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Legacy Preservation

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As it is with anything good, there is always the possibility of bad ideas getting the nod. Such was the case around the 1950’s and 60’s. There were a couple of poorly planned expansion ideas. The Alaskan Way Viaduct and the Interstate 5 Freeway were the culprits of destruction. The Alaskan Way Viaduct separated the downtown from the waterfront and the Highway 5 split the downtown from Capitol Hill and First Hill neighborhoods.

Luckily these poorly executed projects prompted men such as Victor Steinbrueck to begin preservation projects. The preservation project saved Pioneer Square and the Pike Place Market from redevelopment in the 1970s.

The 1980s and 1990s saw great expansion and development in the whole Seattle area. The construction of the Columbia Seafirst Center at 701 Fifth Avenue marked the pinnacle of this construction time. The Columbia building became the tallest in the Seattle skyline at 76 stories high. It was as this point that the citizens of Seattle put together the Citizens’ Alternative Plan (CAP) Initiative. The initiative limited the downtown from erecting any buildings higher than 30 stories.

It wasn’t long before Nike Town became a reality along with Planet Hollywood and other upscale companies. Many thought that the downtown was becoming a place where anyone who had enough money was afforded a place to erect their ideas.

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