Housing
—SoDo Bohemian Rhapsody—
Half of the units to be set aside for lower income households.
By Erik Nielsen (February 27, 2025)
I was the only Freight Board member to support housing in the stadium district. Here's why.
The Stadium Makers District (SMD) is an idea currently promoted by Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson. This proposal, first considered in 2013, would allow for live/work maker spaces and artists’ lofts in the few blocks directly to the west and south of T-Mobile Park.
The intention is to make zoning rules foster a cool place for young artists and inventors to live.
There are less than a thousand artist live/work spaces in the city. 21 of those units are already within this zone at the Bemis Building with a handful more elsewhere in SoDo like at Sunny Arms or the Old Rainier Brewery. Spaces like this are essential for culture and innovation because artists and young entrepreneurs often can't afford to pay for both an apartment and a workshop. Congregating permanently affordable spaces designed for creativity provides an engine for cultural vibrancy where collaboration among neighbors can grow into our next city’s successful businesses or artistic masterpieces.
The idea has come under pushback.
As a member of Seattle’s Freight Advisory Board, I was the only dissenting vote on a letter in opposition of this bill in front of the city council. To understand why I think it’s a perfectly reasonable proposal, we must address what the main points of contention are.
It boils down to two main complaints:
1. This proposal will surely hurt the flow of industrial goods and thus it will kill jobs
2. Living in this area would be horrible and no one should be subjected to it
Both are extremely exaggerated typical NIMBY fearmongering.
Opponents claim this proposal will hurt the flow of industrial goods and thus kill jobs. They say these proposed 900 units of housing could put 58,000 jobs at risk.
This is a bold claim supported by no evidence. It presumes the added traffic will somehow stall freight movements in and out of the port. It is a major stretch to assess that the traffic impacts from less than 1000 residents will be any worse than the 5 million annual visitors the stadiums draw every year, or the tens of thousands of office workers commuting through 1st avenue and Atlantic every weekday morning and evening.
Opponents of the SMD proposal express concern that living in this area would be horrible and no one should be subjected to it. I see the play — once a community is established, they in turn, will become NIMBYs themselves, rallying against truck and train noise.
The area is already noisy, polluted and crowded with thousands of fans over 100 days of the year.
Here is another fact: Hundreds of new residences have been constructed just to the north of the stadiums in the past decade. These places deal with the same impacts of noise, air and crowds. And these are highly desirable places to live with above average rents. Meanwhile, there are plenty of other residential areas in the city with even worse environmental conditions related to proximity to industry and crowds; like Georgetown, Southpark, “Frelard,” or the Waterfront.
Gritty areas have always been the natural ecosystem for the true artist and other creative types. This is the point of the Stadium Makers District. It’s a place you can splash paint on the canvas of your dreams, make beautiful noise, and brew the next world changing technology — to the quiet hum of trains and trucks rolling by.
If you don’t buy the romance promised by the SMD, it still has a part to play in addressing the housing crisis in our state. City law will require half of the units to be set aside for lower income households.
The 2013 study proposing the SMD showed this area contains 126 businesses, of which only 12 could be classified as “light industry.” Considering the date of the study, the number has dwindled since and the land use now incorporates even more offices, ghost kitchens*, and an astonishing number of vacant lots.
We must be abundantly clear: the land in question is not industrial and hasn't been for decades.
Increased traffic, pedestrian activity, and the loss of industrial lands are simply not significant harms that will come from this proposal. The Port has reason to be worried about decreasing volumes, but they ought to recognize that 15 seconds of additional travel time for shipments is not the reason they are struggling. This conclusion of only minor impacts is upheld by both the 2013 study and the 2023 Industrial Lands Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).
It is abundantly clear that the Port, ILWU, SoDo Businesses, and other opposition leaders have nothing to worry about.
The construction of new buildings in the area provides the opportunity for enhanced amenities that don’t currently exist in the area. The EIS even notes this saying “These changes tied to zoning are likely to ensure that the limited amount of housing allowed within the UI zone is accompanied by changes that add amenities to the area.”
It is also important to recognize that families are not likely to live in studio sized work-lofts. The SMD is almost certain to be home to young people starting their careers who need affordable, practical places to work and live in areas that are fun and exciting.
These brand-new buildings will also be significantly better than almost any alternative in the city. As the EIS points out, simple mitigations like triple pane windows, extra insulation, and modern filtration systems will enable the future residents to live and work without disruption from trucks or events.
I’ll conclude with this definition provided by Seattle's Office of Community Planning and Development in the final EIS:
“This zone is designed to foster increased employment and entrepreneurship opportunities with a vibrant mix of affordable, small-scale places for light industry, makers, and creative arts, as well as industry supporting ancillary retail or housing spaces to create better, integrated, and healthier transitions at the edges between industrial areas and neighboring urban villages, residential, and mixed-use areas.”
That sounds pretty good to me.
It's time we embrace the noise and build a district that celebrates creativity instead of stifling it with outdated zoning restrictions.
* Ghost kitchens are delivery only restaurants where dine-in isn't available.
Erik Nielsen is a member of the Seattle Freight Advisory Board and Chapter Lead for the Seattle New Liberals.
More reading on Stadium Makers District in The Urbanist.
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