Should King County redevelop its campus in downtown Seattle and build a new jail and courts complex elsewhere, like above a huge Metro bus lot in Sodo? That is a question that is now being posed by county representatives. The proposal could take at least 15 years to carry out and hasn’t even been vetted by the Metropolitan King County Council or the general public for that matter, but it is being bantered around because of all the recent complaints about the continuing viability of the current county buildings, including the decrepit downtown jail.
The proposal includes closing the county’s downtown jail and revitalizing an eight-block area of county offices into a high-rise neighborhood with stores, restaurants, apartments and a new light rail station near Fourth Avenue and James Street.The county’s current downtown campus includes the jail, a century-old courthouse and an empty administration building, which closed in 2022. Repairing the county’s downtown buildings over the next 20 years could cost almost $700 million and renovating them could cost $3 billion, suggesting that complete redevelopment would make more sense.
It is doubtful that anyone would debate that the Seattle jail is outdated and inefficient and must be replaced. But the question is how to fix the problem, not whether there is a problem in the first place. As with any government project, it will be interesting to see if minds can come together for a solution. Knowing Seattle … don’t hold your breath.
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