King Street Station Restoration

King Street Station Restoration

Transforming a historic landmark to meet increasing transit needs and enhance public space

Location:

Seattle, WA

Client:

City of Seattle

Services:

  • Strategic communication

  • Public involvement planning

  • Event planning

  • Media outreach

  • Outreach to underrepresented populations

  • Door-to-door outreach

  • Outreach materials

  • Website management

  • Graphic design and branding

  • Stakeholder briefings

  • Open house

Project description:

For over a century, King Street Station has served as a gateway for millions of travelers coming into Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Today, it’s a major intercity rail terminal and an important downtown Seattle multimodal transportation hub. Amtrak, WSDOT, SDOT, and Sound Transit worked in partnership with BNSF Railway to transform the busy and historic King Street Station and adjacent tracks and platforms to meet current needs and future expansion of intercity and commuter rail service. The City of Seattle then purchased the station from BNSF to carry out further restorations, including replacement of the station roof, fixing the clock tower, restoration of the grand staircase and terminal floor, and seismic upgrades. Early public involvement and communications informed the community about the City’s plans and offered many opportunities for feedback on the restoration.

Results:

S&A worked closely with the City of Seattle to coordinate the early public involvement and communications efforts to raise residents’ and businesses’ awareness of the City’s plans, solicit feedback, and keep the public informed as this exciting project moved forward. S&A designed and executed the public involvement plan; developed key outreach materials, including fact sheets, mailers, and display boards ; organized a media event, open house, presentations, and stakeholder briefings; conducted door-to-door outreach; identified and conducted outreach to underrepresented populations; and carried out graphic design and branding needs for the project. With the involvement and support of the public, historic King Street Station was restored to its original grandeur, and its facilities were upgraded to meet the needs of rail and transit users now and into the future.