It may be one of Seattle's most familiar - and unvisited - drive-by locations.
South Lake Union Park faces busy Valley Street in the transition zone between Queen Anne, Capitol Hill and the Cascade neighborhoods. The Center for Wooden Boats is there, and so is the handsome, whitewashed Naval Reserve armory building.
Over the decades the area, once inhabited by Native Americans, has been used as a gravel fill, a log storage and garbage dump and Naval Reserve center. In July 2000 the city took ownership of the 12-acre site, completing a 15-year, $17 million quest. Just as the South Lake Union neighborhood has been on fast-forward in its evolution toward a biotech hub, the historically utilitarian park site is expected to become a magnet both for event crowds and those seeking a quiet picnic and green acres beside the lake.
This summer the Summer Nights at Lake Union concert series, formerly Summer Nights at the Pier, will spread over the grassy infield, with the stage and speakers aimed toward Queen Anne. (No worries: This is not the venue for Metallica or Snoop Dogg). A Lake to Bay trail, which will traverse the foot of Queen Anne, is in the planning stages. The park plan also calls for a fountain where children can play, a model boat pond, a Native American village, a terraced boardwalk along the water's edge and a footbridge spanning the west-side finger of water separating the two sides of the park.
The park vision, designed by Har-greaves Associates of San Francisco and Mithun of Seattle, brings to fru-ition the early-1900s Olmsted Park Plan, which included the site.
The Seattle Parks Foundation, a private, nonprofit group headquartered in the armory building, is in the early stages of organizing a capital campaign seeking $15-$20 million in order to bring the park vision to reality. These dollars are in addition to the $5 million earmarked for the park in the 2000 Pro Parks Levy.
The Foundation, in its fourth year of operation, works with city departments and community groups for neighborhood park improvements and is involved in a number of projects around town, especially in southeast Seattle. South Lake Union Park is the Foundation's most ambitious effort to date. Construction phases are expected to unfold over the next decade.
But some improvements will be more immediate, including work on the bulk- head and pedestrian bridge, which are scheduled to begin late this year. There may be Fremont-style summer, outdoor movies in the offing and a repeat of last summer's Shakespeare in the Park, which drew some 400 people.
As time goes on, look for more turns out of the Valley Street traffic flow toward the lake.
For more information, go to the Seattle Parks Foundation Web site: www.seattleparksfoundation.org
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