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 320th 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”

“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 320th 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”

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

  • Would it be feasible to work with other cities/counties on a train alongside I-5 (not from here to California, but enough to connect most of the counties in Western Washington)? This would be able to put a lot less demand on I-5 in this region, as most people here just use I-5 for local travel (usually for work).

    Alex Milsten asked over 2 years ago

    Alex, thank you for your question.  Sound Transit serves as the official Transit Authority for Central Puget Sound.  Through voter support, Sound Transit is in the process of constructing a light rail system (see red lines in map) that will link Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.   Although this work is currently in process, it will take decades to build this system out.  It is definitely expected these transit improvements will lessen the burden on I-5.

     

     

  • In reviewing the selection of proposed options to vote on for usage of the Target property, I'd like to see a youth community center pulled out of the 'other' category and see if it gets the same attention as a public market. Also, I'd like to see what all is contained in the 'other' category. Thank you.

    Laura Belcher Schanzenbach asked over 2 years ago

    Hi Laura, thank you for the question! We are planning to sunset this survey sometime around the second week of June. An outline of the responses will be posted for public review on the Downtown Planning project page containing a more detailed summary of the “other” responses shortly after.

    Additionally, we intend to post surveys and provide opportunities to continue dialog with the community to help build as clear a picture as possible for what the community would like to see built on the City-owned property.

  • Why not make S320th less of a highway... Remove HOV lanes and replace them with Buffered bike lanes. To encourage transit use and also cycling.

    Transit asked over 2 years ago

    Hi there, thanks for your question! 

    Currently, S 320th Street is one of three access points to I-5, serving a population base of over 150,000. Demand on this road will increase from additional growth that occurs in the City Center area, even with more people choosing to bike. However, the City continues to move forward with the City Center Access Project, which would construct another I-5 access at S 324th Street to take pressure off of S 320th Street. The project includes a multi-use path along S 324th Street between the BPA Trail and Weyerhaeuser Way S, with a spur to the light rail station. Check out the existing Comprehensive Plan for the planned bicycle facility network into and around City Center.

    Additionally, Metro is planning to upgrade Route 181 to RapidRide status. Maintaining and extending the HOV lanes is critical to Metro’s ability to minimize delays and make their travel times more competitive with driving.  Although providing buffered bike lanes on S 320th Street would improve the bicyclist's experience and environment, it is debatable if removing the HOV lanes would result in increased transit use,

  • Why does this project need to be so massive? This project will undoubtedly be extremely expensive, with deep trenches, wide vehicle-rated bridge, and the rerouting of the second busiest corridor in the city. What problems does this project solve, that a wide, walking bridge cannot? A project like the Interurban Trail Bridges in Shoreline, WA seems like it would be a much more appropriate solution.

    Jonathan asked over 2 years ago

    Hi Jonathan, thanks for your questions. 

    The concept for the “Dip” of S 320th Street is an idea that has not been formally studied or evaluated, yet. The impetus for this idea multifaceted and intends to do the following: 1) connect large areas of downtown that currently have 7+ lanes of traffic bisecting it, 2) promote sustainable development in which members of the public feels safe and encouraged to walk and bike to and from the light rail station instead of depending on cars that will increasing traffic and fill up the Sound Transit parking garage, 3) use this infrastructure as a memorable gateway statement to our downtown for residents and visitors, and 4) design a convenient connection that is accessible and inclusive to a variety forms of mobility. Studies have shown that pedestrian bridges with stairs on either side are not used as often and are not accessible when compared to at-grade options.

Page last updated: 26 Sep 2024, 10:38 AM