“Today’s actions clear the way for the region to gain a new world class waterfront park while saving our iconic waterfront trolley line,” said Council Chair Larry Phillips. “This proposal accomplishes what I’ve advocated for three years: an affordable plan that ensures both great assets are available to the public. By moving the trolley barn from the site of Olympic Sculpture Park, we are opening up the view of the Olympics and access to Elliott Bay to citizens for decades to come.”

“King County has a regional responsibility for this project,” said Councilmember Jane Hague, member of the Transportation Committee. “It can now be completed due to the extraordinary generosity of the city of Seattle and a very sharp pencil that has reduced the County's cost for the project by approximately $6 million, including a public-private partnership.”

“This vote finally and officially preserves the Waterfront Trolley as a permanent part of the downtown cityscape,” said Councilmember Dow Constantine, whose district includes Pioneer Square. “It also opens the way for the Seattle Art Museum's Sculpture Garden project and combines the trolley maintenance facility in a single structure with much-needed housing and business space in the heart of Pioneer Square.”

The Council today approved a plan to construct a new mixed-use facility in Pioneer Square to house and maintain the streetcar. The plan calls on the County to contribute $7 million toward construction with $1 million from the City of Seattle and $1 million from the Port of Seattle. Under the proposal, the existing maintenance facility located within the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Garden property will be shut down beginning November 19 with streetcar service being suspended—and replaced by a free bus shuttle—until the new facility is built. The new location of the maintenance facility would be property near Occidental Square in the Pioneer Square neighborhood.

“This development, including the trolley barn maintenance facility, could become a central point for the many events taking place in the Pioneer Square community,” said Phillips. “Just like the sculpture park, the new trolley barn will be a community asset, acknowledging the past even as we focus on the future.”