Fishermen's Terminal rebuild could double commercial fishing

Renderings from the long-term strategic plan for Fishermen's Terminal. Renderings from the long-term strategic plan for Fishermen's Terminal. Photo: Port Of Seattle Photo: Port Of Seattle Image 1 of / 20 Caption Close Fishermen's Terminal rebuild could double commercial fishing 1 / 20 Back to Gallery

A long-planned redevelopment of Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal is inching forward, with plans to begin work next year and hopes that it could double the city's commercial fishing business.

Design work on the project is set to begin later this year, with the hope to begin construction on new buildings sometime in 2018.

The project, which was announced in April 2016 after two years of planning, will attempt to double the size of a fishing operation that generates $450 million in revenue and nearly $40 million in state and local taxes each year. The plan comes after nearly $30 million worth of improvements to the port's moorage over the last 10 years.

The plan will seek to modernize the home of the Northwest Pacific fishing fleet in order to increase density and take advantage of the 26-acre site's valuable real estate, which currently houses restaurants and office space in addition to the fishing operations and related businesses.

"It's a very eclectic facility as far as the ports facilities go because we not only have the fishing fleet, which is utilizing a large part of the facility, but we have retail buildings, we have office buildings and we have industrial users," the Port's Tim Leonard said. "It's a limited-area site, being in Seattle as opposed to Alaska where they have lots of property. We don't have that much room."

The terminal has been the home of Seattle's commercial fishing operations since its dedication in 1914. It's also the site of the Fishermen’s Memorial, a sculpture paying tribute to local fishermen and women who have been lost at sea, and hosts the Fishermen’s Fall Festival every year.

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The first phase of the planned 10-year project will include two new structures and one major renovation. The first will be a large "gateway building" located at the entrance on West Emerson Place, while the second will be placed along the terminal's west property line near 21st Avenue West.

The gateway building, which will take the place of two net shed buildings and an empty former bank building, will house a "key maritime supply business." The Port is currently in negotiations with a prospective tenant who will weigh in on the final design once plans are finalized. The "West Wall 1" building will be used by suppliers and vendors to the fishing fleet.

Plans also call for the renovation of the Seattle Ship Supply building on the east side of the facility, which had originally been targeted for removal.

"Phase 1" has a preliminary budget of $35 million. Future phases of the strategic plan call for the possible construction of a four-story, 300-stall parking garage, along with improvements meant to increase public access to the facility.

"Fishermen's Terminal is kind of an unknown amenity within the city of Seattle to a certain extent in that it seems like a lot of folks aren't personally familiar with it," Leonard said. "So what we're trying to do is make it more friendly -- without interfering with the professional fishing operations -- to allow the public to gain better insight into the fishing industry and access the site as a whole."

Seattlepi.com reporter Stephen Cohen can be reached at 206-448-8313 or stephencohen@seattlepi.com. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @scohenPI.