Centering Residents in the Central District
Central District residents are advocating for upzoning developments that won’t increase gentrification.
New housing Central District development in Seattle, Wash. Construction is occurring adjacent to pre-existing housing. // Jack Kudla
Story by Bryce Groen
March 3, 2023
The face of a historically Black neighborhood in Seattle is changing rapidly. New zoning regulations and demands for housing are driving development throughout the Central District, perpetuating a decades-long process of gentrification and displacement.
From 1970 to 2020, parts of Seattle’s Central District saw the percentage of Black residents drop from more than 90% down to 11%, according to spatial analysts at the University of Washington.
“It’s like watching your home kind of be destroyed,” said local Vivian Phillips. She is the founder and board president of Arte Noir, an arts center in the Central District focused on highlighting the work of Black artists.
Map by Sof Dubois with data from the City of Seattle GIS Program 2023.
One notable development, called Midtown Square, is located on the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, in the heart of the Central District. During its planning phase, Midtown Square faced serious opposition from area residents frustrated by the impacts of previous projects.
“It's a huge generalization, but a large percentage of the people that live in that building probably did not live in the Central District before that project was completed,” said Rico Quirindongo, Acting Director of Seattle’s Office of Planning.
Quirindongo and Phillips were asked to step in and work with the developer, Lake Union Partners, and the community to find a path forward for the project.
Development continues throughout the Central District, but more projects are being led by or planned with the neighborhood’s Black residents.
Under the right conditions, development in the Central District could benefit everyone in the neighborhood, Quirindongo said. “I want to see the diversity of people, but also the positive impacts of development be realized within the neighborhoods of the greatest need.”
New construction and developments sandwich old housing in the Central District, near Midtown Square in Seattle, Wash. // Jack Kudla
Behind the Push for Denser Development
The City of Seattle is planning to increase the density in many of its neighborhoods through upzoning.
Upzoning aims to encourage denser development, increase housing supplies, and thus improve housing affordability in communities with high economic opportunity, according to research from the Brookings Institution.
In its 2035 Comprehensive Plan and the upcoming One Seattle plan, the city emphasizes the concept of “Urban Villages.” These villages provide dense and diverse housing options, employment opportunities, public transit, pedestrian-oriented infrastructure and more.
The Central District, including the neighborhood around the 23rd and Union intersection, is identified as a Residential Urban Village in the Comprehensive Plan.
“When density is done right it enables people to live close to their basic needs,” said Neelima Shah, Senior Program Officer at Seattle’s Bullitt Foundation.
Sustainability is another important goal for upzoning. When housing is dense, cities can accommodate more people. Otherwise, many people who might want to live in a city instead look to suburbs and exurbs for housing.
As these outlying communities grow, the metropolitan area of a city advances into otherwise undeveloped land, a phenomenon also known as urban sprawl.
“As people move to farther out places, we’re building on our forest and farmland area, and we lose all that natural area that creates habitat,” Shah said.
There is also a relationship between urban sprawl and climate change. Denser communities produce shorter travel times, quicker access to basic needs and more energy-efficient environments.
“Not only are they closer to things as far as transportation, the houses themselves have a smaller carbon footprint because you’re sharing walls and sharing heat,” Shah said.
There are benefits to upzoning, but not for everyone in the Central District.
One of the many colorful displays in the newly redone Midtown Square. // Jack Kudla
Midtown Square
In its original form, Midtown Square would have been similar to the two other recent apartment buildings built at 23rd and Union with several stories of apartments over street-level retail.
“There was going to be a Rite Aid there,” said Rachel Scheiner, a professor at Seattle Central College who has lived in the Central District for 24 years.
One of the many colorful displays in the newly redone Midtown Square. // Jack Kudla
That was the problem for community members. Another development at the same intersection in the heart of the Central District was a step too far. The existing developments at the intersection did not reflect the history or culture of the Central District and did not serve the needs of the area’s current residents. One of the buildings has a PCC, a high-end grocery store, on its ground floor, while other grocery options nearby are scarce.
