Melinda French Gates, Mackenzie Scott, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, and the Seattle-based
Expedia Group
—where Diller is chairman and senior executive—are donating an estimated US$45 million to the city of Seattle to improve parks and public spaces along the waterfront.
The Elliott Bay Connections project—which builds on “Waterfront Seattle,” a multi-year US$781 million investment the city is making through 2025—will restore and revitalize public parks ahead of Seattle’s turn as one of the host locations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the global soccer tournament.
The project, which will not involve any additional costs to the public or taxpayers, was announced last week by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Sam Cho, president of the Port of Seattle Commission, along with French Gates and other officials from the city and private associations.
In addition to funding Elliott Bay Connections, Scott is providing an unrestricted US$10 million grant to the Friends of Waterfront Seattle, which is raising US$200 million to construct a new Waterfront Park by 2025. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is providing a US$10 million challenge grant to the effort as an incentive to encourage additional giving.
“Mayor Harrell and city partners were enthusiastic about the project as it will strengthen connections with downtown neighborhoods and the waterfront, building on the decades-long efforts to reconnect the city with the waterfront so that residents, workers, and visitors can experience the natural beauty of the region,” Callie Craighead, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said in a statement.
The public-private approach is consistent with the mayor’s “vision of collaboration and partnerships to unite around shared goals and priorities”—which he calls One Seattle—and for ambitious, visionary civic projects, Craighead said.
Elliott Bay Connections includes a greenway that will be three-quarters of a mile long on the waterfront with 2.5 acres of new public space, the news release said. Native trees, shrubs, and ground coverings will be planted, and existing infrastructure, such as sidewalks, crossings, and signage, will be improved. An old trolley track and sidewalk on the city’s Alaskan Way will be reconfigured into a two-way multi-use path for cyclists, pedestrians, and people in wheelchairs.
The combined Waterfront Park and Elliott Bay Connection projects will total 50 acres of public space running nearly 3.5 miles, the release said.
“Having lived in Seattle for more than three decades, I know we thrive on being so close to nature,” French Gates said in the release. “Public parks connect us to green space and water, but they also connect us to each other. This network of waterfront parks will be a shared space for everyone and bring our city together.”
Revitalizing public spaces is nothing new to Diller and von Furstenberg, who, through the Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation, donated US$35 million to the restoration of the High Line into a public park on former raised-railroad tracks in Manhattan, according to 2011 statement from Friends of the High Line. The couple also gave US$260 million through their foundation to build Little Island as a public park over what once was the city’s Pier 54, according to published reports. The Seattle project is also a foundation gift.
The donations will cover the estimated cost of planning, permitting, design, and construction, the mayor’s statement said. No further funds are needed. Specifics on the amount each donor will give to the project, or on how much has been donated so far, is unavailable.
Seattle is among 16 host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be played across North America, from Canada to Mexico. In the U.S., San Francisco and Los Angeles are also hosting games for the Western Division.
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