November 23, 2022

Victor Steinbrueck Park closing next month for big renovation

Images by Walker Macy [enlarge]

The reconfigured park will have a link to Pike Place Market’s MarketFront expansion and future tie-in to the waterfront.

It's taken a few years to get to this point, but construction is finally set to begin on Victor Steinbrueck Park. Seattle Parks and Recreation says the park at 2001 Western Ave. by Pike Place Market will close next month for an extensive renovation that will continue into fall 2023.

Parks and Recreation earlier this year awarded an $8.76 million construction contract to Kassel & Associates of Redmond. The contract includes the base bid plus an additive for a replacement pavilion and a second additive for furnishings and interpretive elements.

The overall project will make public safety improvements that include better sight lines into the park, renovating the seating area and the former children's play area, improving and expanding lighting, and upgrading landscaping. A concrete panel with the handprints and signatures of original park designers Victor Steinbrueck and Richard Haag will be preserved and relocated within the renovated park.

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The park’s existing pavilion, supported by four columns, will be replaced with this new structure supported by two columns. This will help open up views of Elliott Bay.

A major part of the project will involve replacing the waterproofing membrane under the half of the park that sits atop a privately owned parking garage. This membrane has been leaking for a number of years and is failing. Installation of the new membrane will require removing the westerly portion of the park over the garage.

Landscape architecture firm Walker Macy designed circulation updates to create a connection to the MarketFront expansion south of the park, and an improved connection to the Tree of Life sculpture area. Walker Macy also incorporated Coast Salish elements into parts of the project, including column wraps on the new pavilion, Native welcome text at the entrance walls, and a special concrete path paving with a basket-weave pattern.

Parks and Recreation received two bids for the project, with Kassel's base bid of $7.4 million lower than the $7.9 million base bid submitted by A-1 Landscaping & Construction. Kassel's bid document indicated these firms as subcontractors: Hawk Mechanical, plumbing; Brink Electric; England Industrial, steel erection; and Grizzly Bar, rebar installation.

Walker Macy's team includes EHDD, Amento Group, Jones & Jones, LittleFish Lighting, Lund Opsahl, and Osborn Consulting.

Planning for the project started in 2015, with design work following in 2016 and continuing until last winter. Some of the funding is coming from the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces levy.