The Arch — 705 Pike Street. Opened in 1988.
435,000 square feet of convention space between
Boren Avenue and 7th. The building that's been there
your whole Seattle life, with the glass skybridge
spanning Pike Street. Three blocks from Westlake Station.
Eight blocks from Pike Place Market.
Question 2
Why is it empty?
The Washington State Convention Center opened a $1.9 billion
expansion — the Summit — in 2023. Conventions moved there.
The Arch hosts roughly 25 events a year now, against operating
costs it can't cover. The CEO has called the situation
"fragile" and "scary." Reserves have dropped from $200M+
to $25M since 2022.
Question 3
What could it be?
Seattle Commons. The city buys the Arch and Seattle Center
operates it as a year-round public commons — markets,
maker spaces, performance venues, community programming,
food halls, co-working, events. The SCC leases it back
for the convention days it still needs. Both sides win.
Question 4
Why now?
The SCC can't afford to hold the Arch. The city can turn
it into a winner by actually running it full. The timing
case: international convention bookings are in structural
decline — the projections the Summit was built on no longer
hold, and the window to act narrows with every reserve dollar
spent. Sound Transit's Crosslake expansion just connected
four million Eastside residents to this block. And enough
of the workforce has shifted online that physical, unplanned,
in-person space has gone from nice-to-have to something
people are actively looking for.
The Argument
Activate the Arch 365 days a year
The convention center corridor — ten blocks of Pike Street between
Boren and Pike Place Market — is the dead zone in downtown Seattle.
The Cheesecake Factory closed. A hotel next door converted to apartments
because the visitor market couldn't sustain it. Three corners at 5th &
Pike are vacant simultaneously.
The cause isn't hard to find. A 435,000-square-foot building that sits
empty 300 days a year cannot sustain the street around it. Every store
that closes makes the next lease harder. Every empty corner signals
to the next tenant: don't.
"Activate the Arch 365 days a year. That's it. That's the intervention.
Not a new building. Not a demolition. The building exists. The 35,000
square feet at 800 Pike exist. The loading docks, the escalators, the
ballroom, the glass canopy over Pike Street — all of it exists and sits
empty 340 days a year."
"Seattle Commons turns a building that hosts 25 events a year into a
public asset that operates every day — markets, performances, maker spaces,
community programming, co-working, food halls. The same building, used
differently. Everything else follows from daily activation."
Pike Place Market proves the model. Over a century of daily activation
sustaining two blocks of the most valuable street-level retail in the
Pacific Northwest. Seattle Commons extends that proof ten blocks east.
An empty convention center on one end. A 15-million-visitor market on
the other. And between them, ten blocks waiting for the thing that makes
streets work: people, every day, with somewhere to go.
The Front Porch
Where Seattle meets itself
The Arch sits three blocks from Westlake Station, the light rail node
connecting SeaTac Airport to Capitol Hill. Eight blocks from Pike Place
Market. On the transit corridor that links the ferry terminal to every
hotel, stadium, and neighborhood in the city. When the Crosslake
extension opened, four million Eastside residents gained a 25-minute
connection to this block.
The front porch doesn't compete with anything around it.
It's the reason to stop.
Sports
Watch parties and fan fests a light rail stop from Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park. Permanent activation instead of a temporary build-out in a park.
Food
A food hall replacing Aramark's captive catering. A dozen independent operators in the Galleria. Farmers market Thursdays in the Atrium.
Music
Venues are closing across Capitol Hill. KEXP started in a basement. The Commons has 68 rooms with built-in sound systems and a ballroom that seats thousands.
Civic
Where does a robotics team compete? A candidate forum happen? Libraries are slammed, Peerspace is $75/hour, and 68 meeting rooms are sitting empty.
World Cup & Beyond
The 2026 fan fest. 2028 March Madness. 2031 Women's World Cup. Every future mega-event the sports commission bids on has a permanent home.
Seniors
Horizon House is building a 33-story tower connecting directly to Freeway Park — 529 residents by 2029. The Commons is their living room.
Gaming
GameWorks is across the street, hanging on by a thread. A permanent gaming commons fills rooms on weekday evenings that nothing else will.
Makers
Loading docks, freight elevators, industrial power. Maker spaces pay rent, teach classes, and generate foot traffic on Tuesday afternoons.
Theater & Film
Union Arts Center — the ACT/Seattle Shakespeare merger — is literally connected to the building. Screen a film in Tahoma. Run a fringe festival across 10 rooms simultaneously.