King County Executive Dow Constantine proposes civic campus in downtown Seattle

King County Executive Dow Constantine on Tuesday proposed a new civic campus in downtown Seattle, a space for offices, restaurants, and housing.

County buildings now span seven blocks.

Several of them, like the courthouse, jail, and administration building that’s now closed to the public, are showing their age.

“On some of the most valuable real estate in this entire quadrant of the country, we have a 9-to-5 workplace, rather than a 24-hour neighborhood,” Constantine said in his annual State of the County address.

Instead of selling the administration building property, Constantine suggests keeping it, and letting Sound Transit build a new light rail station on the property connected to a new downtown tunnel.

That would allow King County to create a civic campus, that includes restaurants and housing, as well as new government offices.

With employees working from home, the county now has unused space.

“It’s clear that we’re not simply going back to how things were, so let’s use this moment to go forward,” Constantine said.

”It hit me flat-footed, it’s the first time I heard about the idea of a civic campus, but I think it’s an interesting idea, I’m open to it,” said councilmember Reagan Dunn.

“I think this part of downtown could be so much more exciting. I think if we can activate it with housing and shops, it’s going to be a safer, more welcoming place,” said councilmember Dave Upthegrove.

The idea also gives a new option for Sound Transit to build a light rail station in the south portion of downtown instead of the Chinatown-International District, where there’s community opposition to another big construction project.

On Thursday, Sound Transit’s system expansion committee is expected to make a key recommendation on where to put a new light rail station.

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