Seattle Commons — The Case For

Why this is a win for Downtown Seattle Association

commercial
The Win

DSA's mission is a thriving downtown Seattle — and the Arch dark for 250 days a year is a hole in the district you exist to activate. The corridor between Pike Place and Capitol Hill, which your members anchor, needs a destination at 8th and Pike. The Arch as a commons is the most significant potential addition to downtown foot traffic in a generation.

The harder argument: DSA has historically aligned with SCC on convention economics, so this is a persuasion job, not a recruitment job. The lodging tax angle is relevant — every hotel in your district carries a 7% burden that Bellevue doesn't. A restructured, stable PFD is less likely to need emergency lodging tax increases that make downtown Seattle less competitive. DSA's retail members have a financial interest in that stability even if their convention instincts lean conservative.

Ask Your AI

Copy this prompt into ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI assistant.

I want to analyze this proposal from the perspective of Downtown Seattle Association. There's a civic proposal to convert the WSCC Arch building at 7th & Pike into a year-round public commons operated by Seattle Center. The case being made to Downtown Seattle Association: DSA's mission is a thriving downtown Seattle — and the Arch dark for 250 days a year is a hole in the district you exist to activate. The corridor between Pike Place and Capitol Hill, which your members anchor, needs a destination at 8th and Pike. The Arch as a commons is the most significant potential addition to downtown foot traffic in a generation. The full proposal: https://commons.conventioncityseattle.com What are the strongest arguments for and against, from Downtown Seattle Association's perspective?
Read the evidence
The lodging tax and Bellevue exposure → What the commons does for the corridor →