The Downtown Seattle Association is planting a flag at Third Avenue and Pine Street.
The Downtown Seattle Association is planting a flag at Third Avenue and Pine Street. The group has opened a street-level command center for its downtown ambassadors at the intersection, a corner long associated with public safety concerns, drug activity, and vacant retail space.
DSA President Jon Scholes said the location is meant to show confidence in downtown’s future. The new storefront serves as an operations center and storage and maintenance hub for ambassadors’ bikes and trikes. It will also be used as a pop-up workspace for Seattle police officers.
“This is the lobby of our city,” Scholes said. “It’s the 50-yard line. It’s everybody’s neighborhood, and it needs to be healthy, safe and welcoming for everybody. ” The ambassadors, who number about 165, greet visitors and help clean and beautify downtown, including shared community spaces such as sidewalks and parks.
They provide a constant presence in the area and work seven days a week. The storefront, which occupies retail space that had been vacant for six years, is designed to be open and inviting, with plantings and outdoor seating. The space, with its floor-to-ceiling windows and colorful displays, is hard to miss. It was previously home to Mountain Hardwear, which left after the pandemic.
Neighboring retailer Columbia Sportswear also closed its location nearby. DSA has taken over both spaces, creating more than 8,700 square feet that could also be used for future pop-up retail opportunities. Seattle police also plan to use the space for proactive outreach in the downtown core and as a pop-up workspace where officers can complete reports.
“The location is fantastic. Obviously, Third and Pine is an area where we are focusing a lot of effort, so being right here in the downtown core is important,” said Assistant Chief Rob Brown of the Seattle Police Department's Patrol Operations Bureau, who attended Tuesday's opening. Brown said he would like to create a downtown nighttime bicycle unit that would operate out of the storefront. He said he is committed to moving in that direction.
The opening comes as crime trends in downtown Seattle and at Third Avenue and Pine Street have shown signs of improvement, according to city safety data.
“If you think back five years and compare what these blocks looked like then versus now, it is definitely improving and moving dramatically in the right direction,” Brown said. “We want to continue that momentum. ” Scholes acknowledged downtown still has empty storefronts but said he believes more businesses are returning. His bigger concern, he said, is job growth.
Seattle is losing jobs to other parts of the region, including Bellevue, he said. Seattle restaurateur and music venue owner Rick Yoder said he supports the move.
“I think it’s fantastic. Third Avenue has been a troubled street for a long time,” Yoder said.
“More things like this — boots on the ground right in front of everybody — are going to make a big difference. ” The deployment and operations center at Third Avenue and Pine Street is less than a block from DSA's administrative offices at 1601 Second Ave. Scholes said the facility is about more than storage and maintenance. A 16-year-old boy is dead after gunfire erupted at an apartment complex in Federal Way Monday night.
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