October 3, 2024

$70M Overlook Walk opens tomorrow, linking downtown, waterfront at last

Photo courtesy of the city of Seattle [enlarge]

Looking south from the playground, the concessionaire can be seen on the left, along with accessible pathways, landscaped terraces and a side-view of the Salish Steps.

A “key lynchpin” of the city's sweeping, $806 million waterfront remaking is scheduled to open tomorrow afternoon, providing a long-awaited pedestrian connection with downtown neighborhoods and Pike Place Market — along with views people haven't seen since the viaduct came down more than five years ago.

The elevated Overlook Walk straddles a nearly 100-vertical-foot gap between the 97-year-old Pike Place Market and the new 20-acre waterfront below. The pedestrian connection offers panoramic views of downtown, Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains and, when it's cooperating, Mount Rainier, as it winds past a playground, a concessions area and canopy, a public park on the roof of Seattle Aquarium’s newly opened Ocean Pavilion on its way to the promenade.

“Nobody misses the viaduct, but they miss the views from the viaduct,” Angela Brady, director of the Office of the Waterfront & Civic Projects, said at a media preview tour for Overlook Walk on Wednesday.

“The transformation of Seattle's Waterfront was envisioned and supported by many civic leaders and residents over the years to reconnect our city back to the sea, and through Overlook Walk we have accomplished just that,” Brady said in a press release sent out for the media preview.

Designed by Field Operations of New York, the urban design lead for Waterfront Park as well as Overlook Walk, local firm Miller Hull and structural engineer Magnusson Klemencic Associates, and built by general contractor Hoffman Construction, Overlook Walk has been under construction since June of 2022.

Photo copyright Tim Rice [enlarge]

The steps feature amphitheater-type seating and split staircases. The public park on the roof of Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion can be seen on the right.

“This transformation of Seattle's entire central waterfront cannot be underestimated in terms of its scale, scope and ambition,” James Corner, founding partner of Field Operations said in a release ahead of the project's grand opening. “It is a truly extraordinary, world-class achievement, and Overlook Walk is the key lynchpin and icon of the whole project.”

Field Operations is no stranger to large-scale waterfront redevelopments, having served as designer on New York's High Line, Chicago's Navy Pier and San Francisco's Presidio Tunnel Tops projects. The DJC in the past has reported Overlook Walk's design team also includes Land Morphology, Dragonfly, Dark Light, Jacobs, Shannon & Wilson, The Greenbusch Group, WSP and Green Facades.

Overlook Walk includes wide landscaped areas to build a buffer between the elevated park and the noise of traffic below on Alaskan Way. A new playground at the elevation of the former viaduct was built near the Pike Place MarketFront access point. It includes a slide, ropes, a wall and a metal structure for climbing, and benches for caregivers and passers-by.

A food and beverage concessionaire space with a long covered canopy rests on Overlook Walk's top deck. Miller Hull's Malika Kirkling said designers integrated the structural framing of the canopy and the cafe in a unique solution that saved costs and created more harmony across the project landscape and the cafe structure.

Photo courtesy of the city of Seattle [enlarge]

A playground near the Pike Place MarketFront has structures for climbing and a slide.

“In collaboration with our structural engineering partners at Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA), we developed a design that integrated the structural framing of the canopy and the cafe such that roof framing of the cafe serves as the shear diaphragm of the canopy, meaning the two structures are structurally interdependent upon one another,” Kirkling said. “At completion, we achieved a lighter, more efficient, and integrated framing design that gracefully frames views across the Overlook Walk and complements the geometry of the landscape and urban design elements of the site, securing the canopy as a critical design element for the project.”

Friends of Waterfront Park said it hopes to find a small, local business that can offer grab-and-go items in the space early next year.

Further down the walk, the project's Salish Steps start with amphitheater-type seating and break into split staircases that curve around a space planned for an art piece by MTK Matriarchs before dropping down to Pier 62 and the Seattle Aquarium at Pier 59.

“The Salish Steps is one of the more visually stunning aspects of the Overlook Walk, and a great place to take a break before making the journey up from the waterfront to the Market,” said MKA Principal Rita Greene. “The design may look simple, but making the steps a reality required a deep understanding of the surrounding projects and how each affects the others, as they were built over the Ocean Pavilion's life support system reservoir. The result is a seated amphitheater with spectacular views that's unlike anywhere else on the waterfront.”

MTK Matriarchs, a team of indigenous artists, is creating a large-scale artwork for Salish Steps honoring the Native history of the waterfront. The artwork will be large enough to pass through and will resemble an open, cross-warped twined basket. Another art piece being developed by Ann Hamilton featuring a series of backlit marionette-like figures will be visible through the perforated screen below Overlook Walk. Both pieces are expected to be complete by early next year.

The elevated park is designed to be accessible and has two elevator connections — one at the Pike Place Market garage on the east, and one at the Seattle Aquarium's Ocean Pavilion on the west.

Seattle Center operates Waterfront Park through a dedicated team for park maintenance and public safety. Friends of Waterfront Park is the 501c3 non-profit responsible for fundraising, stewarding, and programming Waterfront Park alongside the community.

A formal ribbon cutting for Overlook Walk is scheduled for 3 p.m. tomorrow and a public opening and celebration in partnership with Friends of Waterfront Park starts at 4:30 p.m.

Pike Place Market is also hosting live busker performances and market artisan demonstrations from 2 -5 p.m. including linocut printmaking, pottery techniques and a special photo op for visitors designed by Market artist Ernesto Ybarra.

“We're not just opening a new park, we're opening an entirely new part of our city — with new views and ways to enjoy downtown,” Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes said in a statement released Wednesday. “This is just the start of more great things to come as we look ahead to the entire waterfront being complete in early 2025.”