Compared to its former vitality, downtown Seattle has been a ghost town in the past year of the coronavirus virus. Most believe it eventually will rebound, but how much and when?
The Seattle Times recently explored the question in a lengthy piece.
The story outlined several forces likely to change the face and energy of downtown.
These include:
- The pace and effectiveness of vaccine rollouts.
- The extent that working from home becomes a permanent reality.
- How quickly new businesses will replace the 160 downtown businesses that permanently closed during the pandemic.
- How quickly summer tourism and year-round conventions return to downtown.
- Only 1 in an estimated 5 downtown employees who began working from their homes had returned to work as of last month.
Downtown’s health is a significant consideration. The Times reports that prior to the pandemic, downtown accounted for more than half of Seattle’s jobs and tax revenue.
