Seattle mayor introduces ordinance to help fill hundreds of empty downtown storefronts

Alec Regimbal, Seattle PI

June 29, 2021Updated June 29, 2021 5:07 PM

SEATTLE, WA – AUGUST 11: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan speaks at a press conference after Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best announced her resignation at Seattle City Hall on August 11, 2020 in Seattle, Washington.

Karen Ducey / Getty Images

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan is sending Seattle City Council an ordinance that will allow more of the city’s entrepreneurs to take advantage of the hundreds of empty storefronts in downtown, according to a city press release on Tuesday.

According to the current status, these rooms are only approved for a very specific use. The mayor says that this provisional ordinance, if approved, would change that by allowing the spaces to be used for bicycle parking, art installations, gyms, doctor’s offices, museums and other items that are currently not allowed under the city’s usage guidelines.

“As part of our efforts to revitalize downtown, we’re making it easier than ever to pursue new, innovative storefront uses,” Durkan said in the press release. “This temporary change to make more use of our storefronts will help restore the vitality of our inner city.”

The regulation would expire automatically after one year unless the Council decided to extend it further or to dissolve it earlier. Those who get approval and invest in new business could stay indefinitely, but they could not expand, the announcement said.

The new flexibility would be available in the main shopping streets of the downtown business district, including Belltown and Pioneer Square. The current rules don’t apply to the Chinatown-International District as it falls within the International Special Review District, the press release said.

More than 450 downtown businesses have closed permanently since the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. early last year, according to the Downtown Seattle Association.

This ordinance is just one of several steps the mayor’s office is taking to revitalize the inner city after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week, Durkan announced the city will be investing $ 9 million in helping downtown businesses, including cleaning up trash and graffiti, addressing traffic and public safety concerns, to get employees back on track Bringing work, and several cultural and art events during the summer.

“We want each and every neighborhood to come back and thrive, but we will also make sure that we focus on our inner city,” Durkan said at a press conference last week. “Because that’s not just the engine of the economy, it’s the front door.”

The Metropolitan Improvement District, administered by the Downtown Seattle Association, also announced last week that it would be spending $ 3.2 million on cleanup and event planning in the downtown area.