Downtown Seattle

Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared to other city centers on the West Coast because of its geographical situation: hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by Elliott Bay, and on the south by reclaimed land that was once tidal flats. It is bounded on the north by Denny Way, beyond which are Uptown, Seattle Center, and South Lake Union; on the east by Interstate 5, beyond which are Capitol Hill and First Hill; on the south by Yesler Way, beyond which is the International District and part of Pioneer Square; and on the west by Elliott Bay. Belltown, the Denny Regrade, and the rest of Pioneer Square are sub-neighborhoods of Downtown. Seattle's main financial district, waterfront, and shopping area (surrounding Westlake Mall and connected to Seattle Center by way of a monorail) make up the bulk of Downtown. It is also home to the landmark Pike Place Market.

Downtown Seattle's Columbia Center is the tallest building west of the Mississippi River by number of stories, at seventy-six, though there are taller buildings in Texas and California by height. Other notable buildings are the Washington Mutual Tower, Two Union Square, Nordstrom's flagship store, Benaroya Hall, the new Seattle Central Library designed by Rem Koolhaas, and an expanded art museum, the main facade of which was designed by Robert Venturi.

Downtown parks include Westlake Park, Freeway Park, and Victor Steinbrueck Park. The Olympic Sculpture Park is expected to be completed on the Belltown waterfront in Autumn, 2006.

Because Downtown is the actual name of a neighborhood (with sub-neighborhoods), not merely a toponym for a city's central business district or southernmost section (as it is in other places), and because of Downtown's growing residential population, it is grammatically correct for Seattlites to describe a location as "in Downtown." (For example, "I work in Downtown," instead of "I work downtown.")

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