In April 2024, when Seattle Parks restarted planning for the grassy lot at 48th Ave SW and SW Charlestown St, the West Seattle Blog reported a short list of remaining work. The list was bid documents, an SDOT permit and electrical design coordination. Parks expected bids to open in late 2024 and the park to be done by mid-2025.
Seattle Parks updated its Charlestown Park project page on October 20, 2026. The design team is "updating the construction documents, adding electrical service and finalizing the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Street Improvement permit."
That is nearly the same list, two and a half years later. The lawn, play area and seat walls have had a community-approved design since 2019. What remains is the work at the park's edges: the sidewalk and curb permit, the power hookup and a budget that has shrunk. If you live on Genesee Hill and want to know when the fence finally goes up, watch those edges.
A lot with a long paper trail
The city's interest in this corner goes back further than most neighbors may realize. In August 2013, the West Seattle Blog reported that the City Council's Parks and Neighborhoods Committee had approved buying the 48th and Charlestown greenspace with Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund money. Seattle Parks completed the purchase of the .33-acre parcel at 4801 SW Charlestown St in 2014. The site has had other lives. In 2019 the West Seattle Herald noted that it had been a small community garden and, before that, a neighborhood grocery store.
The money used for the purchase still shapes the park. The land was bought with King County Conservation Futures funding, which limits the site to "low-impact, passive recreation" and caps impervious surfacing at 15% or less. That rules out a sport court, a big plaza or a parking lot. It was always going to be a small green park, and that is the design neighbors helped choose.
Here is how the promised dates have moved:
| When it was said | What was expected | What happened next |
|---|---|---|
| November 2018 | Planning into 2019, construction about two years out, $1.2 million budget | Design moved forward through 2019 |
| June 2020 | Program paused for COVID-19 budget impacts | Lot sat undeveloped |
| April 2024 | Bid opening late 2024, completion mid-2025 | No bid by May 2025 |
| May 2025 | Possible groundbreaking that September | No groundbreaking |
| October 2025 city list | Target bid date Q1 2026, $950,000 estimate | Target moved again |
| October 2026 | Bidding late summer or early fall 2026, construction winter 2026, completion 2027 | Still listed as a target |
The design was settled years ago
The design work happened in public, and much of it hasn't changed. In February 2019, Parks held a drop-in event at the site, with Parks' Ed Pottharst on hand to talk through possible features, according to the West Seattle Blog. That May, the team showed three alternatives: dog-friendly, community green and neighborhood play. Lisa Corry of Cascade Design Collaborative talked about keeping the site's existing Atlas cedars and reflecting the area's Duwamish history, as the West Seattle Blog reported.
The preferred plan, dated July 9, 2019, is a "neighborhood green." The concept plan labels these elements:
- An oval lawn with a loop path around it
- Arching 18-inch seat walls and benches
- Imaginative play, tot play and nature play areas
- Picnic areas and a small stage
- Native and low plantings, with trees for shade
- Bike racks, a 3-foot metal fence and a pedestrian entry from the alley
Parks' current page still describes the same design, now credited to Seattle Parks and Osborn Consulting, with native and drought-tolerant plants "to express the natural history of this area."
Why the edges are the hard part
The park itself is not complicated to build. In May 2025, Parks manager Rhys Harrington told the West Seattle Blog that much of the construction is simple "concrete and earth work." He said that is why this site had moved ahead of the other two West Seattle parcels the city bought and held as future parks: it was the closest to "shovel-ready."
The pieces that touch city systems are another matter. A new park on a residential corner needs electrical service it has never had. It also needs a street improvement permit from SDOT, because the plan changes the public right-of-way. The 2019 concept shows new curb ramps at every corner and a crosswalk on SW Charlestown at the park's frontage, marked "PENDING SDOT APPROVAL." Both the electrical service and the SDOT permit appeared on the remaining-work list in April 2024 and again in October 2026.
The money has gotten tighter at the same time. The Seattle Park District lists $1,273,388 for planning, design and construction combined. That is a different number from the construction budget. In May 2025, Harrington put construction at $730,000 and said some features might be dropped, the mini-stage among them. He said the project would go out to bid with certain items, lighting for example, listed as "additives." That way the base bid has a better chance of coming in under budget, without the city having to rebid. The same article reported that a neighbor living a block from the site was trying to rally community donations and a Neighborhood Matching Fund grant to help build the park closer to the original plan. The city's announcements of matching fund awards since then have not named the park.
A $730,000 construction budget has to cover curbs, ramps and a new power connection before it pays for anything on the lawn. So the stage and the lighting are the parts of the plan most likely to change.
The street around it is already changing
Some of the right-of-way work is showing up nearby, though no source ties it to the park. On the morning of October 16, a reader sent the West Seattle Blog photos of the first-ever crosswalks at 47th Ave SW and SW Charlestown St, one block east of the park site. The reader called Charlestown "the OTHER West Seattle freeway" and noted that this is the only stop sign on Charlestown west of California.
The streets around the neighborhood's schools are getting the same treatment. SDOT now lists the Genesee Hill Elementary School Street, on SW Dakota St between 50th and 51st Ave SW, as permanent. Temporary School Streets generally run 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on school days. Permanent ones are in effect 24/7. Residents, deliveries, waste pickup and emergency vehicles keep local access. SDOT's July list of Safe Routes to School projects, published by the West Seattle Blog, showed daylighting and marked crosswalks at SW Genesee St and 51st Ave SW as complete. On 45th Ave SW in front of Madison Middle School, SDOT crews installed four concrete barriers with new signs on October 15. Two went at Hinds and two at Spokane, as part of making that School Street permanent.
All of this is the same kind of curb, crossing and signage work the park is waiting on. SDOT is clearly doing that work on Genesee Hill this fall.
What to watch this winter
If construction starts on Parks' current schedule, the lot will close. Seattle Parks says plainly that "the parcel will not be accessible during construction." Neighbors who use the open grass for a dog walk or a game of catch can expect to lose it for a while. Back in 2020, West Seattle Blog commenters described using the lot for exactly that.
The city advertises construction work in the Daily Journal of Commerce and on its OpenGov procurement portal. The city has tracked the project as PW#2019-074. When a notice appears, it should show whether the stage and lighting are in the base contract or listed as add-ons.
To see where Charlestown stands next to its sister parcels, look at the other two West Seattle sites the city bought and held as future parks. Parks says the West Seattle Junction park on 40th SW has a final design and is preparing for construction later in 2026. The Morgan Junction Park expansion has finished its Phase I soil work, and Phase II construction is expected to start in 2027.
To follow the Charlestown project directly, Seattle Parks has a sign-up for updates on the Charlestown Park page. Parks' general line is (206) 684-4075.
If you live near 48th and Charlestown and are wondering how this winter's construction and a 2027 opening might fit with your own plans, I'm happy to talk it through with you. Real Estate With Sav is here whenever you're ready. Let's Connect.
