Is Brown the New Green?

Urban Brownfields Make Way for Research-Oriented Mixed-Use Communities
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Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

SOUTH LAKE UNION

A mixed-use research park was not the original goal for the underutilized industrial area of South Lake Union, which is situated between downtown Seattle and Lake Union. In the 1990s, there was a push for the area to become a large green park, recalls Sharon Coleman, director of real estate development at Vulcan. Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and founder of Vulcan, was supportive of the idea and bought land for that purpose. "The idea was put on the city ballot twice and voted down twice by Seattleans, so Paul ended up with all this property," continues Coleman.

In a classic example of making lemonade out of lemons, Vulcan created a development company and then began acquiring more land. The new goal was to create a mixed-use neighborhood with a strong focus on life sciences. The latter was only logical, given Allen's long-standing interest in biotech research, the proximity of University of Washington (UW), and the fact that the area was already home to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

But Coleman is quick to point out that the revitalization effort incorporates quite a bit of commercial space-including Amazon's new multi-building headquarters, scheduled to open next year, and "touch-down space" for Microsoft on the top floor of Group Health Cooperative's new building-in addition to mixed-income housing, hotels, restaurants, a grocery store, and even a farmer's market.

Recognizing the environmental and social value of historic preservation, developer Vulcan incorporated the facade of a brick laundry building dating back to the 1900s for Alley24.

Photo © Benjamin Benschneider

 

One of the oldest neighborhoods in Seattle, South Lake Union began as a light industrial and manufacturing area in the late 19th century. A sawmill came first, followed by other industries, including the first Boeing airplane factory and a Ford Model T assembly plant. Commercial laundries and dye-work factories came later, as did homes for the working class. But towards the end of the 20th century, most manufacturers had left and about half the area was paved for parking. Considering its size and proximity to downtown Seattle, the land was extremely underutilized.

Vulcan owns almost 60 acres of land in South Lake Union, or about a third of the area. The developer decided against creating a master plan for several reasons: It doesn't own all the land, the basic street patterns and infrastructure were already in place, and it felt that such a plan would become outdated quickly. Instead, explains Coleman, "we are developing with the market and working block by block." This approach will allow South Lake Union to grow more organically over time, in contrast to a more conventional research park.

Environmental remediation is also addressed block by block as development progresses incrementally. Each site has some kind of contamination issue-ranging from asbestos within a facility to chemicals in the soils adjacent to a dry-cleaning plant-"standard stuff that one would expect in any part of a typical city," says Coleman. Vulcan has made a point of preserving what existing buildings remain on the property and pursuing landmark designation because they add character to the neighborhood.

 

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Originally published in GreenSource
Originally published in November 2009

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