South Lake Union losing free parking

Dozens of motorists who parked near REI got a bit of a surprise last week when they saw brand-new parking pay stations lining the streets.

It's all part of a major change to South Lake Union parking. The city is installing pay stations in the area and expects by the end of the year there will be no free parking left in the neighborhood north of downtown.

Eventually, there will be 2,300 paid parking places in South Lake Union, an area bounded by Denny Way, Dexter Avenue North, Eastlake Avenue East and Valley Street.

The new pay stations were installed to serve all the new offices, biotech labs and condominium buildings now being built along the 1.3-mile route from the Westin Hotel to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Further, the city hopes that eliminating free parking will encourage more use of transit, including the new South Lake Union streetcar set to open later this year.

Since 2005, about 920 housing units have been built within a few blocks of the new South Lake Union streetcar line, now under construction on Westlake Avenue, while 1,550 homes and 1.7 million square feet of office space are under construction, said Michael Mann, transportation adviser to Mayor Greg Nickels.

A new residential parking zone will also be created for those who live in the Cascade neighborhood, which is part of the larger neighborhood. It will be the city's 24th residential-parking zone, where residents with city-supplied window stickers need not feed pay stations or move their cars every few hours.

The city expects to earn about $600,000 in parking fees from the South Lake Union area for the rest of the year and $2.2 million next year, said Marybeth Turner, spokeswoman for the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Citywide, there are about 9,000 paid parking spaces, which earned the city about $16 million last year.

South Lake Union is one of the largest areas of Seattle where the city is removing free parking and is the only neighborhood, besides downtown Seattle, where all of it will be removed.

Pay stations have been added to Ballard, First Hill and the University District over the past few years, but some free and short-term parking remains.

In South Lake Union, there will be two types of timed parking: short-term for up to two hours on streets with commercial businesses, such as Westlake Avenue North, and long-term for up to 10 hours for people who work in the neighborhood. The short-term parking will cost $1.25 an hour, the long-term 75 cents an hour.

The installation of the new parking pay stations is starting in the Cascade neighborhood, near REI at Eastlake Avenue East and John Street.

"South Lake Union is going to get more developed, so we need to manage the parking so customers can get to businesses," Turner said. "We worked with the community for two years to figure out parking."

According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, the parking changes were fueled by a study completed last year on balancing customer, employee and residential needs.

The residential parking zone is bounded by the Interstate 5 onramp at Mercer Street to Denny Way, and from Eastlake Avenue East to Fairview Avenue North.

Residents can apply for the parking stickers, which cost $35 for two years, and a $15 guest permit is also available. Residents can call 206-684-5086.

The city said its target is to maintain 85 percent peak occupancy on blocks with paid parking.

Staff Reporter Mike Lindblom contributed to this report.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com