the influx of new national retailers, 61% of U-Village merchants are still local.

Shops

Anchor tenant In North American, Australian and New Zealand retail, an "anchor tenant", sometimes called an "anchor store", "draw tenant", or "key tenant", is a considerably larger tenant in a shopping mall, often a department store or retail chain. They are ...

s today are an

Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of Retail, retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell, service and repair various Apple products, including Macintosh, Mac desktop and MacBook laptop personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad ta ...

, Crate & Barrel, The Gap, and Pottery Barn. A significant adjacent anchor is the Seattle QFC flagship store. A competing Safeway location behind QFC closed in 2023 and was relocated to University District. In 1991, neighborhood activists initiated a campaign with the City to "daylight" Ravenna Creek through Ravenna Park to Lake Washington, but the segment from the park to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

(UW) and the Union Bay Natural Area was successfully blocked by the owners of University Village. It has been recently updated to include more shops below the brand new medical center.

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

, an online retailer founded and based in the region, opened its first physical storefront at University Village on November 3, 2015. It has since closed.

Boundaries

The campus of the UW is to the west and south, the neighborhood of Bryant farther to the east, and the neighborhood of

to the north, but portions of the surrounding neighborhoods are often referred to as being in "University Village" themselves, approximately west to 22nd Avenue NE, north to NE 55th Street, and east to Union Bay Place NE and 30th Avenue NE.< The area's principal arterials are 25th Avenue NE and NE 45th Street; 35th Avenue is a minor arterial. Collector arterials are NE Blakeley-Union Bay Place NE and NE 55th streets. For browser use; other versions for printing, cf. Bibliography. Fro
"Principal, Minor and Collector arterials"
, Seattle Department of Transportation, 2005.

References

Bibliography

*
"About the Seattle City Clerk's On-line Information Services"
Information Services, Seattle City Clerk's Office. Retrieved April 21, 2006. See heading, "Note about limitations of these data". * * Dorpat, Paul (June 18, 2001, updated May 2002)
"Seattle Neighborhoods: University District -- Thumbnail History"
Retrieved April 21, 2006. HistoryLink page updated from Paul Dorpat, ''Seattle: Now and Then Vols. 1, 2, and 3''. Seattle: Tartu Publications, 1984, 1988;

Walt Crowley Walter Charles Crowley (June 20, 1947 – September 21, 2007) was an American historian and activist from Washington state. He first entered the public sphere in Seattle through his involvement with the social and political movements of the 1960s, ...

and Paul Dorpat, "The Ave: Streetcars to Street Fairs", typescript dated 1995 in possession of Walt Crowley and Paul Dorpat, Seattle, Washington;
Walt Crowley, ''Rites of Passage''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995;
Cal McCune, ''From Romance to Riot: A Seattle Memoir''. Seattle: Cal McCune, 1996;
Roy Nielsen, ''UniverCity: The City Within City: The Story of the University District'' Seattle: University Lions Foundation, ca. 1986;
Clark Humphrey, ''Loser: the Real Seattle Music Story''. Portland, OR: Feral House, 1995.
"HISTORY @ UBNA"
(Union Bay Natural Area). Center for Urban Horticulture (n.d., 1999 pe
"Montlake Landfill Information Summary, January 1999"
on page). Retrieved April 21, 2006.
"Map"
Home > Information > Map a
"Map"
U Village. PDF dated May 7, 2006. Retrieved April 21, 2006. * O'Neil, Kit, University Community Urban Center (n.d., 1997 pe

Retrieved April 21, 2006. * * Ravenna Creek Alliance (November 9, 2005)

Retrieved April 21, 2006. * Ravenna Creek Alliance (November 9, 2005)

Retrieved April 21, 2006. * Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas (n.d., map .jpg c. June 17, 2002)

Retrieved April 21, 2006.
Maps "NN-1030S", "NN-1040S".jpg dated June 17, 2002. * Stein, Alan J
"Patches, Julius Pierpont"
''HistoryLink''. March 2, 2003, retrieved April 21, 2006. Stein referenced Jack Broom, “The J.P. Generation," ''Pacific Magazine'', ''The Seattle Times'', April 4, 1993, pp. 6–11,14-17;
Bill Cartmel, “Hi Ya, Patches Pals," ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', 11 April 1971, pp. 6–7;
Erik Lacitis, “Patches Understands – and Survives," ''The Seattle Times'', February 23, 1978, p. A15;

o title O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

''The East Side Journal'', May 31, 1962, p. 3; Ibid. May 14, 1969, p. 19. *
High-Resolution Version
PDF format, 16.1 MB
Medium-Resolution Version
PDF format, 1.45 MB January 12, 2004.
Low-Resolution Version
PDF format, 825 KB January 12, 2004.
"Planned Arterials Map Legend Definitions"
PDF format. January 12, 2004.
The high resolution version is good for printing, 11 x 17. The low and medium resolution versions are good for quicker online viewing.
nowiki>">ource

nowiki>/nowiki> * Warren, James R. (updated September 13, 2004)
"Bartell, George H. Sr. (1868-1956)"
September 16, 1999, corrected on April 17, 2002, and updated on September 13, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2006. Warren referenced "A Century of Business," Puget Sound Business Journal, September 17, 1999;
Junior Achievement of Greater Puget Sound Hall of Fame Series;
"Bartell Drugs: All in the Family," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 22, 2000, p. C-1;
Bartell Drugs Webpage (http://www.bartelldrugs.com).
"For information on the origin of the soda fountain see the "About Inventors" Website

."

External links

* {{Coord, 47.6632, -122.2989, type:landmark_region:US-WA, display=title, format=dms Shopping malls in Seattle Shopping malls established in 1956 1956 establishments in Washington (state)