The downtown waterfront and Pioneer Square have undergone major changes over the last year, leading to optimism ahead of the football season.
SEATTLE — Scores of Seahawks fans lined up along Elliott Bay in Seattle on Thursday for the team’s official kickoff celebration, ‘Party at the Pier,’ a symbolic gathering at the recently completed Waterfront Park.
The gathering marks the start of the Seahawks’ 50th season, which begins Sunday, just one day after the city celebrates the completion of the $800 million, 20-acre park along Elliott Bay. The project took 15 years to complete and was key to several adjacent projects, including the Pioneer Square East-West pedestrian improvement plan.
“I feel great for the Seahawks and what’s happened in Seattle. It’s wonderful, man… It’s great for Seattle,” said Mike Kendrick, a longtime fan.
In other words, the Seahawks’ golden anniversary coincides with major changes in the neighborhoods surrounding Lumen Field.
“2025 has been transformational and really pivotal for Pioneer Square… there’s a lot of new, unique things that people haven’t seen in a very long time,” said Lisa Howard, executive director of the Alliance for Pioneer Square.
Howard said more new businesses opened in the first quarter of 2025 than all of 2024, which has created “new experiences” for potential visitors.
“It’s not only game day … the other days of the week are seeing a huge uptick,” she added. “The Seahawks games have just a few more people coming so there’s definitely that very excited crowd on gamedays and it makes for a really exciting environment all across the neighborhood.”
The hope in Pioneer Square is that the influx of visitors translates into more fans spending time in the neighborhood, rather than simply passing through.
“I think it’s been a while since a lot of people have been down here and they have perceptions about what they’ve seen on TV and that’s not the reality of today,” Howard said.
Among the new businesses is The Hall on Occidental, a bar and restaurant steps from the stadium’s northwest corner.
“It’s special, it feels exciting, and it feels like Seattle right now,” General Manager Josh Robinson told KING 5 during the preseason.
