HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pacific Place is an upscale
shopping center A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...
in
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, Washington, United States. Opened on October 29, 1998, it is located at 6th Avenue and Pine Street and has a total area of . It has five floors, the uppermost of which features an 11-screen
AMC Theatre AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...
(formerly
General Cinema General Cinema Corporation, also known as General Cinema, GCC, or General Cinema Theatres, was a chain of movie theaters in the United States. At its peak, the company operated about 1,500 screens, some of which were among the first theaters ce ...
) and various restaurants. Pacific Place also features a skybridge that connects it to Seattle's
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
flagship.


History

The site of Pacific Place is on a block bounded by Sixth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, Olive Way, and Pine Street. The corner of Seventh Avenue and Olive Way was the site of the Electric Building, a six-story brick building constructed in 1909 as the headquarters for the Seattle Electric Company. Opposite it on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Olive Way was the site of the Seattle terminal for the Pacific Northwest Traction Company's Seattle-Everett
interurban The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...
rail system; it was owned by Seattle Electric Company's successor,
Puget Sound Power and Light Puget Sound Energy, Inc. (PSE) is an energy utility company based in the U.S. state of Washington that provides electrical power and natural gas to the Puget Sound region. The utility serves electricity to more than 1.2 million customers in Isl ...
, until it was sold in 1926 to a local investor. The site had become home to a
parking lot A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdi ...
and a
gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...
by November 1943, when the
Standard Oil Company of California Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened to ...
acquired the property and announced plans for a three-level underground
parking garage A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...
with a car capacity of 450 the following January; the combined parking garage and gas station opened on June 6, 1947. In 1951, department store chain
Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...
reached an agreement with Puget Sound Power and Standard Oil to purchase the garage immediately while intending to purchase the Electric Building by 1961; Frederick & Nelson then announced a new six-level parking garage for its
flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
across Sixth Avenue in April 1953, intending to incorporate the existing garage into the new structure. The garage, which required an alley vacation between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue,
broke ground Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...
in May 1954 and was completed by the following year. Meanwhile, Frederick & Nelson consummated its purchase of the Electric Building in December 1956, at which point Puget Power moved its offices to the then-new
Puget Power Building The Puget Power Building was a four story tall building in Bellevue, Washington. When it was built in 1956 as the corporate headquarters for Puget Sound Power and Light (popularly known as Puget Power), it was the tallest building in Bellevue an ...
in
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...
. While the Electric Building served as a temporary library for Downtown Seattle from March 1957 to April 1960 during construction of the second iteration of the
Seattle Central Library The Seattle Central Library is the flagship library of the Seattle Public Library system. The 11-story (185 feet or 56.9 meters high) glass and steel building in the Downtown Seattle, downtown core of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington was op ...
, it was essentially abandoned afterwards and remained disused until its demolition in October 1970. An upscale shopping mall on the block was proposed in 1993 as part of a series of downtown improvements along Pine Street led by the renovation of the
Frederick & Nelson Frederick & Nelson was a department store chain in the northwestern United States, based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. Founded in 1890 as a furniture store, it later expanded to sell other types of merchandise. The company was acqu ...
building into
Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and a seco ...
's flagship store. Pacific Place took two years to construct and opened on October 29, 1998, with 40 stores and a 1,200-stall parking garage. The mall was developed by Pine Street Development, which included investment from local businessmen Jeff Brotman, John McCaw, and
Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who was the chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. Schultz owned the Seattle SuperS ...
, as well as saxophonist
Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956) is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selli ...
.


Construction loan

In a 1998 article by Mark Worth, the ''
Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976, and it becam ...
'' revealed that consultants linked to Pacific Place developer Jeff Rhodes had secured a $47 million low-interest loan to help build a for-profit parking garage beneath the mall. The loan was obtained through the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, a government agency whose mission is to support low-income housing and other needy projects. The parking garage also served the Nordstrom flagship store across the street.


Renovation and later history

On July 14, 2014, Pacific Place was sold for $271 million to
Madison Marquette Madison Marquette Real Estate Services is a Washington D.C.-based investor, developer and operator of mixed-use real estate. Madison Marquette provides investment management, development, leasing and property services to a diverse portfolio of 3 ...
, a
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
–based commercial real estate company. In September 2016, Madison Marquette completed the purchase of the Pacific Place parking garage from the City of Seattle for $87 million. A redevelopment of the mall was announced in March 2017 to expand space for shops and remodel the
common area A common area is, in real estate or real property law, the "area which is available for use by more than one person..." The common areas are those that are available for common use by all tenants, (or) groups of tenants and their invitees.
s. After over two years of redevelopment, Pacific Placed reopened in June 2020 with 12 open tenants due to the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
on Downtown Seattle. Throughout 2021, small independent shops and art non-profits have utilized vacancy spaces for business and artistic activities. Madison Marquette announced that it would transfer management of the mall to Avison Young in January 2024. Pacific Place and its garage were sold to BH Properties in May 2024 for $88.25 million due to the mall's retail vacancies.


Tenants

, the four-story mall has 21 active businesses. Its major tenants include an
AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...
multiplex on its top floor, a food court,
Din Tai Fung Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant chain specializing in Chinese cuisine, particularly famous for its xiaolongbao. Based in Taipei, Taiwan, Din Tai Fung also has branches in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Macau, China, Malaysia, the Philipp ...
, and
Haidilao Haidilao International Holding Ltd., Trade name, or Haidilao (), is a Chinese hot pot Chain store, chain, known for its customer service and famous TikTok trend of the Ke Mu San, Kemusan dance. Founded in Jianyang, Sichuan in 1994, it has ...
. A
Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...
bookstore formerly occupied the ground floor until 2020.


References


External links


Pacific Place websiteStory of Pacific Place
* {{Shopping Centers WA Shopping malls in Seattle Shopping malls established in 1998 NBBJ buildings 1998 establishments in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Downtown Seattle