January 24, 2025

Bremerton breaks ground on Quincy Jones-inspired festival street

Rendering by Rice Fergus Miller [enlarge]

Paving on the festival street is designed to mimic piano keys.

The city of Bremerton has broken ground on a novel civic project that will transform a long neglected downtown street into an active, bustling thoroughfare with new community gathering space, art and programming inspired by the late Quincy Jones.

The Grammy award-winning musician and producer was born in Chicago in 1933, but moved to Sinclair Park — a since-demolished segregated community in Bremerton — in 1943. He lived there with his family before moving to Seattle after World War II, where he attended Garfield High School.

The project is called Quincy Square. Improvements and upgrades will be made to four blocks of Fourth Street stretching from Pacific Avenue to Washington Avenue at the Bremerton waterfront.

The work scope includes new decorative paving, public art, and a performance area located across from the Roxy Theater at 270 Fourth St.

The new art-lined corridor will be closed to vehicle traffic for festivals and is designed to easily flex between car mode and people mode to create a new public gathering place. A piano theme drives the paving design, which will include black and white pavers that look like piano keys to define gathering spaces.

Photo courtesy of city of Bremerton [enlarge]

A mural depicting Jones adorns a parking garage at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Washington Avenue and will direct visitors to the new Quincy Square.

In a 2016 interview with Stephen Colbert, Jones said his love for music began in Bremerton when at 11 years old he came across a piano in a local business office for the first time.

The festival street will also have seating areas outside of existing businesses and landscape zones with new trees and planters. Festive string lights will hang above the four-block square.

The vision, according to the city, is to “revitalize a long-neglected street into an active, housing-based, day-to-night urban center with focused arts, entertainment, and evening-centric retail spaces.”

Bremerton architecture firm Rice Fergus Miller has designed Quincy Square with the help of ample community feedback, including from the area's African American community. Emily Russell Landscape Architect is the landscape architect.

Art pieces will include a sculpture of Jones by James Dinh and Michael Stutz, and a mural by KaDavien Baylor.

Rendering by Rice Fergus Miller [enlarge]

Quincy Square will stretch from Fourth Street and Pacific Avenue down to the waterfront at Fourth and Washington Avenue.

The mural is already completed and adorns a parking garage at the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Washington Avenue. Baylor's bright and bold piece includes a portrait of Quincy Jones and also highlights some of Jones' famous collaborators and influential African Americans from Bremerton.

The sculpture, which is yet to be installed, will be located on the south side of Fourth Street just east of the intersection with Pacific Avenue. It will be an open weaved bronze of Jones' face.

Active Construction of Tacoma was awarded the construction contract for the project in June and fittingly broke ground on Martin Luther King Junior Day. The city has previously said that construction should take between four and six months.

The city began exploring improving Fourth Street over a decade ago in 2014. An initial plan was to remove all existing trees to open the space up in an attempt to draw more foot traffic to the once bustling area. Rice Fergus Miller's Steve Rice quickly asked the mayor to pause this plan to see if the firm and community could come up with a different and more comprehensive vision for revitalizing the space.

The Quincy Square concept has been developed over the past several years by a grass roots consortium of active and interested citizens, professional groups, and developers. Schematic design began in 2018. That same year, Quincy Jones wrote a letter in support of the project. He passed away in November 2024.

Jones's brother was the keynote speaker at a groundbreaking ceremony held on Monday.

Funding for Quincy Square includes a $2.5 million grant from the Federal Community Projects Fund and a $1.75 million grant from the state's Defense Community Compatibility Account program. The city of Bremerton has contributed $805,000 toward the fully funded project.