Seattle is embarking on its first week with all major pieces in place on its $806 million waterfront revitalization, a project that spotlights commercial real estate development playing out in some harbors around North America as cruise ship activity reaches records.
The opening of Pier 58 adds 50,000 square feet of park space between main thoroughfares Union and Pike streets near the Seattle Aquarium and the Great Wheel, an area that includes a playground with a jellyfish-inspired climbing tower, an elevated lawn with shade trees and seating, and a restored 50-year-old Waterfront Fountain. The renovated waterfront is the first sight cruise passengers get of the city, and the area where most land.
The Waterfront Park project that started around 2010 is the latest step in Seattle’s effort to renew downtown, where return-to-office mandates by online giant Amazon and other local businesses as well as a growing number of cruise passengers fuel what the Downtown Seattle Association tourism group calls a rebound in foot traffic this year.
"Our goal was to create a waterfront for all that was accessible, safe, greener and welcoming," said Angela Brady, the city's director of the office of the waterfront.
The opening comes as cities including Vancouver and San Diego carry out long-term projects to update crumbling wharfs and industrial sites to bring in hotels and apartments, shops, offices, parks, pedestrian-friendly walkways and other facilities to attract tourism and tax dollars, while Miami expands its ability to handle cruise ships.
Seattle hosted 365,000 cruise ship passengers in June — 1.7% more than in June of last year — and the city is on track to see a record 2 million passengers for the full year, according to data from the Port of Seattle.
The increase mirrors soaring cruise demand across North America, where passenger volume jumped 18% in 2024 from the prior year, according to Cruise Lines International Association. Growth is projected to continue this year, with an estimated 37.7 million cruise passengers that the association estimates will bring more than $168 billion in tourism spending on hotels, restaurants, and other economic benefits across the continent.
Long-term investments
Waterfront developments aren't new, with commercial property public space rejuvenations in harbor areas such as Boston, New York and Baltimore carried out more than a half century ago. And with economic uncertainty, some analysts point out there's no guarantee that the benefits will prove worth the effort.
Even so, Seattle's new revamping of Waterfront Park to add 20 acres of new attractions, like the other redevelopments, has a recent impetus: It not only aims to reconnect the city's downtown with the waterfront and attract more tourists and residents, but it could also help make up for lost activity when companies sent employees home to work at the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
City officials said they worked with the commercial property industry and local businesses to plan major project elements such as the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, a 1950s-era double-deck freeway that divided the waterfront from Pike Place Market and much of downtown.
The end result was visible before it opened. Last week, a group of young children at Pier 58, some clutching ice cream cones, looked longingly through a chain-link fence at a 25-foot-tall, jellyfish-inspired climbing tower and 18-foot slide. Other kids darted up the steps and across the sloping ramps of the new Overlook Walk, in some cases testing the patience of their harried parents.
James Kim, a visitor from San Francisco taking in the new waterfront, said "there’s a lot more to see and do down here now than when I was here last."
He added that "it's way more pedestrian friendly, and just easier to get around." He stayed with friends during his first visit to Seattle since 2018, when he boarded a cruise ship for Alaska.
Seven years ago, the smell of vehicle exhaust seemed to blot out the aroma of fresh saltwater from Elliott Bay, Kim recalled.
And the Viaduct "that cut through the waterfront was a big eyesore. I'm glad it's gone," he added.
Luring visitors
While the more specific economic effects of the project on downtown office, retail and hotel occupancy in the wake of the city's shift to hybrid work will take more time to play out, the city is "already seeing rising foot traffic and other encouraging signs," said Elliott Krivenko, CoStar’s senior market analyst for Seattle.
While risks are inherent in any revitalization project, it "represents a long-term investment in downtown's vitality," Krivenko said.
The waterfront project has created “a more pedestrian-friendly experience” in Seattle that could add foot traffic and fuel economic activity downtown, John Miller, real estate services firm CBRE’s executive managing director for the Pacific Northwest, said in a commentary on the status of downtown Seattle’s post-pandemic recovery.
“With the increase in pedestrian activity, retail is on the upswing,” Miller said.
Other enhancements include upgrades to Climate Pledge Arena and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that are expected to prop up hotel demand in coming years, according to CoStar's latest hospitality analytics report.
The city attracted tourists when it hosted the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and Seattle officials are preparing the high-profile waterfront and downtown for next year's 2026 FIFA World Cup, an event expected to attract soccer fans from around the world.
That comes as cruising occupancy and demand has returned to pre-pandemic figures for the world's three largest cruise lines, Carnival, Royal and Norwegian, according to Christian Savelli, a director of cruise analytics for Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics.
"That's quite an amazing performance, given that other sectors of the travel industry, such as U.S. hotels, have not yet returned to 2019 occupancy levels," Savelli said during a recent webcast.
Cruise tourist spending
An average of about 80% of cruise passengers stay in a port city before and after their cruise for an average of three or four days, with many of them going on to visit other countries as part of extended trip, Savelli's colleague Sean Morgan said in the webcast.
“That has a sizable impact on the economic footprint of the industry in these destinations,” Morgan said.
In San Diego, a major cruise ship seaport, its $3.5 billion project to redevelop the city's central Embarcadero includes Seaport Village, Tuna Harbor and surrounding areas. The bayfront project envisions plazas and parks, piers and marinas, hotels, shops, restaurants and tourist attractions.
North of Seattle, Vancouver in British Columbia has invested in redeveloping the waterfront near its convention center and cruise terminal at Canada Place, like Seattle a departure region for cruises to Alaska and Asia.
Vancouver in 2009 finished a 14-acre expansion to add 1 million square feet of convention center space, nearly 100,000 square feet of retail and 400,000 square feet of walkways, bikeways and public open space, including Jack Poole Plaza, the city’s first major waterfront gathering place.
This past winter, Vancouver officials floated plans for a third wing of the convention center just north of the city's Waterfront Station and Gastown railyard. In February, two developers proposed a 250-room floating hotel near the cruise terminal and convention center.
More ship-focused development has also played out in Miami, where a cruise ship terminal touted as the world's largest opened earlier this year. Local architecture firm Arquitectonica designed the $450 million terminal for client MSC Cruises that can serve up to 36,000 passengers per day, while Miami-Dade County develops space for a third berth at the PortMiami site.
In Seattle, the cruise industry has bounced back since the pandemic disrupted cruise ship traffic and the restaurants, hotels and other businesses that rely on tourist dollars.
The project that had its stage set with the demolition of the Viaduct in 2019 — clearing the space that is now the park — includes new pedestrian bridges, a seawall, open space and added roadways.
It also has the new Overlook Walk, a sprawling set of ramps, staircases and platforms that opened last fall, connecting the waterfront to the Pike Place Market.