Construction on the new Pike Place MarketFront is officially underway! On Wednesday, June 24, Pike Place Market celebrated a milestone 40 years in the making with a boisterous parade down the Market cobblestone lead by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and featuring a drum line from Ballard High School. Hundreds of Market farmers, artists, fishmongers and merchants were joined by members of the Pike Market Senior Center, doctors from the Medical Clinic, and residents. The parade led to the future MarketFront site on Western Avenue to celebrate the MarketFront Groundbreaking Ceremony.
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray leads the parade down the cobblestone. Photo by Mike Kane.
Staff of The Market Foundation show off their Pike Up! flair. Photo by Art Kuniyuki.
Colorful parade signs announce the various parade participants, including members of the Friends of the Market, the grassroots organization that saved the Market from demolition in the 1970’s. Photo by Mike Kane.
Scheduled to open in early 2017, the $73 million project will add an additional 30,000 square feet to Pike Place Market, and will include including a public plaza with views of Puget Sound; additional rooftop day stalls for farmers, craftspeople, and artisan food purveyors; low-income housing for seniors; 300 public parking spaces; and a future pedestrian connection to the waterfront.
“Pike Place Market is the heart and soul of Seattle,” said Mayor Ed Murray from the stage, located next to the exposed foundation of the former Municipal Market, which was demolished in 1974. “Soon Seattle will have a new front porch to welcome people in. The City is proud to be a major contributor to MarketFront, which will include more affordable housing, open public space and a new connection to the waterfront.”
Mayor Murray onstage at the MarketFront Groundbreaking Ceremony. Photo by Mike Kane.
Ben Franz-Knight, Executive Director of the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (PDA), welcomed the parade into the site, a surface parking lot for the last 40 years, where he was joined by City Council members and state officials. He then introduced Chief Seattle Club Executive Director Colleen Echohawk and Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman. Members of the Chief Seattle Club performed a song.
Chief Seattle Club members perform a traditional Native American song to bless the new site. Photo by Lance Wagner Photography.
After remarks by the Mayor, PDA Council Chair Matt Hanna and a rousing “Pike Up!” cheer by Lillian Sherman, Executive Director of the Market Foundation, the Pike Up! Flag was raised to the Desimone Bridge, the future entry way to the MarketFront Plaza. The Mayor, lead architect of the MarketFront, David Miller, of The Miller Hull Partnership, and Scott Redmond, president of Sellen Construction, joined Ben Franz-Knight and Lillian Sherman in the first ceremonial groundbreaking of the expansion (pictured below). View more photos from the event on our Facebook page.
Photo by Lance Wagner Photography.
The total project cost is $73 million, which includes funding from City of Seattle, the Pike Place Market PDA, Washington State and and low-income housing grants.
But the project isn’t complete yet! The Market Foundation has launched the Pike Up! campaign to provide the final piece of funding for the MarketFront. This is a $9 million capital campaign, with $3 million secured in philanthropy thus far. For the first time in 30 years, Market supporters have the opportunity to engrave a name or message into Pike Place Market history through Market Charms, which will hang on the new MarketFront as an art installation, or bronze Piggybank Hoofprints, leading to the MarketFront Plaza. Help complete the final piece of the MarketFront and be part of the legacy: pikeup.org/donate-now.