The last Bicycle Weekend of 2026 on Lake Washington Boulevard was Labor Day, September 7. Seattle Parks has closed out the lifeguarded beach season, and its beach schedule lists next summer's dates as coming in spring 2027. On October 15, ceremonial shovels go into the ground at the old University of Washington laundry site, directly across from Mount Baker Station.
These dates don't mean Mount Baker goes quiet until spring. Fall is when the neighborhood's next few summers get built. Gates for the 2027 boulevard closures are going in near the beach. A development years in the making starts construction at the station. Bidding opens on a long-planned addition to Mount Baker Park. Very little of it will be finished this season, but nearly all of it is scheduled to start before the year is out.
The Boulevard Is Getting Hardware for 2027
For several summers, closing Lake Washington Boulevard to cars has meant temporary setups. The 2026 schedule closed part of the boulevard to motor vehicles while keeping local access from nearby cross streets and to the park lots. Next year will look different at three points along the shoreline.
Seattle Parks & Recreation's August 27 update says crews have started installing three swing gates. Work began at Mt. Baker Beach and is moving south to S. Horton Street and then 43rd Avenue S. The first phase sets the base and post for each gate. Cement pillars are fabricated and mounted afterward. The city expects installation to be finished this fall, in time for the 2027 Bicycle Weekends. The project lists the three locations as:
- South of the Mount Baker Beach parking lot
- Lakewood Avenue S and S Horton Street
- North of 43rd Avenue S and Lake Washington Boulevard
The city also says the gates will serve "other opportunities as needed," not only Bicycle Weekends. Permanent gates make closures easier to repeat. A closure that once took temporary equipment now takes a swing gate.
Some of the gate work's companion pieces are already finished. All of the planned speed cushions are in, and the restriping and flex posts at Lake Washington Blvd S and S Orcas Street are done. Other pieces are still ahead. The city has picked the pathway section between Stan Sayres and 43rd Avenue S as its 2026 priority, with part of it planned for repaving in 2027 "within available funding." A paved walkway on 43rd Avenue S from S Genesee Street to the boulevard has finished advanced design and is waiting on permits.
October 15 at the Old Laundry
Up the hill, the station corner runs on a much longer timeline. The South Seattle Emerald laid out the history in September:
- 2009: The UW laundry building closes.
- 2020: The land is transferred to the city.
- 2021: Community engagement wraps up.
- 2023: Developer selection begins.
- 2024: El Centro de la Raza and Mercy Housing are selected.
- Summer 2026: Demolition begins.
- October 15, 2026: Phase One construction starts.
Phase One, which the city calls Site C, is two eight-story buildings with 239 affordable apartments, fully funded at $206.5 million. Seventy-two units are reserved for residents earning up to 30 percent of area median income. The site is city land leased for $1 a year on a 99-year ground lease. Sixty percent of the apartments will have two or more bedrooms.
The first building will house the Rainier Rising Early Learning Campus, which the UW is paying for under the terms of its land donation. It is expected to serve about 160 children and families a year, and the King County nonprofit Launch was recently named its operating partner. Nona Raybern of the city's Office of Housing described the campus this way:
"a hub for teaching, research, and early learning careers that serves the whole valley."
The parking count shows how much the project depends on the train. Phase One has 67 parking stalls for more than 200 apartments. The developers expect residents to use light rail, and the city generally doesn't require off-street parking for new multifamily buildings in urban villages or Station Area Overlays.
Everything past Phase One is further out. Phase Two would add about 190 units in two more buildings around a resident courtyard, with a park connecting the two phases. It has no funding and no estimated completion date. Next door, Sound Transit's Site A on S. McClellan Street has been proposed for four to eight townhomes or stacked flats, and the larger Site B is headed for a market-rate sale. Neither is expected to break ground before 2028. That depends on a land transfer the City Council is expected to take up in late 2027.
The Commercial Side of the Corner
The second Phase One building will include community-serving commercial space. El Centro executive director Estela Ortega expects 1,200 to 1,500 new residents to become customers for local businesses, as happened after her group's earlier Plaza Roberto Maestas project.
Those customers are still years away, and the corner's restaurants keep changing in the meantime. In July, Seattle Met reported that Thien Phat, a Mount Baker Vietnamese restaurant, had closed after nearly 20 years. That closure came well before any new apartments open. The businesses that will serve the new residents may be ones that open between now and then.
Mount Baker Park Gets in Line
The last project on the list is the smallest and the most practical. Mount Baker Park, at 2521 Lake Park Dr S, is getting a new public restroom. The design is at the 60 percent construction-document stage. Bidding is scheduled for November 2026 through April 2027, and construction for May through November 2027. The work area may affect the play area while construction is underway. If that schedule holds, the restroom will be under construction during the first summer the boulevard gates are in use, and the park will look different next summer than it did this one.
What's on This Season's Calendar
While the long projects get started, the neighborhood's fall calendar has its own dates.
- Saturday, October 10, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.: Wine tasting at the Mount Baker Community Club clubhouse, with wines from Leschi Market, appetizers and live music. Tickets are sold in advance.
- Wednesday, October 21, 6 to 7:30 p.m.: The Mount Baker Hub's monthly emergency-preparedness meeting. Attendees will pick topics for the coming year from ideas that include GMRS radios, emergency kits and first aid, and everyone is welcome.
- Sunday, November 1: Head of the Lake, on a course that runs from Lake Union to Lake Washington. It's on the Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Center's club calendar.
- Through November 2: Fall junior novice rowing at Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Center, with weekday afternoon practices.
- Friday, November 13, 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, November 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The Community Club's Holiday Arts & Crafts Sale. The vendor list is still to come.
The arts sale is the last event on this list. By then, crews will have been working at the old laundry site for a month. The restroom bid window will be open, and if the city stays on schedule, the three boulevard gates should be standing near Mt. Baker Beach, S. Horton Street and 43rd Avenue S, ready for the 2027 closures.
If you own near the station or along the boulevard and want to know what this construction schedule could mean for your home over the next few years, Strong Properties can walk you through it street by street. Work with Portia.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
