2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land - 68

ULI AMERICAS AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE WINNERS
Aurora Bridge Bioswales * Seattle, Washington, United States
TYPE: Urban Open Space (UOS)
USES: A green infrastructure bioswale that
harnesses a natural process to reverse a
human-made problem.
DEVELOPERS: Phase 1: CoU, LLC /
HessCallahanGrey Group, HAL Real
Estate, Clean Lake Union LLC. Phase
Two: CoU, LLC / HessCallahanGrey
Group, Spear Street Capital, Clean Lake
Union, LLC; Phase Three: Clean Lake
Union LLC, The Boeing Group, The
State of Washington
OWNERS: Phase 1: Fremont Lake Union
Center, HAL Real Estate, CoU, LLC
/ HessCallahanGrey Group; Phase
Two: Macquarie Group; Phase Three:
Fremont Lake Union Center
DESIGNERS: Weber Thompson; KPFF
SITE SIZE: 0.5 acres (0.2 ha)
DATE ACQUIRED: 9/1/2014
DATE OPENED: 9/1/2017
BUILDINGS (SQ FT OR SQ M): 0
PARKING (# OF SPACES): 0
OPEN SPACE (SQ FT OR SQ M):
21,000 sq ft (1,950 sq m)
Located in the pubLic right of way,
the Aurora Bridge Bioswales are a
nature-based solution for filtering and
cleaning stormwater. The story of
how the Bioswales came to fruition
in Seattle exemplifies how private
developers and local stakeholders in
any community may work together
to deploy large-scale environmental
responses with a modest budget.
These nature-based solutions can
mitigate the collective damage to
shared resources, including lakes,
streams, and rivers.
The background of this mitigation
success story is set where a 1930-era
Aurora Bridge connects the Fremont
neighborhood at the northwest corner
of Seattle's Lake Union, with an
estimated 65,000 vehicles crossing
over it daily. Over the decades, the
bridges' toxic automobile runoff
harmed salmon species that swim
below the bridge during annual
spawning runs as well as the local Orca
population, which rely on salmon as a
food source.
Meanwhile, the space under the
bridge was an uninviting stretch of land
that did not draw in pedestrians or add
value to the adjacent properties.
The development team reached out
to other public and private partners to
gather participation and resources to
create phased plans for building the
Bioswales, installing rain gardens to
treat the runoff as part of their projects'
frontage improvements. With a variety
of government agencies involved in
stormwater management and the
public right of way, bringing the phases
to completion required a concentrated
effort of public and private partner
coordination.
After the successful construction
of the first series of Bioswales on the
bridge's west side, the team expanded
the effort to the east side as they
developed a second commercial
building there. A third phase, located
closer to the lake, captures an
additional million gallons of runoff
annually.
The Aurora Bridge Bioswales have
successfully now elevated the quality of
the polluted water as well as enhanced
the attractiveness of the area under
the bridge which draws recreators and
pedestrians alike.
The three phases (Data 1, Watershed, and Phase 3) are found adjacent to Troll Ave., north
and south of 34th St., under the Aurora Bridge in the Fremont neighborhood.
68
URBAN LAND WINTER 202 4
WEBER THOMPSON
2024 Winter Issue of Urban Land

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