Written by Bennet Vining, Business Retention Advocate.
How do you spend your retail therapy days? What neighborhood amenities are you missing? What businesses would you like to see in your neighborhood?
The way we shop and spend time in our neighborhoods is constantly changing. As we start to rethink retail, our office is partnering with &Access, alongside Agency Landscape + Planning and Ochoa Urban Collaborative, to explore those questions and to reimagine commercial spaces through a Retail and Ground Floor Revitalization Analysis.
The retail analysis will look at 11 neighborhoods across Seattle in partnership with our local community partners:
- South Park, Cultivate South Park
- Rainier Beach, Rainier Beach Action Coalition
- Rainier Valley, Mt. Baker Hub Alliance/Rainier Ave Business Coalition
- Beacon Hill, Beacon Business Alliance
- West Seattle Junction, West Seattle Junction
- First Hill, First Hill Improvement Association
- Downtown Pike/Pine, Downtown Seattle Association
- University District, University District Partnerships
- Ballard, Ballard Alliance
- Lake City, Build Lake City Together
- Phinney Greenwood, Phinney Neighborhood Association
We all can probably sense that our neighborhoods look and feel different these days. Maybe your favorite business left, maybe you’re seeing more vacant spaces, or maybe you’re less likely to walk and explore your neighborhood. &Access and partners were selected through a competitive Request for Proposal process to conduct the analysis and propose tailored strategies for our neighborhoods’ unique needs.
The consultant team will explore strategies to fill vacant ground floor spaces, promote walkability, and draw visitors to the district. The team kicked off the study with a week-long visit and tours with each partner in their commercial district. They did an initial scan of the districts, visited businesses, and started to identify key challenges and opportunities while consuming lots of treats along the way!
The Retail and Ground Floor Revitalization Analysis will wrap up in July 2025. At the end of the analysis, neighborhood partners will have recommended strategies and a plan to implement them. We are excited to launch this analysis and to reimagine the future of retail by joining public, private, and community visions into a cohesive plan for vibrant business districts.
Be on the lookout for ways to stay engaged in this process in 2025! And if you’d like to be connected to your local neighborhood organization, please reach out to bennet.vining@seattle.gov.