Westlake Center is a four-story shopping center and 25-story office tower in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States. The southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail, it is located across Pine Street from Westlake Park, between 4th and 5th Avenues. It is named for Westlake Avenue, which now terminates north of the mall but once ran two blocks farther south to Pike Street. Westlake Park is considered Seattle's "town square"[3] and celebrities and political figures often make appearances or give speeches from the building's balcony.[4][5] The anchor stores are Saks Off 5th and Nordstrom Rack.
 View from Pine Street, 2016 | |
 | |
| Location | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Opening date | October 20, 1988[1] |
| Developer | The Rouse Company |
| Owner | Brookfield Properties[2] |
| No. of stores and services | 21 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 |
| Total retail floor area | 102,706 square feet (9,500 m2) |
| No. of floors | 4 |
| Parking | 300 spaces |
| Website | westlakecenter |
The current shopping center began construction in 1986 after over 20 years of planning, and opened its doors on October 20, 1988.[6] The building was designed by RTKL Associates on a site of 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft).[7] It had 82 tenant spaces and a 21-story office tower on its north side with 340,000 square feet (32,000 m2) of space.[8] Westlake Center underwent renovations in the late 1990s to add larger store spaces for new tenants in response to the opening of the adjacent Pacific Place shopping mall.[9] It was home to a small Neiman Marcus concept store called The Galleries of Neiman Marcus, which opened in 1999 and closed in 2002.[10]
Layout
editThe mall has two food courts: the Asean StrEAT Food Hall on the first floor, which opened in November 2022 and was designed to resemble Southeast Asian food hawker stands;[11][12] and Bites on Pine Food Hall on the second floor.[13]
The monorail terminal is located on the third floor.[14] The mall's main food court was also on the third floor until a remodel in 2017 replaced it with a Saks Off 5th store.[citation needed] The Saks store is scheduled to close in July 2024.[15]
Surrounding area
editSurrounding the mall and park, Seattle's main shopping district draws scores of both locals and visitors (the Washington State Convention and Trade Center is located in this district). To the west of Westlake Center is the (now-closed) main store for Macy's Northwest (previously the flagship store and corporate headquarters for The Bon Marché). To the east is the flagship Nordstrom store and corporate headquarters (previously the flagship store of Frederick & Nelson). In the surrounding area are locations for various major retailers and restaurant chains.
Seattle's version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is located in this area. Also, many stores were vandalized during the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, during which massive protests occurred in downtown Seattle. It was also the site of the Occupy Seattle protest, which was a solidarity demonstration for Occupy Wall Street.
Public transportation
editWestlake Center is a public transportation hub for Seattle, serving as a terminus for the Seattle Center Monorail and the South Lake Union Streetcar. Underneath the mall is the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel which houses several stops on Sound Transit's Link light rail line.
Plaza
editWestlake Center Plaza is located on the corner of 4th Avenue and Pine St and has a small, one-story (plus loft) retail pavilion. The plaza is covered in gray pavers and features several small trees. The retail space totals 870 sq ft (81 m2) and is leased to Starbucks (it was previously leased to Seattle's Best Coffee).[citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Dougherty, Phil (January 10, 2008). "Westlake Center opens in downtown Seattle on October 20, 1988". historylink.org. History Link. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
- ^ "Westlake Center". Brookfield Properties.
- ^ Downtown Parks Renaissance Archived 2006-03-23 at the Wayback Machine, Seattle Downtown Parks & Public Spaces Task Force Report, Final Report March 16, 2006. Page A1 (27 of 34 in the PDF). Accessed online 2014-01-19.
- ^ Executive Sims' National Day of Prayer and Remembrance address at the Internet Archive, originally at "Welcome to nginx!". Archived from the original on 2014-08-29. Retrieved 2014-08-29., the old site of Metro/King County, dated September 14, 2001. Ron Sims was County Executive at the time. Accessed online 2014-01-19
- ^ Kevin Pelton, Storm Celebrates in Style, storm.wnba.com, October 16, 2004. Accessed online 2014-01-19.
- ^ Stein, Alan (January 10, 2008). "Seattle's Central Association unveils Westlake Center plans on December 3, 1968". HistoryLink. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
- ^ Barry Maitland. The new architecture of the retail mall. p. 148.
- ^ Lang Jones, Jeanne (September 25, 2012). "Westlake Center's owner mulls a major remodel, new tenants". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ Kim, Nancy J. (October 4, 1998). "Westlake to unveil new look". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ Mulady, Kathy (January 14, 2002). "Neiman Marcus in Westlake is closing". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ Vinh, Tan (January 12, 2023). "Restaurant review: This Seattle food hall has the look, feel and flavors of a Southeast Asian market". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
- ^ Van Huygen, Meg (December 15, 2022). "They Paved P.F. Chang's and Put Up a Night Market". The Stranger. Retrieved January 17, 2022.
- ^ "Bites on Pine Food Hall at Westlake Center". Westlake Center. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
- ^ Metzger, Katie (October 7, 2019). "Seattle Monorail now accepts ORCA card". The Platform. Sound Transit. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
- ^ Halverson, Alex (July 11, 2024). "Saks OFF 5th in downtown Seattle to close this month". The Seattle Times. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
External links
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