“That place is crazy expensive. Nice store, but it is rather cost-prohibitive,” Scheiner said.
The developer was not able to get permission to move forward without addressing the concerns of neighborhood residents. They asked Phillips and Quirindongo to facilitate the necessary community engagement to earn the support of the community.
Through the process, they created a community-based art advisory board and found local artists to make the project reflect the history of the neighborhood, Phillips said.
The retail space at street level became space for Black-owned businesses and organizations. Arte Noir, the arts organization founded by Phillips, is located in Midtown Square with other community spaces.
“Ms. Helen’s is actually coming back,” Scheiner said. Ms. Helen’s is a soul food restaurant that originally opened at 23rd and Union in 1970, but hasn’t had a permanent location since 2001. It will be another business located in Midtown Square.
What might have been just another apartment building has become a public space that is conscious of its place in the Central District’s history. The power given to community members to influence the final plan for Midtown Square transformed the project into a better reflection of the neighborhood.
Gentrification and Housing Discrimination
Building new multi-unit developments means replacing existing homes, and new units are often occupied by people moving in from outside of the area. This increased density is often associated with gentrification.
The US has a long history of racist housing policy. Racial housing covenants in Seattle legally prohibited Black people from buying homes in the most desirable and economically advantageous neighborhoods, forcing Black residents to concentrate in unsafe and undesirable areas.
In Seattle, the Central District was the main neighborhood in which Black people were able to own homes. Many homes in formerly white-only neighborhoods still have racially discriminatory covenants in their deeds, according to the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project from the University of Washington.
Beginning in the 1930s, the Federal Housing Administration stopped providing mortgages for homes in these majority-Black communities, cutting off many Black Americans from the economic opportunities that come with home ownership.
These policies deprived Black communities of the opportunity to build wealth and financial stability associated with property ownership and affordable housing.
For years, Black Americans have been denied access to neighborhoods, housing and home loans, leaving communities vulnerable to gentrification and displacement.
Community Opportunities
Black ownership of property in the Central District represents an opportunity for the community to benefit from increased density while counteracting gentrification.
The Africatown Community Land Trust is an organization in the Central District that works to “acquire, steward and develop land assets that are necessary for the Black/African diaspora community to grow and thrive in place in the Central District,” according to the group’s website.
Less than a block away from Midtown Square is the Liberty Bank Building. The project includes 115 units of affordable housing and ground-floor retail space for Black-owned businesses. The Liberty Bank Building was built on the former site of Seattle’s first Black-owned bank.
An entrance to the Liberty Bank building, located a block from Midtown Square. Liberty Bank was the first Black-owned bank in Seattle, Wash. // Jack Kudla
Africatown Plaza is a project currently under construction directly south of Midtown Square that will eventually provide additional affordable housing units, space for Black-owned businesses and community areas.
There are many projects similar to Liberty Bank, Africatown Plaza or Midtown Square across the Central District, and the Africatown Community Land Trust is one of many community organizations dedicated to preventing further displacement in the Central District.
Community-led development projects represent a model of upzoning that ties a community to its neighborhood instead of displacing it, according to a proposal from the Urban Institute. That being said, gentrification in Seattle isn’t going to be undone by murals and apartment buildings. Under the proposed framework, local governments could empower communities to lead planning and development initiatives.
Communities may continue to struggle to address gentrification and displacement without control over their own development.
“There’s a lot of work that still has to be done, obviously, but we’re not going to wait and just say ‘Oh well there’s nothing we can do’,” Phillips said.
The displacement and un-making of Seattle’s historic Black neighborhood is a risk. Still, there is an opportunity for the community to benefit from development while the city works to redress its history of discriminatory housing policies.
“The city is going to grow anyway,” Quirindongo said, “It can grow in a way that supports community or it can grow in a way that displaces.”
Bryce Groen is a student at the College of the Environment majoring in environmental studies with a policy emphasis. He is interested in the social impacts of environmental policy.
Jack Kudla is freshman at Western majoring in environmental studies. He enjoys traveling and shooting photos with his various film cameras.