Parkour Park Update + Design Meeting

Parkour Visions has been trying for years to get a parkour park built in Seattle. Last summer, we connected with the Garfield Super Block Coalition and other organizations to help advance the GSB redevelopment project and support our mutual goal: creating more inclusive, all-ages community play spaces.

GSB is a large and diverse gathering space in the heart of Central District, comprising playgrounds, athletic fields, Garfield High School and Community Center, plus Medgar Evers Pool, one of our favorite parkour spots. The redevelopment project is a $7.7 million effort to improve lighting, landscaping, ADA accessibility, art, public restrooms, sports courts, and more.

The GSB Coalition expressed excitement about including a parkour park in the design. We joined their efforts to get the word out and invited folks out to several community events in summer and fall. You may remember jumping around, hanging out, and helping put up scaffolding at Medgar Evers pool. We are grateful to all who attended because…

 

From Paint the Park, a community event last October.

 

Funding Update

Those advocacy efforts were a success!

Last August, GSB won $500k in initial funding from City Council for planning, design, and engineering. Since then, the project has been moving forward with hiring contractors, engaging neighborhood stakeholders, and applying for funding.

The GSB Coalition recently announced the project has been awarded two major grants totalling about $4.5M out of the $7.7M needed. Funding efforts will continue, with PKV fundraising and applying for grants for the parkour park portion of the project (around $150k).

Parkour Park Design Meeting

In late winter 2022, landscape architecture firm Site Workshop was officially hired to design the project. They’ve enlisted PKV design director Colin MacDonald to create the parkour park design.

We need your input! Colin is flying into Seattle next weekend to get feedback and ideas from the parkour community. Please join us!

GSB Parkour Park Design Meeting

Saturday, June 25, 3–5pm @ Garfield Community Center Multipurpose Room

There will be a presentation and opportunity to give input on what you want to see at the park. Community participation is crucial, so please share this with your parkour friends!

For a behind-the-scenes look at how Colin approaches parkour design, check out The Parkour Park Design Handbook he wrote.

Here’s a quick concept render Colin made as an example of what a parkour park can look like.

Timeline

Major redevelopment projects have many steps and take a long time to complete. Optimistically, we hope building will start in 2023, with 2024 being the earliest possible completion date. If there are funding or other delays, the park could be completed in later phases.

Though things may move slowly, we will keep you updated on progress!

Learn more about the GSB project.

Read other posts on GSB Parkour Park:

News, DesignRebecca Brightlyparkour parks, design