The Urbanist hosted a tour of the South Lake Union and Cascade on Saturday morning, offering a glimpse of these booming neighborhoods that most Seattleites rarely see up-close in their day-to-day lives. Many pass through in their commutes cursing the traffic, but how often do we take a leisurely stroll in Cascade to enjoy the interplay of urbanism old and new?
Starting at the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) we headed south and snaked around the neighborhoods, seeing points of interest including a new Google campus under construction, the Mercer Mess, three historic commercial laundries, a giant housing development on a Seattle Times parking lot, a retirement community with a 24-hour bar, and a Facebook campus under construction.
Our Vision Zero reporter Ryan Packer touched on some of the efforts to improve transportation in the traffic-clogged area of town, which include soon-to-be-installed dedicated lanes for the Route 8 in choice spots. Seattle Office of Housing’s Deputy Director Miriam Roskin and Bellwether Housing CEO Susan Boyd broke down some of the affordable housing efforts–Bellwether is building Anchor Flats on Dexter Avenue. Seattle Tech 4 Housing‘s founder Ethan Phelps-Goodman gave an overview of all the redevelopment on the way in this part of town–the Denny Way corridor alone could see more than 10,000 new homes if all plans are built. Many replace parking lots.
