The East Howe Steps Plaza Breaks Ground (Finally!)

It’s a familiar sight now in Eastlake: The chain-link fence goes up; the ground is broken, and there is a lot of construction. But this time – this time – no big, boxy building is going in. This groundbreaking is for a new park.

It’s a park that has been over 10-years in the making and planning with at least four public meetings held for its design at TOPS-Seward School in December 2014, February and March 2015, and November 2018, but now at long last the East Howe Steps Plaza is becoming a reality.

Located at the East Howe Street right of way along Fairview Ave., the new park plaza will feature informal seating areas, a Lake Union viewpoint, and native and drought tolerant plants and trees (to be maintained by an adjacent building with help from local residents and neighborhood work parties).

The new park plaza will mark the base of a grand stairway that goes all the way up to the top of Capitol Hill.  It will connect Eastlake Ave. and Fairview Ave.; be a wonderful new rest area for bicyclists and walkers on the Cheshiahud Loop around Lake Union; and a welcome open space for the Eastlake neighborhood.

A community celebration will be held once it’s completed – with momentum sometime this summer.