Downtown Planning

“It’s really kind of hard to be a suburb of nothing. If you don’t have a downtown, you really don’t have anything. It’s hard to build a community around parking lots and subdivisions.” ~ Ed McMahon

When Federal Way became a city in 1990, the community has consistently indicated their desire to have a downtown. What are your dreams for the Federal Way Downtown? Click here to take a short survey!

TRANSFORMING CITY CENTER & DEFINING DOWNTOWN

Transforming the City Center and creating a downtown that is the civic heart of the city will need redevelopment of existing properties, creation of civic spaces, and a reimagination of how people get around downtown. The City has taken initial steps in transforming the City Center into a true downtown for the community. The City built the Performing Arts & Entertainment Center (PAEC), the Town Center steps, and the Town Square Park as initial cornerstone elements aimed at defining the City Center neighborhood. However, much remains to achieve a memorable downtown.

The existing Comprehensive Plan envisions the City Center would evolve into smaller districts, or neighborhoods. Breaking down the 414-acre City Center into smaller areas will allow a more focused conversation about their unique strengths and opportunities.

TOWN CENTER – MASTER DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The City owns approximately 7 ½ acres of redevelopable property (Old Target Building) east of the PAEC and north of Town Square Park and the Federal Way Transit Center. This area is known as TC-3 or Town Center 3.

After an extensive and competitive process, the City is partnering with One Trent to transform the city owned property into a dynamic mixed-use development. The development proposes approximately 900 housing units (40 townhomes for homeownership), 24,000 sq. ft. of ground floor retail, 100,000 sq. ft. office building, and 1-acre center plaza. The development will provide parking underground or within the structures to serve the new uses and PAEC.

As the we embark on this exciting journey of revitalizing the city-owned property, we invite you to be an integral part of the decision-making process. We have a strategic opportunity to shape the future of this property and are exploring the possibility of including public uses and community spaces in the development plan. A few important aspects that require your input is to use office building to relocate City Hall to the property. We also want to gauge your interest in having indoor community space as part of the redevelopment plan.

To facilitate an inclusive and collaborative discussion, please share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns in the forum below!

CONNECTING DOWNTOWN - THE DIP

The most memorable places in cities and towns are generally those where people congregate on foot: streets, markets, parks, and public squares. S 320^th street runs through the middle of Downtown Federal Way and creates a barrier between high activity areas like the Commons Mall to the south from the Transit Station, PAEC, and Town Square Park to the north. The barrier created by S 320th complicates the vision of creating a walkable, vibrant downtown.City Council authorized Planning Staff to work with a consultant to study the feasibility of Dipping S 320th Street under 21st Ave S for an at pedestrian/bicycles grade crossing.

Any questions? Post your questions about Downtown Planning below by clicking “Q&A with Staff”