South Lake Union, Seattle

South Lake Union, often called SLU, is a neighborhood in central Seattle, Washington. It is named for its location at the southern tip of Lake Union. The area has fuzzy borders, but generally it is bordered by Denny Way to the south, Interstate 5 to the east, Aurora Avenue N. (State Route 99) and 7th Avenue N. to the west, and Galer Street, Lake Union, and E. Newton Place to the north.

Important streets in South Lake Union include Valley and Mercer Streets, which run east and west, and Dexter, 9th, Westlake, Fairview, and Eastlake Avenues, which run north and south. The city made changes to improve traffic, turning Mercer Street into a wide boulevard with trees and making Valley Street friendlier for people walking.

History

See also: Cascade, Seattle

19th century

Lake Union has different names in local languages. In Chinook Jargon, it is called Tenass Chuck, meaning "little water." In Lushootseed, it is known as meman hartshu, which means "little lake." When settlers arrived in the 1850s, Native Americans, likely Duwamish or Southern Coast Salish, lived near the southwest corner of the lake. They hunted deer and elk and gathered food like fish, clams, root vegetables, camas, bracken, wapato, and berries.

One of the early settlers, David Denny from the Denny Party, claimed land in 1853. In 1882, a sawmill was built on the lake’s south shore. Denny bought the mill, renamed it the Western Mill, and cleared land along the shore. He also built a channel to float logs from Portage Bay to Lake Washington.

20th century

After David Denny’s bankruptcy in 1895, the mill changed owners but operated until the 1920s. In 1909, a new owner extended the mill into the lake, creating what is now Lake Union Park. The mill’s last business closed in 1988, ending the mill era.

During this time, many factories opened, including places to make furniture, seaplanes, and cars. The area also grew with new homes for workers. A school named Cascade School opened in 1894 and gave the neighborhood its name. By the 1930s, South Lake Union changed from a residential area to one with small businesses and warehouses.

When the Lake Washington Ship Canal opened in 1917, it connected Lake Union to Lake Washington and Puget Sound. This helped businesses grow. Many old wooden buildings from this time still stand today.

21st century

Today, only a few older buildings in the Cascade area still look the same as they did long ago. In 2008, Lake Union Park opened to the public. It includes a walking bridge, green space, and a place for historic boats. In 2007, Amazon decided to move its Seattle offices to South Lake Union, and workers started using the new offices in 2010.

The Museum of History & Industry moved to South Lake Union in 2012. South Lake Union is also home to Denny Park, the city’s oldest park.

Future as a hub for life sciences

South Lake Union is growing into a center for life science groups thanks to plans by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. and other developers. Important places there include the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Allen Institute for Cell Science, Zymogenetics, Battelle, Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, Seattle Children's Hospital, PATH, Rosetta (now part of Merck & Co.), Bio-Rad, and University of Washington Medicine.

The University of Washington School of Medicine’s South Lake Union Campus has 1,250 people working in four buildings. The oldest building, called the Brotman Building, used to be a gas company office but now holds labs for studying health and diseases.

The idea of making South Lake Union a place for science has caused some disagreement. Some people worry that big companies might get too much help from the city. There were also concerns about losing affordable homes. Groups like the Low-Income Housing Institute work to keep affordable housing available. New apartments for people with lower incomes have been built, and more are being planned. In 2007, a streetcar started running to make it easier to travel around the area.

Housing

South Lake Union once had homes for workers and mill owners, like David Denny. By the 1960s, many homes were torn down for parking lots, leaving only the Cascade Neighborhood with many places to live. In the 1970s, plans were made to build many new apartments. Since 2003, the area has grown with many new homes, adding about 1,850 units. Some of these homes are set aside to help people who have less money.

Economy

Jones Soda Company used to have its headquarters in South Lake Union. Today, Amazon has many buildings and thousands of employees in its campus there and in the nearby Denny Triangle neighborhood.

In October 2012, Amazon announced plans to spend over $1 billion to buy its South Lake Union headquarters from an investment firm. This purchase set a record price for office buildings in Seattle at that time. Later in the 2010s, both Google and Facebook opened offices in South Lake Union.

Green space

South Lake Union has several nice places to enjoy the outdoors. You can visit Denny Park for a peaceful walk, Cascade Playground for some fun play, and Lake Union Park which includes spots like Northwest Seaport and the Center for Wooden Boats. These areas are great for relaxing and having fun with family and friends.

Landmarks and historic sites

For landmarks and historic sites in Cascade (using the city's current official definition of that neighborhood) see Cascade, Seattle. Most of these landmarks are in the area known as Cascade from the early 20th century, except for the Pacific McKay and Ford McKay buildings and the boats at Northwest Seaport.

Raisbeck Performance Hall, a former Sons of Norway hall, is now part of Cornish College of the Arts. It is located just south of Denny Way near the William Volker Building, which is also part of Cornish College. This places it just outside the official boundaries of South Lake Union.

Building or structure	Address	Listing	Photo
Tugboat Arthur Foss	Officially listed in Kirkland, Washington but now docks at Northwest Seaport, Lake Union Park	NRHP
Excursion Boat Virginia V	Docks at Northwest Seaport, Lake Union Park	Seattle landmark NRHP
Fireboat Duwamish	Docks at Northwest Seaport, Lake Union Park	Seattle landmark NRHP
Lightship Relief / Swiftsure	Docks at Northwest Seaport, Lake Union Park	Seattle landmark |NRHP
Pacific McKay and Ford McKay buildings	601-15 Westlake Ave. N	Seattle landmark
R-class sloop Pirate	Docks at Center for Wooden Boats	NRHP
Schooner Wawona No longer seaworthy	Dismantled in 2009.	Seattle landmark NRHP
Seattle First National Bank Building	566 Denny Way	Seattle landmark
Seattle Times Building	1120 John St.	Seattle landmark
Troy Laundry Building As of 2008, used by the Seattle Times as a warehouse	311–329 Fairview Ave. N	Seattle landmark
Van Vorst Building	413–421 Boren Ave. N	Seattle landmark
West Earth Co. Street Clock	406 Dexter Ave. N	Seattle landmark
William Volker Building Now part of Cornish College of the Arts	1000 Lenora Street	NRHP
Schooner Zodiac	Home port is now in Bellingham, Washington, but often docks at the Center for Wooden Boats	NRHP

Building or structure	Address	Listing	Photo
Old Norway Hall Now Raisbeck Performance Hall	2015 Boren Ave.	Seattle landmark
Naval Reserve Armory (Museum of History and Industry since 2013)	800 Terry Ave. N.	Seattle landmark