King County, Seattle reach land swap agreement for City Hall Park

King County and Seattle city officials announced a new land swap agreement on Friday that included transferring City Hall Park in the Pioneer Square neighborhood to county control.

Under the new agreement, the county will acquire the 0.56-acre City Hall Park to complete its downtown campus. The city of Seattle will acquire the 13 properties owned by the county, totaling 1.35 acres of land. The land parcels acquired by the city include lots near the South Park Bridge and Cesar Chavez Park in the South Park neighborhood. Greg’s Garden P-Patch in Ballard was also transferred to the city.

The agreement comes after several months of security concerns from workers at the King County Courthouse adjacent to the park. Following a fatal stabbing at the park in June, King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn proposed a measure that would have the park condemned as a safety hazard. Dunn cited a survey from the King County Prosecutor’s Office which found that 160 of the 220 employees at the courthouse had expressed concerns about their safety.

Later in July, a man was arrested after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman who worked with the Department of Public Defense in the courthouse bathroom. The homeless encampment in the park was cleared by the city in August, and the park has remained temporarily closed since then.

Following the assault, the King County Council voted in October to seek options to acquire the park from the city and "explore future plans and uses of the park," according to the county. The legislation was then transmitted to King County Executive Dow Constantine, who announced the land swap agreement Friday.

"Ensuring public lands continue to be used for the public good is an important mission not just in open spaces, but within our urban centers as well," Constantine said in a news release Friday. "City Hall Park will allow King County to map out a vision for a complete downtown Civic Campus, including exploring reopening the historic Courthouse entrance and engaging the surrounding neighborhoods, while keeping the land for public use."

The county also launched a new "walking bus" pilot program last week to escort employees from the downtown campus to nearby transit hubs at night to improve safety.

Courthouse safety has remained a persistent issue for the city in the past several years. In 2019, two entrances to the courthouse on Third Avenue were ordered to temporarily close following an attack on a public defender. Later in the year, the King County Council approved $600,000 in emergency funding to increase security measures at the courthouse, including hiring more screeners and having two deputies to provide on-street security.