Update: Morgan Junction All Wheels Area is fully funded
A 3D rendering of the current 100% completed design by Grindline.
Project scope
The proposed all wheels area is in an existing park that is being redeveloped. The scope of
the all wheels area part of the project is to demolish or resurface about 700 square feet of existing pavement and add another 800 square feet adjacent, resulting in a total all wheels area of 1,500 square
feet. Small “entry level” concrete obstacles will then be added on top of the new pad to
facilitate all wheels activation. No steep earthen slopes are proposed adjacent to the all wheels area and no retaining walls or other geotechnical features requiring engineering study.
Background
In response to neighborhood requests to reactivate the Morgan Junction Park (MJP) the
Morgan Junction All Wheels Association (MJAWA) was founded in 2023 and applied for and
successfully executed a $0K Department of Neighborhoods grant to design a small area for wheeled recreation, to be included into the redesigned Morgan Junction Park in 2024. MJAWA hired world expert skatepark designers Grindline to develop shovel-ready plans based on community and local expert feedback. The combined volunteer hours and neighborhood matching fund grant added nearly $100k of value to the park redevelopment plan. MJAWA did several outreach events and the final design is well
received by the West Seattle Community and ready for site integration. The most recent cost estimate provided by Grindline is $403,000 for the skate dot and related site work. After evaluating this relative to market data MJAWA feels that is a conservative estimate but suitable for planning and budgeting moving forward.
(This project has a much deeper and sordid history, which we will try to document here retroactively, but a quick internet search for “Morgan Junction skatepark” should turn up most everything you want to know.)
Update
In April of 2025, Seattle Parks (SPR) provided MJAWA with a planning-level estimate of $850,000 for the 1,500 SF all wheels area. MJAWA had serious questions about the validity of this estimate and was unable to independently validate the SPR estimate with current market data and reasonable assumptions. MJAWA stated to SPR that they did not feel that this estimate is appropriate for planning purposes and requested that SPR use the data provided by Grindline until an estimate can be prepared by an engineer or cost estimator formally attached to the design of the all wheels area and related facilities. SPR said the Gridline data was invalid due to some prominent exclusions. MJAWA responded by performing their own objective assessment, which you can read here.
The Seattle Times published a piece on August 14th, 2025 that does a great job covering the historical and current challenges on this project.
Site meeting
To address the budget estimate gap, MJAWA asked for a site meeting with SPR. Tracy Record from the West Seattle Blog wrote an excellent recap that you can read here. The TL;DR is that Seattle Parks told MJAWA that the exorbitant numbers they provided are extremely padded for all worst case scenarios, extreme inflation, and every possible delay imaginable. Assumptions that were communicated to the community previously about site conditions, process, and drainage are no longer valid, and SPR are moving forward as if there is no continuity between the previous project leadership by Kelly Goold and the new PM, Trae Yang.
Effectively, they stated they are starting over when it comes to integrating the all wheels area into the greater project. This opens the project up to every variable and discovery that was worked through in MJAWA’s design process and is very disappointing. Many folks at the meeting left feeling disheartened, which is very understandable.
Good news:
Councilmember Rob Saka adds $700K to the city budget to fund the skatedot
District 1’s city councilmember Rob Saka managed to rally other councilmembers and find the money Seattle Parks was asking MJAWA to raise to build the project. Even though it’s still not clear why the costs are so exorbitant, MJAWA worked with CM Saka and showed up to all the hearings, spun up an email campaign, and worked together to fund the project at the new, much higher level of $850K for a 1500 sq/ft all wheels area.
The ball is now in Seattle Parks Department’s court to complete the project. Stay tuned here for more updates.
