Seattle Parks bought about 0.38 acres in 2012 to add open space in the heart of the Junction. More than a decade later, the parcel still isn’t a finished park. The West Seattle Blog has followed design workshops, GGLO renderings, COVID-era budget suspensions, and quarterly project-meeting hints—most recently expectations discussed in late 2023 that work might target 2025. For “what’s true today,” start with Parks’ official Junction park page, then compare to the latest WSB neighborhood roundups.
Community members weighed in as early as 2017 on dozens of possible park features at an open-house style vote WSB covered at the Farmers Market, and saw concept boards again in 2018.
In January 2019, a reader “you asked, we checked” piece quoted Parks putting the GGLO-led design at about 65 percent complete, with one more public meeting expected before nailing down construction timing (WSB status follow-up).
Parks later described suspending many capital jobs during the pandemic and routing some projects through the renewed Park District workplan—language still echoed on the city site:
"In the summer of 2020, the City of Seattle turned its focus to essential functions to address the pandemic and economic crisis, which required a significant reprioritization of resources. After careful analysis of equity considerations, health and safety concerns, and alignment with essential functions, Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) suspended many capital projects including the West Seattle Junction Park Development project. As promised at the time, SPR worked to restore funding in future budget cycles for suspended projects. In September 2022, the Seattle City Council, acting in their role as Seattle Park District Board, passed a new six-year funding plan for the 2023-2028 Park District cycle which includes funding for this project and many more. SPR staff are now reprioritizing projects in this six-year funding plan using several criteria, including equity, and creating a plan for implementation. We anticipate having a plan in the second quarter of 2023 that will guide our Park District capital work over the next six years. We will update the schedule below when we have the workplan completed."
Because capital schedules slip, treat meeting quotes as snapshots: November 2023 briefing language reviewed by WSB suggested this park could still sit a couple of years out—see Updates below.
Selected West Seattle Blog coverage (newer items first within each era).
May 2026 note: WSB neighborhood stories sometimes bundle Junction updates with other District 1 meetings—search westseattleblog.com for “Junction park” or “40th SW” alongside the city project page for the freshest milestone dates.
Seattle Parks is not a very responsive organization. In fairness they are understaffed and underfunded like every other part of our city. If you want change, you are going to have to work at it. Here are some things you can do to help.
Adopt this page. Seattle Parks is responsible for so many parks, and we don't have enough people to watch them all. Join us!